Saturday, May 20, 2006

Protecting Iran's Muslim Identity


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Photo courtesy of The Jerusalem Post
A draft law being considered by Iran's parliament encourages the wearing of Islamic clothing to protect the country's Muslim identity, according to a copy of the bill obtained by The Associated Press on Saturday.

The 13-article bill, which received preliminary approval a week ago, makes no mention of requiring special attire for religious minorities.

On Friday, a Canadian newspaper, The National Post, quoting Iranian exiles, said the law would force Jews, Christians and other religious minorities to wear special patches of colored cloth to distinguish them from Muslims. Iran bill addresses women's clothing

And this from the National Post:

Several experts are casting doubt on reports that Iran had passed a law requiring the country's Jews and other religious minorities to wear coloured badges identifying them as non-Muslims.

The Iranian embassy in Otttawa also denied the Iranian government had passed such a law.

A news story and column by Iranian-born analyst Amir Taheri in yesterday's National Post reported that the Iranian parliament had passed a sweeping new law this week outlining proper dress for Iran's majority Muslims, including an order for Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians to wear special strips of cloth. Iranian embassy denies dress code
Mark Alexander

16 comments:

leelion said...

We are all clones of Allah and must wear the same, think the same, look the same. No room for independent thought or freethinking of any kind - the very thought! - tutt!

We are borg.

Mark said...

Leelion:

Terrible, isn't it? Talk about stultified thinking! This is it!

Mark said...

Leelion:

We are borg.

Sorry to display my ignorance, but what does this mean?

Mark said...

JudahQ:

Remember when Roman Catholic nuns used to dress like that? As a kid we used to call them penguins. But the similarity still strikes me - nuns and muslimahs.

Yes, I remember nuns dressed in their habits well. In my opinion, nuns today just don't look right. They wear short skirts, and have hair showing, etc. That's not how real nuns should look! :-)

But in the case of Muslimahs, it's very different. Nuns dressed that way because they were showing the world that they led chaste lives devoted to God. Muslimahs live no such lives; at least for the most part. They are just ordinary women trying to show - hypocritically in my opinion - how virtuous and godly they are. And it ain't comin' off!

leelion said...

From Star Trek. The "Borg" were a species who valued conformity and obdience and had no concept of the individual, only the collective.

They were aggressive and planned to take over various other groups in the galaxy, including the courageous Captain Jean Luc Picard and his crew of the Star Ship Enterprise.

Their favourite saying was "we are Borg, you will be assimmilated, resistance is futile."

Remind you of any other group perhaps...?

Mark said...

Leelion:

Thanks for that explanation. Now you know that I was no Star Treck fan. (Am I, perhaps, a little too old to be one?)

Remind you of any other group perhaps...?

Certainly does! Shhh! You know who!

Anonymous said...

bld. The original streaker across both wickets, at Lords in the mid seventies. I was there in the stands. As I recall, it was the most boring day of cricket I'd ever been to. There was a young couple sitting right in front of us, the man was useing a pair of binoculars, as soon as it was obvious to all what was up, the girl grabbed the binoculars right out of the man's hands and pulled them towards her, unfortunately the strap was still wrapped around the guy's neck, he got yanked right into her chest as she got the glasses up to her eyes. She didn't seem to care at all that his face was kind of trapped in her cleavage, as she continued to focus on the streaker. Totally freakin hilarious. We got two shows for the price of one.

To top it off, the old bill, when escorting him of the field, brought him right up the stand, right past us..about four seats away. The one cop, taking front and center space walked ahead with his helmet in a strategic place. One wag near us yelled out, "Go for it mate, fill it up for him".

The streaker had a great big grin on his face. Laugh, boy we were still chuckling 3 hours latter when we got home. The game though was so boring, I don't recall anything about. It does the soul good to laugh that hard once in a while.

Ah, life has some great momments.

Anonymous said...

bld

It was Hain, that emminently respectable politicain, the scourge of the national discourse, during the 70s. Is it any wonder why the The House has such an augean stench, given the tender ministrations of such a self-righteous intellectual fraud as is Hain. It's because he cares you know!

Ah the New-Agers, Marx meets Peter Pan, what a union of stupidity. It's all about feelings, didn't you know that? They're out to prove they're right, after all what's another blood-bath, between friends. Just think of all those smiling faces sanctified by the sacrifical blood of the innocent. A new man will be born, fashioned in man's own image, none of this god s***; the noble savage will arise from the ashes like a pheonix. Though speaking for myself, I don't see what's so noble about savages, we seem to see an awful lot of them these days, and I'm not impressed.

Mark said...

Bld:

Just Another Richard would like to make contact with you. Please look out for him online.

Anonymous said...

Well as this seems like as good a spot as any to leave a message, Why not everyone else is right?

I keep on knockin, but I can't get in
I keep on knockin, but I can't get in

Oh hi judahq.

Mark said...

Just Another Richard:

Well as this seems like as good a spot as any to leave a message, Why not everyone else is right?

I keep on knockin, but I can't get in
I keep on knockin, but I can't get in

Oh hi judahq.


Please translate this for the less erudite amongst us. I, for one, have NO idea what you mean!

Anonymous said...

No Mark, but judahq will.

Mark said...

I'm glad someone will understand it! :-)

Anonymous said...

That's alright Mark. judahq just answered my knock. I'm in.

Hanif Leylabi said...

1) Those women are not Iranian

2) Anyone who believed that story for even a second has absolutely no understanding of Iran and the government there.

Mark said...

Hanif:

1) Those women are not Iranian

2) Anyone who believed that story for even a second has absolutely no understanding of Iran and the government there.


We are all entitled to our opinions.

I must say, however, I find nothing unbelievable in the story. Nothing at all, in fact.

I am curious to know how you can say with such certainty that those women are not Iranian. I am sure Iranians come in all sorts of variations. There isn't one typical Iranian. I have met some Iranians who have a pale complexion, for example, yet others with a darker complexion.

In any case, whether they are Iranians or not is a moot point, because the way they are dressed is certainly Islamic, and is quite representative of the chador.