IRANIAN PONDERS ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY
by Kate Gregory
BP News
Baptist Press
Oct 9, 2009
TEHRAN, Iran (BP)–"When one limb aches, the whole body aches. You
who are not troubled by the troubles of others, should not be called
the children of Adam," says Ali*, quoting the 13th-century Iranian
poet Sa’di.
To Christians, that is a reference to 1 Corinthians 12.
To Ali, Christian traditions borrow from Iranian ones, rather than
the other way around. Ali, in fact, doesn’t believe in the superiority
of any belief. He says all religions lead to the same God.
He respects all prophets, including Jesus, as good and wise. In Islam
God is one, so Jesus cannot be God, he states emphatically.
"Jesus and Muhammad are the same," Ali says. "They were both prophets."
SCIENCE OVER FAITH
Born in Tehran and educated in London, Ali is a self-professed man of
science who defines fact and truth according to the majority opinion
of scholarly texts rather than religious ones.
Out of curiosity he read a copy of the Old Testament that someone
gave him.
"I was surprised," he says. Christians "call it religion, but I call
it history. Persian history. It contains our prophets. I was proud
that they recognized our history and put so much worth in it."
He knows who Christians say Jesus is, but he hasn’t read the
New Testament for himself. Iranians don’t have open access to the
Scriptures because publishing and distributing Bibles is illegal in
the Islamic Republic.
Ali has seen what can happen when people push against the restrictions
too much, and it haunted him. When he was younger, he witnessed a
public beating of someone who went against the regulations. "I couldn’t
sleep for months," he recalls. "But it’s seldom done anymore. But
once and awhile they still do it for the people to get a hint from
it about what they shouldn’t do.
"In our culture, shame is worse than the fire of hell."
IDOLIZING PROPHETS
So far, the regulations haven’t shamed Ali into taking Islam any
more seriously than he has to by law. Ali doesn’t p to witness a
special ceremony rather than to pray. Most people who go to mosques
are pleading to God for His favor, he observes. Ali tells the story
of a woman who tied herself to the gates of a mosque until she felt
God heard her prayers.
Since God is to be revered as unreachable, it is prophets who Iranians
connect with on a personal level. The 14th-century poet Hafez is so
honored, Ali says, that Iranians pair the reading of the Qur’an with
the writings of Hafez.
"They pray to him for truth. They open his book and point to the
truth they are looking for," Ali says. "They go to him for what they
are supposed to do — if they are supposed to marry, if they will
recover from illness. They trust in him to know what’s going on in
their lives and what’s going to happen before it does.
"You ask him to tell you the truth, like a friend. He’s equal to you,
beside you. Open his book and you will turn to the truth. He’s more
than a poet. He is a prophet. He is equal to mystics."
In Islam, mysticism is identified with being a Sufi, one who relies
on contemplation to discern God’s will. Shiite Muslims follow imams,
who they believe are the rightful successors to Muhammad. In Iran,
festivals are held to hasten the coming of the 12th imam, who is
supposed to bring justice to the world.
There are two theories about when this will happen, Ali explains. "He
won’t come until everything is good in the world or until everything
gets so bad in the world that it needs to be redeemed. Some want to
help it be as good or as worse as it can be to hasten his coming."
COSMIC BATTLE
Ali believes Christianity borrowed its philosophy of good and evil from
the prophet Zoroaster. Zoroastrianism is an ancient Iranian belief
that good and evil are overarching influences that battle each other
in the world.
Signs of Zoroastrianism remain in contemporary Iran. Motorists hang
guardian symbols on their rearview mirrors depicting an eye to guard
against evil. "It’s meant to catch and release any bad energy coming
your way from people you enco d will happen to you," Ali comments.
"I don’t ignore what people believe," he says. "It is there. It seems
to be very silly but human belief is interesting. Some people are
devout, but some go through the outward motions because they have
to. They don’t have faith in anything."
Ali places himself in the latter category of keeping up appearances,
divorcing public behavior from the relevancy of real life behind closed
doors. "Like most people I don’t like boundaries, but unfortunately
we are all victims of boundaries," Ali says.
DUTY OVER DEVOTION
When he was in his 20s, the native Iranian fell in love with a young
Armenian woman. His parents objected to the match, willing to give
permission for their son to marry only someone from the same ethnic
and religious background.
Armenians in Iran come from a Christian heritage, including an era
of persecution from the Turks. In some Iranian towns with an Armenian
population, the landscape is dotted with small church steeples topped
with crosses. The Armenians can practice their faith, Ali explains,
as long as they do not attempt to convert a Muslim.
Obedient to his parents’ wishes, Ali married an Iranian woman instead
but never forgot his first love.
He says he will not put limits on whom his children can marry.
"I don’t care what religion they are. I only hope they have a good
heart," he says, patting his chest.
Having chosen duty over matters of the heart as a young man, Ali
says his heart will warm to matters of faith later in life. In Islam,
closeness to God can really be obtained only in paradise upon death.
"Faith is always there," Ali says. "I’m not a fanatical, serious
Muslim. Maybe when I’m older and closer to death, I’ll take it
seriously."
–30– *Name changed. Kate Gregory covered this story for the
International Mission Board.