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The Iranian
evolution
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
TEHRAN - The current
tussle between reformist groups and the ruling clergy in Iran
has not yet mushroomed into an ideological
or political revolt against the system. But it still
may, as developments of this sort tend to take on a
logic of their own. Those who talk about reforms are in
fact the real pioneers of Islamic revolution in Iran.
They are not a threat to the revolution. They just want
to put things in order.
Unquestionably, the present debates are a reflection and logical
consequence of currents that have been growing in
Iranian society for decades. The Islamic movement of
Iran in the days of the Shah was in fact heavily
inspired by the Middle Eastern Muslim Brotherhood
organization. Like the Muslim Brotherhood, the leaders
of the Iranian Islamic movement did not come from
Islamic seminaries, but from institutes where they
received Western education. Therefore, those Iranian leaders
were outward looking and relatively enlightened. Their
philosophies were based on the revival of indigenous
traditions and the end of imperial rule, feudalism and
capitalist trends in Iran.
Dr Ali Shariati is
a case in point. Shariati was in fact the real
ideologue of the Iranian Islamic movement. Had he not
been murdered in London in 1977, two years before the
Iranian revolution, by the intelligence apparatus of the
Shah, he would undoubtedly have been a - or perhaps the
- focal point of the Iranian revolution, probably at the
expense of clerical figures like Ayatollah Khomeini. The
Iranian revolution would have been launched in a very
different light, and a more progressive color.
Shariati's writings are not only clearly
inspired by the leaders of Al Ikhwan Al Muslimun (Muslim
Brotherhood) and Jamaat-i-Islami, but one can also see
references in his writings to the works of Sayyid Qutb (the
Ikhwan leader who was hanged by Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser)
and Sayyid Abul Ala Mawdudi (founder of Jamaat-i-Islami
and the ideologue of international Islamic movements).
In today's Iran, Shariati is still an ideologue
among the reformists. Iranian students display his
portrait during their demonstrations and present him as
the true ideologue of Iran. Shariati's concept of Islam
deals more with issues than social traditions. His is a
concept of politics, economics and social justice at the
macro level.
This concept of Islam is the
complete antithesis of that of the current ruling
clerical establishment in Iran, which concerns itself
with issues as minuscule and every day as what music
Iranians may listen to and how they may dress. The
clerics' harsh behavior over the years has been of
little service to Iranian society; rather, it has been a
source of the resentment, contradictions and instability
that are now manifest everywhere in Iranian society.
One of these manifestations can be found in
Iranian films, which serve as a reflection of these
contradictions.
Zanan-i-Zindah (Women's Prison)
is currently very popular among cinema-goers in Tehran
and other cities. The film is set four years after
the revolution. As in every sector of society, Iranian
jails were the recipients of hardline revolutionary
activists posted to bring about religious reform. The
film mainly rotates around two characters: a defiant
woman doctor imprisoned for plotting against the
revolution, and a hardline woman jailer obsessed with
introducing revolutionary principles to the jail.
Thus, the jailer is portrayed as obsessed with
preventing detainees from making noises, applying
cosmetics or even clapping in pleasure. The doctor argues
that one cannot play around with basic human instincts
which demand expression - freedom, joy and entertainment.
These arguments always result in penalties for the
doctor, but still the arguments and counter-arguments
continue over the course of the doctor's long
imprisonment. Sixteen years in prison bring some changes
to both characters: the doctor begins observing
hijab (the wearing of a head scarf), while the
jailer learns to live with laughter and prisoners
wearing makeup. Both make compromises, and the doctor
eventually is freed.
The film is more or less
the story of Iranian society from 1979 to 2002: After
too much repression, both the hardliners and the liberal
reformers are making compromises with and for one other.
Ameer (not his real name) is a student activist
at Tehran University, a great fan of Eastern music and
an expert violinist. "A few years ago," he says, "it was
impossible for any male like me to wear a pony tail or
play violin, but now it is allowed. Similarly, cosmetics
were banned for women, but now they are allowed. Even
girls in the university uncover almost half of their
heads, but the law-enforcing agencies turn a blind eye."
Reformist leaders in fact do not want to
clash with the basic tenets of Islam; they just want to
deal with the core issues in society. They view
clerical behavior as unrealistic when clapping is banned and
they are told to say "Allah Akhbar" (God is great)
instead.
Hashem Aghajari, the academic recently
condemned for criticizing the ruling clerical
interpretations of Islam (in fact he cited Shariati as a
religious guide), has been portrayed as a liberal in the
West, but in fact he was a die-hard Islamic
revolutionary himself in the early and mid 1970s and a
member of one of the underground Islamic organizations.
Thus, most Iranians view the present face-off
between Aghajari with the establishment as something
that will lead to peaceful compromise rather than
escalation. After all, both are part of the same
revolution.
(©2002 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd.
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