Dear Sticky Wicket,
Do the leaders of Iran, who purport to believe in and practice Islam, yet unabashedly spew hatred, and kill dissidents, represent the beliefs of most Iranians? If not, how does the majority reconcile the conflict between their religion and how they actually live?
~Dumbfounded in Dearborn
Dear Dumbfounded,
Islam is one of the three major religions in the world, the other two being Christianity and Judaism. There are billions of followers of the Islamic faith worldwide. So first, we should acknowledge that most of these followers do not spew unabashedly hatred and commit wanton murder at will, whether living in Iran or elsewhere.
That being said, however, there are many people who do not live and act according to their faith. And there are some who take their faith to the extreme. This is true across all major religions at some point in their history.
However, many who practice Islam, especially many believers in Iran, are often seen as being one of the most contradictory in their belief as a result of their tolerance of the country’s leadership. It truly begs the question how anyone who purportedly believes in peace can spew so much hatred and bile against another race or culture.
Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, explains this dichotomy of the Iranian Muslims as one borne out of oppression and propaganda.
Klein says that the people of Iran are very much against the regime that oppresses them. Yet, at the same time, they agree with the regime in their hatred towards Israel and Western culture.
“I would never say this is innate,” Klein says. “But they’re [the Iranian people] fed such hatred towards America and Israel in their TV, radio, sermons, and mosques that they’re brainwashed in some sense to feel this hatred because all they learn is that we Americans, the Christians here, and the Jews are monstrous people.”
Rachel Ehrenfeld, director of the American Center for Democracy, says the common misconception is that Islam is a religion of peace. “It’s is anything but,” she says. “It requires the faithful to convert non-believers, and to kill the Jews and those who refuse to convert.”
Power is the main interest of the Sunni and Shiite fundamentalists leadership, adds Ehrenfeld. And given their tight grip over the population and total control of the media, it’s difficult to gauge the real belief of the man on the street. “I would like to believe that most Iranians oppose their leaders radical views, and hope that one day, when the opposition is strong enough, they‘d be able to change the regime.”
Just this brief cursory treatment of this question shows that more than anything, it is incumbent upon each of us to take time to better understand the teachings of Islam in order for us to be able to discern the true tenet of this religion that billions follow, versus the radicalized version of it that seems to rule the airways.