defroc2.jpg

Mollas defrocked

Extremely rare photo circa 1930, during reign of Reza Shah

>>> LARGER PHOTO

Wikipedia: As his reign became more secure, Reza Shah clashed with Iran's clergy, as he did with all other political constituencies in the country. In March 1928 he violated the sanctuary of Qom's Fatima al-Masumeh Shrine and beat a cleric who had dared admonish Reza Shah's wife for attending a mosque in Qom in appropriate attire. In December 1928 he instituted a law requiring everyone (except Shia jurisconsults who had passed a special qualifying examination) to wear Western clothes >>>

07-Jul-2010
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Agha_Irani

Sargord

by Agha_Irani on

Since your patriotism has now come to the fore, you wanna explain the mullahs role in the overthrow of Mossadegh? Weren't they in the pockets of the US back then?  Perhaps you wanna talk about Khomeini's dealings with the US during Iran-Contra? 

I'm sure the list of the mullah's betrayal of the Iranian people is far longer than the two examples above.

 


Aratar

Arabs

by Aratar on

The Arabs got lucky that the powerful Roman and Persian empires had just spent a generation trying to destroy each other.  Both were weakened and in disarray when the Arabs swarmed out of the desert.  Had they arrived during the reigns of Khosrau Anushiravan and Justinian, they would have been crushed, like rats.


Darius Kadivar

Mostafa Tajzadeh's Take .. ( Freedom to Dress etc under MRP)

by Darius Kadivar on

Well Reza Shah's Son Mohamad Reza Pahlavi (MRP) didn't pursue the same tough stance.  

Maybe He should have done like Ataturk and not given people the choice ... But I believe Freedom of Choice in this particular avenue is what is being denied in the IRI today unlike under the last Shah.

La Preuve:

Mostafa Tajzadeh: Former IRI deputy Interior Minister's speech a month before June 2009 elections ( Arrested Since):

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzqJY8JjTJM&feature=player_embedded

Related Pictory:

pictory: Girls in Bikini vs Veiled Women on Caspian Sea, Babolsar (1971)

 


khaleh mosheh

"Why was I censored? Just"

by khaleh mosheh on

Hi Arthimis-could this be the comment you had in mind? 

//iranian.com/main/2010/jul/mollas-defrocked-0


Marjaneh

Progress?

by Marjaneh on

How does forcing a set of people to wear another conformist, copies of restraining, wanna-be rectangular,  military renditions facilitate "progress"?

"I still have my own teeth. 'Just can't remember where I've put them."


R2-D2

Just A Reminder To Everybody ...

by R2-D2 on

There is one thing that everyone needs to remember, and that is, our Great Persian Civilization had absolutely no need, none whatsoever, to get further civilized by of all people, the Arabs!

In a blog that was published several weeks ago, I outlined some of the great attributes and contributions of the Persian Civilization in the following comment:

A Bit Of Light (If you are interested in reading it, please be logged in first)

As I have indicated there, in a moment of military, and dynastic weakness during the Sassanians, our Beloved Iran was invaded by the Arabs, and our Great Civilization has never been the same since!

Please Remember This: Islam Has Had A Civilizing Effect On The Arabs - As They Used To Bury Their Daughters Alive, And Other Savagery -

However, The Great Persian Civilization Had Absolutely No Need, None Whatsoever, For What The Arabs Offered Us After The Invasion -

Please Be Proud Of Your Heritage - We All Have A Great Civilization - What We See In Iran Today Is The Direct Result Of The Arab Influence That Perpetrated Our Beloved Land Over 1,400 Years Ago -

This Islamic Regime In Iran Is No Different Than An Ink Blot Distorting What We Iranians Have In Our Heritage  - Again, In A Moment Of Weakness, We Succummbed To This Foreign, Arab, And Non-Persian (Iranian) Influence Over Thirty (30) Years Ago!

Pure And Simple :) - !

R D

 

 


frazaghi

I do not know

by frazaghi on

  • ALWAYS PERSIAN

     I am sorry Rosie, I do not have any number on that , but I heard there were many clergy men, exterminated by " Ata Turk", and I do not have any information about the source or what-so-ever


Red Wine

...

by Red Wine on

حال چه شد که به اینان چیزی پوشاندند که قلبا با آن سنخیت ندارند ؟!

خدا از سر آنانی‌ که اینجور فرهنگ ایرانی را خواستند از بین ببرند،نخواهد گذشت،لعنت خدا بر تمامی دشمنان آداب و فرهنگ اصیل ایرانی.

 


Rosie.

And how many Muslim clergy did Attaturk 'exterminate',

by Rosie. on

pray tell.

Numbers and sources please.


frazaghi

Peace upon him

by frazaghi on

  • ALWAYS PERSIAN
  • Peace upon him and his son.

He was one the heros in the long history of our country , a real man , a man who is born maybe once in a hundred years .

But , if he had exterminated all of " Mullas" then we would have been in a much much better situation than we are now . I believe he should have followed the same path as his dear friend " Mostafa Kamal" who is known as " Ata Turk".

Anyway, he did very great things for the country and he is always remebred as a hero"

LONG LIVE IRAN


Arthimis

Why was I censored? Just

by Arthimis on

Why was I censored? Just for telling the absolute truth??

We are not going to be Free if we continue with this politically correct B/S. OK?!! 

Iran has been destroyed by a very twisted and harmful Islam and Islamic Republic, period. So I'd say F$@K Islamic/ Satanic Republic and anybody associated with it over and over again...

Free Iran and True Iranians.


Farah Rusta

I couldn't agree more JJ

by Farah Rusta on

but ...

What you stated is the "final answer", the "end result" and not the "solution" dear JJ. The question I asked still remains standing: how do you, or indeed any of Reza Shah's critics, suggest we would have reached the state where no one could tell us what to wear and what not to wear?

There was, and still, is a huge problem. That problem is called: religion, in this case Islam. Islam has been, and in my opinion, and for a foreseeable future, will remain to be, the most powerful agent of change in Iran.

Islam brought Reza Shah to power. Islam, brought Mossadegh to power. islam removed Mossadegh from power and restored Mohammad Reza Shah's throne. And Islam removed Mohammad Reza Shah from power.

As you see Islam's dominating presence is undeniale in every critical point in the Iranian politics of the 20th century and beyond.

It was against such a frighteningly powerful foe that Reza Shah launched his modernization campaign. It was the David against Goliath. And David was winning ... 

It was the same foe whose fear prevented any Iranian woman to appear outside her home without wearing the Islamic hejab. They were hostages in their own home. 

Now how do you diffuse a hostage situation? Do you reward the hostage takers? Do you reason with them? Or do you allow them to carry on with their hostage taking and have their hostage killed? 

Reza Shah used the ONLY solution that was available to him: he answered force by force. He did the exact opposite of what the clregy did. Now the sitation was reveresed. No woman was allowed to leave her home "with" the Islamic hejab. And they received the protection of the strong arm of the law. If they wished to remain hostage to the mullahs, they were free to stay home, where the mullah wanted them to stay. But the moment they chose to break free from their hostage situation, they no longer needed to fear the intimidating mullah. AND IT WORKED.

Under the Reza Shah's son the mullahs we reached the state that you aspire to reach now. No one, mullah or the state could to you what to wear and what not to wear. The proof of the pie is in eating it and it tasted nice until the nation devoloped a fresh appetite for being taken hostage! This time they welcomed the grand hostage taker into their homes and it is now thirty years that have become reluctant hostages in their own homes.

FR


bihonar

If his son had done the same thing

by bihonar on

If his son had done the same thing, and dealt with the mollahs with the iron fist we would have had a much better Iran today.

In the future too, if Iranians want to live in a civilized and free world they MUST get rid of all mollahs, akhoonds, ayatollahs, seieds, emams, doa nevis, rammal, and so on.

There is no other way.


khaleh mosheh

The malign influence of politicised

by khaleh mosheh on

islam in Iran is now quite evident to the populas at large. 

It may just be inevitable that  in the next phase of Iran political developments, whenever that may be, the mollas will be defanged..Defrocking is a probably as good a way as any to make sure they will not ever be able to hold the people to ransom the way they have done in the contemporary period of Iranian history.


Faramarz

They Look Like ZZ Top!

by Faramarz on

Reza Shah should have given them some musical instruments and formed a rock band!

//www.buzzine.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/...


Cost-of-Progress

No wonder

by Cost-of-Progress on

the parasite mullahs and their shameless supporters (closeted and otherwise) hate the shah so much.

Reza Shah really gave these maggots a hard time....but apparently not hard enough and there are way too many of them..The species are just like cockroaches as I point out frequently.....

 

____________

IRAN FIRST

____________


Fair

JJ

by Fair on

The issue here is not clothes- it is one of firing mullahs from their job.  i.e. for clergy, defrocking is more than just cosmetic.

I believe what Reza Shah was doing was saying no longer does a mullah get special status in society (which was symbolized by his uniform) because other mullahs with no accountability to anyone but themselves felt like it.  The process of becoming a mullah was (and remains) a very inbred, non-objective one.

So what he did was say that if you cannot pass an examination of religious knowledge (which a mullah should have one would think), then you flunk, and are no longer a mullah, and should not appear as such.  Go do something useful.

Unfortunately, this essential process in our society was cut short by the overthrow of Reza Shah, and was never continued.  But the population of Iran today will in our own way pick it up again, and will never again blindly give authority to a mullah or anyone else.

 

-Fair


Rosie.

huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh? Madam Rusta,

by Rosie. on

how on earth could you POSSIBLY think I thought you were a HE???????????

I said you WROTE to HIM (i.e. The Publisher) and then I quoted you, Empress Farah..

u c?

 


Jahanshah Javid

Solution

by Jahanshah Javid on

Here's a solution Farah. People should be free to wear whatever they wish. It is not the government's or any religion's business to tell me or you what we should or shouldn't wear.


Farah Rusta

Isn't it obvious Rosie?

by Farah Rusta on

I never criticized Reza Shah! So I don't need to answer this question - my solution would have been the same as his soultion. The question is posed to those who criticize him. 

FR

 

ps - I am not a he but a she!  


Rosie.

Farah, Dear The Moderator--sorry to intrude but since I

by Rosie. on

fundamentally agree with the Rahbar's--I mean the Moderator's--viewpoint, you ask him:

What would be your solution?

do you mind if I ask you what's yours?


Rosie.

Reza/Attaturk

by Rosie. on

I THINK you would have to make a comparison of the literacy rate, rural vs. urban, poverty level, the particular stripe of Islam observed at the time and how stringently in both countries before you compare them. Bearing in mind that as I've often been told (and at least once read), when Reza Shah took over, Iran was in many ways comparable to Afghanistan.

I also THINK Reza Shah's Nazi sympathies had more to do with his negative response to the Allies (Russia and Britain specifically) than to true love for Hitler. I've heard it debated both ways, but I THINK it must be at least PARTIALLY true. 

On the other hand, Iran had had the Constitutional Revolution. Had Turkey had something similar? I have no idea.


Hoshang Targol

Compare Reza Shah to Atta Turk

by Hoshang Targol on

All of a sudden he doesn't look all that "radical" is his drive towards secularism.

Atta Truk went much further, much faster, ( Atta Turk had his own sins, and limitatioms, don't we all?)didn't accumulate as much personal wealth by "direct action," had no Nazi sympathies, and last but not least definitely wasn't responsible for Mirzadeh Esh'ghey's assasination.


Farah Rusta

What would be your solution?

by Farah Rusta on

Dear JJ

 

It is always easier to criticize the deeds of the past than to offer a substitute solution.

 

 

FR


dhhcfo

It is sad

by dhhcfo on

Dear JJ...

As much as I have tons of respect for you and your noble efforts on iranian.com; I am afraid that you are totally missing the point of what Reza Shah was trying to accomplish with respect to mullahs and islam in contrast with the national pride of the Iranian history, heritage and culture.  Please think again.


Rosie.

p.s. I once read that right before the Revolution, for all the

by Rosie. on

modernizaton, observant Muslim female UNIVERSITY students in Tehran refused to take off their chadors when they were officially prohibited to wear. And they protested, they demonstrated, And the secularist women marched in solidarity with them in chador.

Old habits die hard.

Most of you I THINK would say Mazdaism prevails after 1400 years of Islam in a fundamental way. And boy are you right! Do you really think Islam could be obliterated from the hearts of the people in fifty?


Rosie.

If I may, please. If only Mohammed Reza had had the balls his

by Rosie. on

father did, to defrock the 'seyyeds', after his father had done MORE of what he actually did, that everything would be just hunky dory now, I THINK is a spuriouus argument, a kind of pipe dream ex post tacto. Reza Shah's moving too fast and too blindly with his modernization campaign was the biggest mistake he ever made until he aligned himself with Germany in WWII.

I THINK he caused unbelievable resentment. Compulsory removal of hijab was bad enough...but to remove the 'hijab' of the CLERGY??? UNforgivable. And to allow a CLERGYMAN to be struck???????????? Worse than sacrilige.

The ONLY way Reza Shah could've conceivably made these actions--defrocking 'more' of them, prohibiting more Islamic dress--have a positive outcome--I THINK would've been to have a massive, immediate, and complete secularization of the education system for the children of these wounded, alienated, cheated, traditional Muslims. Who I THINK constituted the overwhelming majority of the Iranian populaton at that time.

And he couldn't have done it. Because the educational system itself was still rudimentary. Even using the very best of his abilites--which he DID,--the literacy rate throughout his reign increased but it remained low. And then, under the second Shah, it was still no great shakes either. It wasn't his fault, I've been told by people I trust, it was just the limitatons of the possibilites at that point it history. It could not have been accomplished.

This virtually complete failure to understand and RESPECT the common people, the devout,  as they were at that time, (and as many still are) was what opened a wound that never fully healed. It was what, when, paradoxically, Mohammed Reza respected  the mosque more (or rather gave them more freedom) than other groups, making the mosque the only vehicle for organized dissent, the snowball started rolling and NOTHING could stop it.

However, had he clamped down on the mosque too, I THINK it would've probably had a similar effect, because those people congregate, by definition, and martyrdom is such a fundamental part of Shia Islam.

And now you have a bunch of lousy bastards frocked in a grotesque IsamIST parody of Shia Islam (which is NOT autocratic) combined with royal dictatorial absolutism. And, again paradoxically it is a NEW system historically. A grotesque MODERN political form. With a bloodlust probably far worse than anything conceivable under the two Shahs.

I didn't read a history book on Iran that didn't say that this failure to understand the common people, (in English all, of course), the 'modernization campaigns imposed at such an accelerated rate, in the cultural realm (as opposed to the technological, etc.) wasn't the first of the two worst mistakes Reza Shah ever made. Which his son continued to make. And which, I THINK,anyone who disrespects Islam (as opposed to IslamISM) in Iran, is making the same mistake yet again.

_______________

I know I'm an outsider but I hope I make sense to someone.


Souri

True and not ......

by Souri on

JJ,

What you said is absolutely true, but it applies to the today's world.

Forcing to remove the chador, some 80 years ago, was necessary for the fast progress of a backward country.

Although I don't praise Reza khan in all his achievements, but still (And always) approve of his decision to force women to become modern.

A modern Iran would not be developed at that time, if he would leave it to the people to decide about the rhythm of its progress. It would slow the progress.

My two cents, or ........

My old Stalinism at work again :)


Jahanshah Javid

Ask yourself

by Jahanshah Javid on

What have we learned, just in the past 30 years, never mind every other period in our history?

Is it ok to force men or women to wear something other than what they wish?

Will defrocking mollas, or removing or imposing the hejab achieve anything?

Is the problem what people wear?

Is the problem what people look like?

Is every molla a bloody thirsty dirty bastard?

Is every fashionable, clean-shaven man democratic? Against violence? Respectful of women and their rights?

This picture made me laugh. It's refreshing to see a bunch of mollas humbled and humiliated for a change -- even if it took place 80 years ago. We're so sick and fed up with our Molla Republic that a picture like this can tickle us and make us wish we were back in Reza Shah's time.

But is that what we really really want? Replace one dictatorship with another? Did defrocking mollas work? They took their aba and ammameh away, but they forgot the most important thing that remained untouched: what was in their head. You cannot eliminate ideas by changing its appearance.

Ultimately, any government that forces people to wear clothes in a certain way -- Western or Islamic -- is stupid, autocratic -- against basic principles of privacy and individual rights.

Now let me look at that picture again. It's still funny!


dhhcfo

We need his boots again

by dhhcfo on

Bravo R2-D2, well put.  We lost Iran to bunch of Arab loving idiots because Arya Mehr did not have the dare of his father. Reza Shah was a true nationalist and patriot who loved Iran and knew all along that mullahs and islam (especially shia sect) are real enemies of the nation.  Where is he when we needed him?  May God bless his soul in eternity.