Bashar Assad, the little Hitler of Damascus, is undoubtedly the bloodiest Arab tyrant. The British-educated ophthalmologist is responsible for the utter destruction of the bulk of Syria, the death of around half a million citizens as well as the expulsion of half the population of the  Arab country, all in order to remain in power. Bashar is by no means the only criminal Arab dictator whose hands are stained with his people’s blood. In fact, most Arab leaders are actually despicable despots who should have been hanged or consigned behind bars for the rest of their lives. So, what are the reasons behind the Iranian Shiite regime’s dark embrace of Bashar Assad.

Enter Iran

It is crystal clear that the so-called Shiite Islamic republic of Iran has been the most important ally of Bashar Assad after Putin’s Russia.

Indeed, from the very inception of the post-Shah regime, the  Mullas of Iran viewed Syria as a potential Shiite republic due to the fact that Assad is a member of the heterodox  Alawi Nusayri sect, which deifies the fourth Caliph Imam Ali. The only nominally Muslim sect, which has been in control of the Syrian government and army since the late 1960s,  makes up around 10-11% of Syria’s total population of 19 million.

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The sect is notoriously heretic, cultic, esoteric,  schismatic and highly secretive. The vast majority of Sunni and Shiite religious scholars consider the Nusayris as “apostate.” According to a famous Fatwa (religious edict)  by Ibn Taymiyya in the 14^th century,  the  Alawis are farther from Islam than the Jews and the Christians and even more heretical than many of the polytheists and their harm to Muslims is greater than the harm of the infidel fighters such as the Mongols, the Crusaders, and others.

Sectarian ambitions

  It is not difficult at all to decipher the real reasons behind Iran’s embrace of Bashar Assad of. Assad offered himself to Iran’s Mullacracy as the main and last defender and protector of Shiism in the predominantly Sunni  Arab Middle East.

Of course this is a big lie and the Iranians know it. Religion, after all Is probably the last thing in the world that Assad really cares about.  The most logical and rational reason behind Iran’s embrace of Bashar Assad is the Mullahs’ unwavering wish to transform Syria into a predominantly Shiite republic, despite the fact that over 70% of Syria’s population are Sunni Muslims.

Iran accords little or no appreciation for this fundamental fact as it has been carrying out aggressive proselyting activities aimed at converting as many Sunnis  as possible into the Shiite faith.

Disgraceful intervention

Iran equipped and funded as many as 50 militias, compromising Shiite fanatics from Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Yemen to fight alongside the demoralized forces of  Assad.

Eventually, the Shiite militias decided to fight independently for two reasons: 1) Most of the soldiers and junior officers of the Assad regime’s troops were Sunnis, not Shiites. The better-equipped Alawi troops were deployed rather permanently in and outside  Damascus to thwart any possible coup attempt against the Assad regime. 2- the Syrian troops’ social behaviour didn’t conform with the rigid religious ideology of Shiite militiamen as the former indulged in all vices like alcohol drinking, drug addiction, adulterous and promiscuous behaviour and unreligious behaviour activities.

None the less, it is widely believed that the militiamen were involved  in carrying out numerous atrocities of Syrian Sunni civilians. The usually-ignorant militiamen were told by their Iranian superiors upon their arrival in Syria that they were fighting the murderers of Imam Hussein and taking part in the noble task of protecting the “holy grave” of saint Zaynab, sister of Imam Hussein.

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The truth of the matter is that Zaynab (may Allah be pleased with her) is highly respected and venerated by Sunni Muslims and that never in history have the People of Syria tried to damage, desecrate or vandalize her grave as Iranian Shiites did to graves of some Sahaba (companions of the Prophet) and Sunni scholars in Persia and recently in Syria. (Iran had been a predominantly a Sunni country before the Safawis’ bloody takeover in the 16-18 century.

The recruitment of Shiite fighters from Afghanistan eventually boomeranged on Shiite communities in Afghanistan itself  as Isis terrorists and others targeted  Shiite civilians in Kabul, Herat, and other places, killing hundreds of people. Shiite schools, mosques and community centers continue to be targeted in Afghanistan even after the return to power of the Taliban movement

Iran deserves a better leadership

The Iranian regime projects  a very poor case when defending their sectarian intervention in Syria. The Supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was quoted as saying that as far as the Islamic Republic is concerned, defending Damascus was as important as defending Tehran and that preserving the regime of the Bashar Assad was as paramount as preserving the theocratic Shiite regime in Iran!

This “foolishness”, coming from a man widely considered by his followers as an infallible, divinely-guided imam and deputy to  Imam al-Zaman al-Madi  (the occulted imam). one can only implore Almighty Allah to free Muslims in Persia and elsewhere from the stranglehold of such mythology and sectarian blindness that is ravaging and corroding the great nation of Iran.  Iran simply deserves better leadership.

Sectarian blindness

Khamenaei’s staunch support for Bashar Assad and his regime is not only morally wrong and harmful and destructive to the entire Muslim Umma. It is also absolutely and totally incompatible with the basic tenets of Islam.

In fact, Assad’s evil credentials are known too well to every honest person in the Middle East. You don’t have to have a doctorate degree in political science or International Relations to discover the Satanic character of this thug.

As to Khamenei, he doesn’t have to speak with  Imam al Mahdi! to ask him about Bashar! Let him Just ask some honest Shiite scholars in Syria and Lebanon, they would tell him the truth

But if he doesn’t trust these people for one reason or the other, he should try to judge the Yazid of our time according to the scale of Imam Ali, or Imam Hasan, or Imam Hussein or Imam Jaafar Sadeq.

And if Those venerable imams failed to give a satisfactory answer, then judge the contemptible thug according to the scale of the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him.

And if you still want to be certain 100% , there is always the Book of Allah, the Glorious Quran,  so you can find the ultimate answer, This is much better and safer for you and your hereafter.  Haven’t you read the verse- 113 of Surat Hud: 

And incline not toward those who do wrong, lest the Fire should touch you, and you have no protectors other than Allah, nor you would then be helped.

Hud:113

The protests in Iran today have raised many questions on the Islamic Revolution and its legacy. This article explains Khomeinism as a political ideology and attempts to answer why Iran failed to export its revolution to other Islamic countries.

Analyzing Ervand Abrahamian’s Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic (1993) and Simon Wolfgang Fuchs’ “A Direct Flight to Revolution: Maududi, Divine Sovereignty, and the 1979-Moment in Iran”, this article argues that: (i) Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was politically expedient. He dressed a selection of Western political concepts in Islamic language and justified as well as historicized his ideas using examples from the history of Shia Islam. (ii) Iran was unable to export its revolution to other parts of the world, including its Muslim majority neighbouring countries like Pakistan because it had found the instrument of mobilization and justification for its revolution in the history of Shia Islam.

Khomeini was a Populist?

Abrahamian argues that the term “fundamentalist” that is usually used to label Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini is not only confusing but also misleading in the context of the Iranian Revolution. He gives eight reasons to argue that Khomeini was not a fundamentalist. Further, the author goes into Khomeini’s ideology and views- especially his views on the state and the society, the Constitution of Iran and Khomeini’s political testament to argue that the term “populist” better fits Khomeini because his views and his actions resemble Latin American populism.

The author further highlights various conceptual inconsistencies in Khomeini’s ideas. There are several instances when Khomeini reacted to the emerging circumstances by changing his views, hence he was politically expedient. For years he had argued against women’s suffrage because it was un-Islamic but then Iran’s constitution implemented universal adult suffrage and Khomeini now argued that it was un-Islamic to deprive women of their voting rights. Hence, what was earlier un-Islamic later became Islamic. Khomeini essentially did a political interpretation of Islam (Quran and Islamic history) and dressed several Western political concepts like enqelab (revolution), jomhuri (republic), tabaqat (classes) in the Islamic language to make them appealing to the Muslim majority masses of Iran. Since Iran is a Shia majority nation, he provided justification for his views from Shia history. Khomeinism, thus, instrumentalized Islam for bringing about a revolution in Iran. However, it raises several questions- why would the masses follow? Why would they accept inconsistencies in Khomeini’s thought, especially when something that was considered un-Islamic earlier was declared Islamic later? Since politically expedient means were deployed to bring about the revolution, was the Iranian Revolution more about the consolidation of Shia identity in the world rather than an Islamic revolution?

Also Read: Mahsa Amini: Iranian Women Are Leading an Extraordinary Revolution

Why Iran was not able to Export its Revolution?

Fuchs explores the engagement of Pakistan’s Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) with the post-revolutionary Iran. He analyses various JI leaders’ travelogues and several JI publications to argue that initially JI was enthusiastic about the revolution but it slowly grew concerned about the same around the early 1980s. JI initially thought that the Islamic Revolution in Iran was the realization of JI founder Maududi’s concept of hakimiyya ilahiyya (God’s sovereignty). In order to not miss the woods for the trees, they first ignored the sectarian implications of the revolution. They also turned blind eye to the top-down model of the revolution. Since JI has always advocated the bottom-up approach to bring about Islamicization of the society, Iranian Revolution did not fit into their ideology.

However, when it was apparent that it was the Shia history of Islam and the Shia model of governance that was being deployed in Iran, JI grew concerned. At home, JI also found itself being called out by Sunni organizations for appeasing and being soft on Shia. In order to highlight the JI’s distancing from the Iranian Revolution, Fuchs cites the example of the absence of Irani delegation and absence of any mention of the Iranian Revolution at a seminar hosted by JI in Lahore in November 1989, where several international delegations were present, to discuss the questions and the challenges facing the ‘Muslim World’. Fuchs does not however inform if there was any Shia Islamist organization from any other country present at all among the 30 organizations that were represented at the seminar.

Anyway, JI’s engagement with post-revolutionary Iran raises a question- did JI expect too much from Khomeini? As argued by Abrahamian, Khomeini was pragmatic and in order to get support from the majority, it was realistic for him to address his message to the Shia majority population of Iran.  

Since it is apparent that Khomeini’s selective use of history and language of Shia Islam appeared sectarian to JI, forcing the organization to practice social distancing from the revolution, it would be safe to assume, within the context of the information provided by Abrahamian and Fuchs, that Iran was unable to inspire a revolution in other Muslim majority countries, like its neighbouring country Pakistan, primarily because it adopted the language and history of Shia Islam. That would explain why Iran has not been able to export its revolution to other Islamic countries.      

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Conclusion

This article analysed Ervand Abrahamian’s Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic (1993) and Simon Wolfgang Fuchs’ “A Direct Flight to Revolution: Maududi, Divine Sovereignty, and the 1979-Moment in Iran”, to argue that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was politically expedient. It further argued that Iran was unable to export its revolution to other parts of the world, including its Muslim majority neighbour countries like Pakistan because it had found the instrument of mobilization and justification for its revolution in the history of Shia Islam and therefore had sectarian implications.

The Death of Mahsa Amini Ignited an Unprecedented Wave of Protests Across Iran

On the 16^th of September 2022, Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman, died in the custody of Iran’s morality police following her arrest for improper wear of hijab. Both Mahsa and her brother were beaten at the time of her arrest.

Iran’s morality police routinely arbitrarily detain women who do not comply with their discriminatory and compulsory veiling laws. The death of Mahsa Amini was the powder keg moment that ignited this most recent uprising resulting in seven weeks of protests. This has been the most significant threat the theocratic Iranian regime has witnessed since the 1979 revolution.

It is becoming apparent that this isn’t about reform; it’s about outright regime change. In the eyes of the Islamic Republic, the compulsory hijab is not just a mere piece of cloth. The hijab is one of the critical pillars of the ideology of this regime.

Women are protesting on the streets, removing their hijabs and setting them on fire while cutting their hair in protest. Many have been arrested and sent to psychological re-education centres, beaten, raped, and murdered. The most unprecedented part of these protests is that they’ve been led by women. This shows how courageous Iranian women are in leading an extraordinary revolution.

Hundreds Have Been Brutally Murdered By Iranian Police After Masha Amini’s Death

The Islamic Republic does not allow its citizens the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. This right is guaranteed under Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Instead, the Islamic Republic kills protesters with batons and bullets. As of the 8th of November 2022, the death toll from the Islamic Republic’s crackdown on Iran’s 2022 protests increased to 304 people, including 41 children and 24 women. Repressive regimes lack transparency, so the actual number of protesters killed often goes vastly underreported.

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A Long History of Women’s Resistance in Iran

Mahsa Amini’s death follows decades of women’s resistance in Iran. Women played a critical role in Iranian society by establishing women’s associations, joining protests and supporting strikes. This is the first time since the inception of the theocracy in 1979 that people openly and fearlessly oppose Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Challenging Iran’s supreme leader is one of the most significant revolutions in modern-day history.

Following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iranian women launched massive protests after hearing rumours regarding a mandatory hijab mandate. These protests were influential as they postponed its enactment. However, the mandate was eventually instated in 1983. Women showed their strength in actively protesting against the regime.

Comparatively, in recent times the enormous bravery of women like Sepideh Rashno, Mahsa Amini and Nika Shakarami against Iran’s restrictions on women’s rights has sparked a catalyst for change. The Iranian authorities have consistently dealt with waves of mass protests. Including those held in November 2019, January 2020, July 2021, August 2021, November 2021 and May 2022, with a militarized response.

The Establishment of the “Woman-Life-Freedom” Movement

Following the death of Mahsa Amini, Iran has seen the rise of the “Women, Life, Freedom Movement”. This is a widespread protest that has now entered its fourth week. The movement’s slogan is a declaration of opposition to the Islamic Republic, a regime built on anti-woman, pro-martyrdom, and repressive ideologies.

Thousands of Iranians protest against the Islamic regime’s repressive treatment and continuous human rights violations. Iranians are speaking up against the regime carrying signs saying “Death to the dictator”. Young schoolgirls chanted, “we don’t want the Islamic Republic.” In recent weeks, Iranians have been actively fighting against security forces while tearing down billboards and burning pictures of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini.

Although the protests initially started over the frustration of the mandatory hijab, they developed into representing a much broader movement of overthrowing the entire regime. These restrictions have intensified under President Raisi, who took office in August 2021, leading to further tension among Iranians.

According to the World Economic Forum’s 2022 Global Gender Gap Report, Iran ranks 143 of 146 countries. The Islamic Republic exemplifies why countries with gender-discriminatory laws experience the most significant turmoil, compromising international peace and security.

The Islamic Republic Detained Thousands of Protesters and Activists

Thousands of protesters and human rights activists are now facing unfair trials, with some facing the risk of the death penalty for protesting against Mahsa Amini’s death.

Human Rights Watch has reported on security forces’ unlawful use of excessive or lethal force. Moreover, on October 31, 2022, the Tehran Province’s judiciary held that it had issued approximately 1,000 indictments against protesters and activists.

Furthermore, the Iranian authorities have subjected detainees to various forms of physical and psychological torture and other ill-treatment. Two female detainees arrested in Kurdistan reported that Iranian police tortured them with batons, electric shocks, sexual and verbal assault, and threats.

“Iran’s vicious security apparatus is using every tactic in its book, including lethal force against protesters, arresting and slandering human rights defenders and journalists, and sham trials to crush widespread dissent,”

Tara Sepehri Far, senior Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Iranian authorities have arrested 308 university students and 44 children. Security forces have targeted universities with excessive use of force and arbitrarily detained students.

According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, the protests have reached 133 cities and 129 universities, as well as several secondary schools.

International Response to Iran’s Uprisings

Solidarity protests in support of Iranian women’s rights have erupted across Europe, the United States, and parts of the Middle East.

According to Amnesty International, more than one million people across 218 countries have signed their petition. This petition demanded an establishment of an independent UN mechanism to conduct an investigation in Iran. Therefore, this would ensure Iran faces the consequences for committing some of the most serious crimes listed under international law.

Failing to establish accountability encourages impunity, further emboldening the Iranian authorities to continue to intensify human rights violations. The United Nations Human Rights Council should urgently hold a special session on Iran.

Read also: The US and Israel are Weaponizing Iran Protests.

Concluding Thoughts

The protests over Mahsa’s death and the officials’ refusal to be held accountable have resulted in frustration and resentment over the political status quo. This has increased demands for democracy.

It takes immense courage and bravery for any woman to participate in this extraordinary revolution happening in Iran. Young girls risk arrest, school expulsion, and death when exercising their freedom of expression.

The world’s silence on this issue enables continued human rights abuses in Iran. The international community must stand up against the Islamic Republic and demand its adherence to binding human rights obligations.

Politics, money and states’ interests continue to come before human rights. The United Nations has repeatedly failed to adequately address human rights violations committed by authoritarian regimes. Despite this, we must rebuild our trust in this global governance mechanism. The United Nations intends to protect states regardless of geographical borders, race, religion, ethnicity, gender or social class.

This begs the question; will the United Nations stand with the women of Iran in upholding their human rights?