Posts tagged : "Religion"

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Iranian Efforts to Tout Arbaeen Pilgrimage Boomerang

Iranian Efforts to Tout Arbaeen Pilgrimage Boomerang

Kourosh Ziabari - Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington: Thousands of Iranian pilgrims were stranded at the Iran-Iraq border in mid-September as they staged for the Arbaeen pilgrimage, an Islamic Republic-sponsored event marking the 40th day after the anniversary of the martyrdom of the third Shia imam, Hussein ibn Ali, in the Battle of Karbala. Reports about turmoil and instability at the border precipitated by the influx of crowds of pilgrims and the unpreparedness of the Iranian authorities were widespread in the run-up to the pilgrimage in neighboring Iraq. In one incident on September 11, 10 Iranian pilgrims died as the van carrying them crashed and exploded. On September 9, Iran’s Red Crescent...

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The complex legacy of the Salman Rushdie affair in Iran

The complex legacy of the Salman Rushdie affair in Iran

Kourosh Ziabari - The New Arab: The attack on British-American novelist Salman Rushdie at a literary event at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York on Friday shocked the world. The assailant, 24-year-old Hadi Matar, born in the US to Lebanese parents, leapt onto the stage and stabbed the author 15 times before being arrested by a state trooper. Rushdie, 75, was left with life-changing injuries but his agent has said his “condition is headed in the right direction”, although it will be a long road to recovery. Ever since the attack, headlines have been dominated by reports about Rushdie’s health and speculation about the attacker’s possible motives. Accusations have also swirled about Iran’s potential...

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Iranian women under pressure as Raisi stiffens hijab mandate

Iranian women under pressure as Raisi stiffens hijab mandate

Kourosh Ziabari - Al-Monitor: As the administration of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi faces discontent over increasingly difficult economic  conditions, the government is ratcheting up agitprop around compulsory hijab, the Islamic dress code, in what many Iranians say is a bid to divert public attention from the nation’s day-to-day hardships. The government's efforts to enforce hijab rules are divisive in Iranian society with its outward-looking young population and liberal-minded middle class. On July 12, as the government hyped “chastity and hijab week,” thousands of Iranian women pushed the envelope of their traditional social roles and recorded themselves walking around the streets of Tehran and other cities...

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Let’s be honest, Iran’s hijab saga is not about religion

Let’s be honest, Iran’s hijab saga is not about religion

Kourosh Ziabari - The New Arab: It seems that not a day passes in Iran’s blistering summer without the state media publishing something new about the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi’s plans to counter the alleged corruption of social morality through women’s lax compliance with the government’s strict hijab mandate. Debate on the imperative of observing the Islamic dress code, or hijab, has been ongoing since the advent of the 1979 revolution. There are few priorities, like the way women should dress, that Iran’s theocracy treats as a life-and-death urgency. Not even the desolate state of the national economy, spiralling poverty, unfettered inflation and human capital flight precipitated by the traction of nepotism...

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The Iranian opposition has internalized Islamophobia

The Iranian opposition has internalized Islamophobia

Kourosh Ziabari - The New Arab: The Iranian opposition in exile is a well-heeled, formidable behemoth. No authoritarian state in the world is contested by such a vocal, unflappable conglomerate of resistance forces as is the Islamic Republic. Belarus, China, Russia and Venezuela have outspoken critics, but none of these detractors are making a living through bad-mouthing the regimes they despise. For the governments of Israel, Saudi Arabia and a handful of European countries sheltering and resourcing the Iranian opposition, it makes strategic sense to invest in amplifying the collective voices of disillusioned expatriates who have faced persecution at home and had to flee for their safety. They in turn build on their resentments and...

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The uni filling the ranks of Raisi’s hard-line regime

The uni filling the ranks of Raisi’s hard-line regime

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: As Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi fills out his recently installed ultra-conservative administration, a prominent Tehran university is supplying the lion’s share of top and mid-ranking appointments – marking a notable reversal of the previous Rouhani administration’s preference for Western university graduates. Named after the sixth Shia Imam, Imam Sadiq University (ISU) was established in 1982 with the mission of synthesizing Islamic sciences and conventional humanities and bridging the gap between academic institutions and religious seminaries. In Iran’s official lexicon that means instilling Islamic themes in university syllabi taught by professors who predominantly remain secular-minded....

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Iran-Taliban whitewash the past to restore relations

Iran-Taliban whitewash the past to restore relations

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: On the surface, a crisis should be emerging on Iran’s eastern border as the Taliban seizes power and establishes a new Sunni-led Islamic emirate. Yet despite a history of hostility rooted in Sunni-Shiite antagonism, Tehran doesn’t appear troubled by the militant group’s return to power. Iran shares a rugged 921-kilometer border with Afghanistan, one that has seen dire spillover effects over the course of its long war. More than three million Afghan refugees and undocumented migrants now live in Iran, a point of tension over the years. But Iran is now seeking to turn a cross-border crisis into an opportunity as an incubator of post-war reconstruction, with multiple trade, security, energy and...

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Iran’s hijab war as politics by other means

Iran’s hijab war as politics by other means

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: When a radical vigilante rammed his vehicle into two women in the Iranian city of Urmia on August 8 after criticizing their flouting of hijab rules, local authorities promised decisive action for the assault after the assailant’s arrest. But like those before him who have assaulted and attacked Iranian women over their state of dress, he’s widely expected to walk free. The attack, which went viral on social media, has reignited debate on compulsory hijab laws, with many questioning the sustainability and practicality of the strict Islamic dress code in place since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran’s hardline approach to the hijab is distinct from almost every other major Muslim country....

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Efforts are needed to make entry to Canada more welcoming and secure: Constance Backhouse

Efforts are needed to make entry to Canada more welcoming and secure: Constance Backhouse

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: Without reservations, Canada is one of the most immigrant-friendly nations in the world. According to the 2016 census, 7.5 million people, representing 21.9 percent of the Canadian population, were immigrants. International migration accounts for more than 80 percent of population growth in the North American country as per the 2019 data. An exceptional mosaic of multicultural amalgamation, the federal government entrenched the value of cultural diversity in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1985, passed a Multiculturalism Act in 1988 and founded the Department of Multiculturalism and Citizenship in 1991. The government recognizes the ethnic and aboriginal minorities’ right to preserve their...

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International pressure can raise awareness of the problem of Islamophobia: Heiner Bielefeldt

International pressure can raise awareness of the problem of Islamophobia: Heiner Bielefeldt

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: There are many indications leading us to believe that we are living in an age characterized by the face-off of religion and science. Even so, although science is making headway in eliminating many of the humanity’s challenges, faith hasn’t surrendered its preeminence, and The Guardian reported in 2018 that 84 percent of the global population identifies with a religious group, with Christianity being the largest faith group, followed by Islam, Hindus and Buddhists. Sixteen percent of the people in the world, at nearly 1.2 billion, said they have no religious affiliation. Freedom of religion is a fundamental human right safeguarding the diversity and conscience of human societies. The ability of the...

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The European Union’s treatment of minorities is inept and inconsistent: Raymond Taras

The European Union’s treatment of minorities is inept and inconsistent: Raymond Taras

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: Although France has recouped some composure after the maelstrom ignited by the murder of Samuel Paty, a popular middle school teacher who had shown cartoons of Prophet Muhammad in his class on freedom of thought, the republic is still finding itself in the middle of an uncomfortable debate about the compatibility of secular values and Islam. The comments of President Emmanuel Macron who defended the reprinting of the controversial cartoons by the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, and his tongue-lashing of Islamic “separatism” and “radical Islam” sent shockwaves across the Muslim world and infuriated leaders and the general public in Islamic countries where huge crowds turned up for street protests and a...

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There is little awareness of the history of racism in Canada: Yasmin Jiwani

There is little awareness of the history of racism in Canada: Yasmin Jiwani

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: Canada’s reputation as a cultural mosaic that enables the mingling of people from different backgrounds and pedigrees and empowers them to actualize their potentials has been a popular attraction for the dreamers aspiring to live more dignified lives in a country that values their capabilities and offers them opportunities for growth. The Liberal government of Justin Trudeau, in power since 2015, has been endeavoring to depict Canada as a welcoming nation that is receptive to skilled labor force and international students planning to transform their future in a multicultural, inspiring environment, and happy to shelter refugees fleeing persecution, war and insecurity at home. But contrary to the conventional...

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