Courtesy: WikiMedia Commons
The other day, I wrote about Ali, one of my informants in Tehran. Years ago, this young Iranian introduced me to Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”
Ali has spent the past two weeks in hospital, after taking blows to the head from Basij paramilitaries. If there’s a consolation in any of this, it may be that a hospital bed sucks less than a prison cell.
Still, Ali is becoming despondent. Iran’s demonstrations are dying. And so, it seems, is his soul. Here’s what I just reported to my Facebook constituency: “He’s out of hospital now but quite demoralized over 1) gov’t crackdown; 2) lack of opposition leader (where’s Mousavi gone to??); 3) no new strategies (see “lack of leader”); 4) deep division among Iranians about whether protests are valuable. (Some Tehran bizpeople are angry that sales are down bigtime due to public’s fear of being in streets.)”
But there’s something more about why the protests are abating: Young Iranians have taken inspiration from the central narrative of Shia Islam. That narrative challenges dictatorship. So far, so good. Problem is, the same narrative celebrates martyrdom as the means to achieve only a moral victory, not a political one.
In effect, Shia tradition romanticizes suffering. And anything that turns oppression into a fetish won’t end oppression. The question thus becomes: Can young Iranians use Shia tradition to replace, once and for all, martyrdom with freedom?
Read my full analysis in the Toronto Globe and Mail.
Even before the Iranian uprisings, I’ve noticed more emails from young Muslims who are leaping out of the closet as free-thinkers.
But some are still limping out, and they need our best efforts to hold them up. Consider the case Faris, a teenage boy from Libya.
As if to surround him with guardian angels, I’m peppering this post with photos of my recent visit to the Young Women’s Leadership Academy in East Harlem. The strength of these girls could serve as a life-line for this boy.
Introducing Faris:
“I’m 14 years old, I’m half Irish and half Arabic. I live in Libya, and I’m currently having serious issues with my faith.
The amount of hate this country inflicts on Jews and Europeans is unbelievable. In our history books, it never refers to Jews without the word ‘racist’ beforehand, never refers to Europeans without the word ‘terrorist’ beforehand.
They teach us at one point that this is the religion of love and peace, and then flip to bashing various groups, including gays (which I recently discovered I am).
I thank god for giving me a mother to help me understand that love is better than religion, but my dad is blaming my access to the outside world and is trying to take away my laptop, my Internet connection, my mobile phone.
Shutting myself up, like I tended to do before, just won’t work anymore. I know you’re very busy, but I would appreciate it so much if you could give me a little support.” - Faris
Irshad replies to Faris: A little support? Hell, no, bro! I’m giving you actual allies. Listen to another young Muslim whose email I received immediately after yours:
“I live and work in Abu Dhabi. I belong to my thoughts and conscience more than my citizenship, which is Emirati. I am writing to you because I speak the same language as yours, defending our faith with the same enthusiasm and surrounded by those who would call us anti-Islam, koffar, or whatever…
I appreciate that you give it up to GOD, that he is the only one who knows the truth and that we are only seekers. I always try to put this in words! As a matter of fact, I always say that I might be wrong in what I am doing or convinced with, but with the brain, knowledge, experience, etc, I have come up with conclusions that I cannot lie about. I will live my life with honesty and integrity no matter what. That is what makes me ready for the day of judgment!
GOD knows me better than anyone, knows how I struggle to minimize the gap between what I think, say and do! Congratulations for what you have achieved so far in your honest way toward TRUTH. :)” - Fatema
Irshad returns to Faris: So what have we learned from Fatema? We’ve learned that by putting the transcendent God at the center of her faith, she minimizes, or outright eliminates, all the negative noise that human beings hurl in the name of a petty God.
We’ve also learned that her identity as an Arab or Muslim takes a backseat to her integrity as an individual — a complex, nuanced, thinking creature that no majestic deity could possibly reject, since any God worthy of worship has to be more than a manufacturer of widgets and automatons.
In short, Faris, if your faith is hostage to the approval of others, lose it. Go ahead. Lose faith. Because it’s not faith at all. It’s religious rust.
Take strength from another of your young Muslim allies who’s found her conscience under the thick coating of oxidized, organized Islam:
“I’m so happy that someone finally has the guts to stand up to the so-called scholars and imams of today. I was at a point in time when I was really feeling lost, but after reading your book, I’ve gained love and faith for Islam again.
I’ve never been able to understand organized/institutional Islam. It’s been hammered into my head since childhood that being a good person isn’t enough. You will still go to hell if you don’t do all the other stuff (but in your book, you clarified all that stuff as culture).
Being an independent Muslim woman of the 21st century, I always felt suffocated by the rules and regulations of institutional Islam. I thought I must be one of those people that the Quran states has a veil over their eyes and heart.
But what truly disturbed me about the religion are some of the so-called hadiths [reported sayings of the Prophet M]. For example, that hell has more women than men it, as if we don’t suffer enough on earth! Let a man give birth just once! Or that you will go to hell of you disobey your husband. Puh-leeze!!
I’m now in the process of weeding out the culture. I no longer feel suffocated. If anything, I feel free, and this is the Islam that I will pass on to my children. I’m also having a huge effect on the way my husband sees Islam.” - Reyana
Irshad turns to Faris: See? It’s not only possible to ditch other people’s dogma, but you can liberate the mind of your own husband — something you’ll have a better chance of achieving than I ever will. 
And, Faris, in case you’re still worried that your father will pull the plug on your tech toys, let me end this way: A functioning mind is far more valuable than an Internet connection. This guy, emailing from the University of Peshawer, proves that you can be “connected” yet completely cut off from the gift that is God:
“well, Miss Irshad Manji, don’t have time to read ur book but the statement (trouble with Islam) is enough 2 say that ur place is nothing but HELL in the here-after. Every living creature has 2 taste death.
This world is going 2 end very soon, 95 percent of the sign of doomsday have appeared. After 2013, there will be big change through out the universe. 3rd world war may break out and it will be beginning of end. Repent for wut u did before the doors are closed, by God.” - Ahmad Usman
Irshad winks at Faris and whispers: Not your type, is he? Nor mine. God truly is merciful.
May the God of mercy watch over the gutsy demonstrators of Iran. May they know that they’re not alone in fighting for freedom of thought, conscience and expression. May they draw solidarity from the individual acts of courage exhibited by Fatema, Reyana and Faris above. And may many more be propelled to join them.
They have a dream (courtesy: Wikipedia)
The massive riots against election fraud in Iran reflects something I learned a few years ago, thanks to a young man from Tehran. I wrote about it in The Trouble with Islam Today:
“An astonishing proportion of Iranian youth are intellectual renegades. Far from being a sea of ‘Down with America’ messages, their banners often declare, ‘Down with Monopoly’ (by which they mean the clerical monopoly on morality.)
Young Iranians often listen to Israeli radio for balance and a high rate of Internet access makes them more wired to the outside world than other Muslims.
Also, being Shias, they don’t feel the need to legitimize the Sunni overlords of Saudi Arabia. That’s not to say Iran’s ayatollahs don’t traffic in Saudi-style terror. Many do, and Hezbollah thanks them, I’m sure. Yet they’re the ayatollahs against whom Iran’s students are mounting a mighty, and largely non-violent, rebellion.
In fact, it was a twenty-nine-year-old friend in Iran who emailed me Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail. I’d never read it before. My friend prefaced it with this sentiment:
When your broad-minded buddies in North America hesitate to expose Saudi Arabia for fear of offending Muslims, remind them of the Birmingham liberals who want King to stop fomenting ‘needless tension’ in their town.
King told them, ‘I must confess that I am not afraid of the word ‘tension.’ I have earnestly opposed violent tension but there is a type of constructive, non-violent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must see the need for non-violent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.’”
The young Iranian who brought me MLK’s letter might be realizing his dream at this very moment. Here’s what I tweeted yesterday: Heard from connected friend in #Tehran that many say this is beginning of end for clerics - new generation now awake. Tipping point to come.
I’ve tried to reach him again, so far without success. The regime is cracking down on social networking tactics. Will report more via Twitter. Follow me @IrshadManji.
You can also download the Persian translation of my book, free of charge.
