Tuesday, February 05, 2008

The Shia Arab Question, Prologue

PROLOGUE

Azadi, The Persian Baathist

NOTE: Read this first and pretend the links don't exist, then read it with the links.

Glorious Persia,

How I have wished to live in you 200 years ago, under the rightful rule of the Sassanids, blissful in the abode of your lovely domains, I would choose to be anything, details are of no concern to me, let me be a lowly porter in the dirty streets of Shiraz, or a loyal servant of the royal chamber in Ctesiphon. What matters is that I would breathe in every minute the air of your magnificence, the eminence of your culture, that I hold my high high, basking in the power of your empire. The land of the Aryans, destined to rule the world, home of the proud and the noble Persians.

How grave is the insult, devastating the injury, then, to see your domain desecrated by those lizard-eating Bedouins, to see those uncivilized nomads, united in an inexplicable fashion, devouring your terrains and eradicating your legacy, how can I be calm when I see those people which we used to rule in [Iraq], Yemen and the [Persian] Gulf destroy the foundations of your beauty and rule, to see foolish peasants embrace their religion, sometimes welcoming them with wide open arms, celebrating what they claim is release from our tyranny and repression!?! How shameful, it is to see our own brave men abused and sold as second-hand slaves, our women and daughters kept as concubines and spoils of war, how much I had rejoiced at the death of their cursed head, Umar, by the patriotic martyr, Abu Lu'lu', they tried to pretend they came with equality, tolerance and respect in the eyes of their religion in the beginning, but their warped intentions soon became evident, the new rulers, the Umayyads, are actively disrespecting us, shunning us from all public posts and claim that this is the payback for the "inequality" that we used to treat them with, those uncouth scum! We treated them with more than they deserve in the first place, but this is how the vermin Arabs repay kindness, scum remains scum.

Persia,

For many centuries your enemies have surrounded you from all sides, since time immemorial you have been destroyed a thousand times, many times had they tried, from Alexander the Terrible and his barbarians in the north, to this army of darkness, but you have always managed to come back again, stronger, more powerful, and with a greater sense of pride and duty than ever before, never shall we surrender to the swords of the Barefoots, and now the chance is ripe, now the bounty is at hand ; now it all comes to head, Hussein bin Ali has been killed, now his sympathizers and kin are angry and regretful, even people who were fooled by the Arabs are quickly realizing their gross mistake, everyone is intent on attaining freedom again, and we, of all nations, plan to strike back, the idea of revolution is quickly finding ground all over your lovely terrains, the Arab domain is collapsing, their dynasty is rife with turbulence, and Abu Muslim al-Khurasani is now rallying your dedicated citizens for the great cause, we shall fight them everywhere, and we shall never surrender, and soon Persia would be alive again, its language, its culture, its greatness, are all immortal and will never be gone ; it may be different, but one way or another, Persia will live on.

Your Son,
Azadi.

عمر بشكست پشته هجبران عجم را برباد فنا داد رگ وريش جم را
اين عربده وخصم خلافة زعلي نسيت با آل عمر كينه قديم أست عجم را
*
ميت و المعزيات موش امهاته
ما يبجن على المات يبجن شماته

29 comments:

Lynnette In Minnesota said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lynnette In Minnesota said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Kid,

Um, what are you trying to say? I read it through without clicking on the links, and then a second time with the links, but sorry, I just don't understand. For example, clicking on the first link for "200 years ago," we get an image of Firdus Square from March, 2003, with the oil fires in the background that Saddam's lamebrains had lit without understanding that our laser-guided bombs could see through oil smoke.

So they reduced their own visibility and not ours. So how smart is that and what does if have to do with "200 years ago"? What were you trying to say there?

I guess you've gone too subtle on me, Kid.

*

CMAR II said...

to this army of darkness

You're in denial, Kid. The armies of darknes afflicting your country are homegrown or locally grown (in neighboring countries).

You can't imagine the lack of interest 90% of Americans have in your region of the world (or anywhere outside his town). If tyranny and backwardness had been contained to your own countries, they would have considered it quaint, and there is no way the American public would have permitted the expense of using its military to enforce the right of average Iraqis to choose their own leaders.

The problems of Iraq were born in Iraq and Iraq only. This post is flailing self-pity.

CMAR II said...

Jeffrey,

The way we consistently post over each other, people probably think we converse through some method besides these comment sections.

Anonymous said...

CMAR II,

Oh, you mean that Kid is saying that all of Iraq's problems are due to the "turbaned snakes"? Is that what he's saying? The photos in the links are such a mixed grab-bag of images, it was hard for me to get his point. I assumed it was some kind of sectarian broadside. But hold it, Kid isn't sectarian, right?

Anyway, I know that Kid has just written some witty, savage attack on someone. But who could it be? Saddam's lamebrains? Sniffer dogs? Arab mustaches? Persian beards?

Can someone help me figure out this blog entry?

The way we consistently post over each other, people probably think we converse through some method besides these comment sections.

Telepathy is cheaper than telegraphy or internet access.

*

CMAR II said...

Kid,

After considering this post and the pictures more carefully, I guess I have to agree with Jeffrey. I can't figure out a coherent angle. Azadi knew exactly who he blamed and what he wanted instead. I don't think you are so clear on that.

I still think "flailing self-pity" is and accurate description, however.

A&Eiraqi said...

Dear Kid
Seems you didn't try to clarify what is meant by this post.

What I could understand that, you're showing how there are two sides, like the sides of the coin, each one think in a similar way to the other but only about what they believe, and totally ignoring the other side. and the fact that they can't leave each other.

Yet, they're quite similar, they use the same words and the same logic.

All the best

CMAR II said...

Oh, you mean that Kid is saying that all of Iraq's problems are due to the "turbaned snakes"?

I originally thought he was saying that Bushitler had brought all these problems on Iraq by deposing Saddam...leading to Sunni Arabs and Shi'a to kill each other. But then, I wasn't so sure. And now, I think, "well, maybe".

Look at the link in the last paragraph that says:

"and soon Persia would be alive again, its language, its culture, its greatness, are all immortal and will never be gone ; it may be different, but one way or another, Persia will live on."

The link is to a Saddamist paeon. Perhaps Kid is being ironic and has just laid it on too thick...like a Liberal wearing a United We Stand tee-shirt and being frustrated that everyone takes it seriously.

ahmed said...

A&E Iraqi,

Patience.

I know this one is cryptic, but I love it, but you almost got it right.

CMAR II said...

[A&Eiraqi] What I could understand that, you're showing how there are two sides, like the sides of the coin

Okay. I think I agree with A&E. Kid isn't espousing a POV. He's just interested in showing how the perspective of the original followers of Imam Ali are so similar to the perspective of the Ba'athists.

A few months ago, Kid and I had a discussion about how perhaps one day there will be a Muslim sect that views the death of Saddam with the same sacramental reverance that Shi'a have for the Imam Ali.

I think that is what he is saying. But this post could be improved with an introduction explaining that. It would however be sure to stir-up a lot of Shi'a hostility if it were clear on that.

Anonymous said...

CMAR II,

Well, I agree with Nir Rosen and other commentators who argue that the Iraqi Shia Arabs were the big winners on the day that Saddam and his Sunni-dominated Tikriti Crime Syndicate were deposed by the Coalition forces. But the reason why the Iraqi Shia Arabs are winners is because in a representative democracy their demographic majority finally acquired political weight. In a parliament, their numbers have power.

Yes, of course, there were many Shia Arabs in the Ba'ath government, but still the Sunna were a favored minority going all the way back to the days when Britain and France were the major powers in the region as the Ottoman empire crumbled.

Are these Iraqi Shia Arabs really Persian "turbaned snakes"? I've talked to Iraqi Shia Arabs and they seem just as patriotic about being Iraqi as the Sunni Arabs. It's slanderous to suggest otherwise.

*

CMAR II said...

Jeffrey,

Well, I think Kid is just tweaking the nose of the Shi'a religion...and probably the Sunni/Ba'athist jihadis who hate them so much. I've decided this is merely anti-religious puckishness. I don't think he's comparable to, say, 24Steps.

For some background on Kid's perspective on this post see here.

Anonymous said...

CMAR II,

I guess I'll have to wait for the Cliff Notes' version of Kid's blog entry. Sounds a bit like Hamlet talking to Polonius. Sounds, sounds, sounds. And an odd-ball collection of photos of "Arab humilition," Crusader knights, and Saddam's neck stangled by a thick rope. Weird.

*

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

My first comment was too flip. It didn't match the effort put into your post, Kid. And when I wrote it I was also forgetting that it was a Prologue.

I think the rest of the story will be very interesting. Including the Epilogue. Looking forward to it.

ahmed said...

Okay. I think I agree with A&E. Kid isn't espousing a POV. He's just interested in showing how the perspective of the original followers of Imam Ali are so similar to the perspective of the Ba'athists.

Not really, I am talking strictly about Persian nationalists who found another outlet to achieve their means, and that is, Shiism.

programmer craig said...

I followed your instructions, and I still don't get your point, Kid. My guess is that Iraqis (or at least Sunni Arabs)feel the same way now, that Persians did after they were conquered by Arabs. I don't know enough about the SHia and the Sunni history to see the religious points.

PS-Why are you putting a screenshot from an eastern European porn movie up there? Is that "poetic license"? Whatever your motivations, I wish you hadn't.

Anonymous said...

How you can compare a 1500 year old religion of 220 million, to a few thousand corrupt nationalist CIA-funded Baath 'party' is funny...

don't quite your day job, sunni.

ahmed said...

hello mr. anon,

they might be a few thousand corrupt Ba3this (actually, I am talking more about the Sunnis in general and why they all suddenly loved Saddam Hussein) or whatever, but i am sure if you ruled us for some 500 years from now we will all be flagellating over Saddam and waiting for the return of his son to come back and kill everybody.

i won't "quite" my day job.

nadia said...

k

1) NSFW
2) Where these posts went is really not surprising if you've been reading your posts for the last 2 years.
3) I see where you are coming from and why you feel the way you do, but I would add some *huge* footnotes to a lot of your points, esp about the Egypt/Jordan, throw in the Sauds (they are "moderate" US allies too) and the Lebanese government.

I have a lot of thoughts about this subject, and it's a huge subject. maybe I will type them up later, maybe not here.

Anonymous said...

Persia RULES, and it is the PERSIAN Gulf!
Omar's army raped our country and invaded it, but he did not "conquer" us!

ahmed said...

hi mr. persian,

could I ask you to translate for us the persian poetry I put in the end of this post, I tried to google it but all I could find was an Arabic translation of it whose integrity I am not very confident of. Is it really that famous anyway?

Anonymous said...

Hello,

I have not visited your website for some time. I will translate from Persian to English what you askmed me to:
Omar beshekast poshte hojabrane ajam-ra "Omar broke the back of the Persian lions"
Bar bade fana dad rag o reeshe jam-ra,"He destroyed the very roots of Jam" (Jam was an important Persian king, and Persians call themselves sons of Jam)
Een arbade o khasme khulafa, ze (az) Ali neest "this shouting and enmity with Caliphs is not from Ali",
Ba aale Omar keene ghadeem ast ajam-ra "Enmity with Omar's family is ancient (age-old) with Persians".

Anonymous said...

Of course, the takfeer of the sahaba is not an exclusively Persian thing, it is a custom with Arab Shi'ites as well, for good reason. The sahaba were cruel to the Prophet's family, his daughter Fatima included, and Omar slapped Fatima accross the face over a dispute involving ownership of the Garden of Fadak (which the Prophet (PBUH) had given to his daughter. Omar was a cruel man who raped Persia under the pretext of spreading Islam, and finally Abu Lulwa, a Persian, gave him the justice he deserved. Aisha was a greedy woman who not only made life miserable for Ali, the Prophet's own cousin and son-in-law, she arranged for her father Abu Bakr to steal the Caliphate with the help of Omar (who knew Abu Bakr is old and would die soon, and he would be the next Caliph). As for Othman, he ordered Abu Bakr's own son to be killed (one might say Abu Bakr's son was one of the first martyrs of Islam). I think if you Sunnis look at these things, you will see why Shia hate the sahaba. And if we are sons of mut3a, one might well say Sunnis are sons of misyar.
But I am not offended by the term "rafidhi"...yes "ana rafadhet 3omar, ana rafadhet Abu Bakr, w'ana rafadhet 3othman, w'ana rafadhet al-kufr", so I take that as a compliment.

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