The First Charter of Human Rights, By The Persian Emperor
Kourosh The Great Over 2700 Years Ago

"Power Corrupts, Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely"

The Rise and Fall of Political Islam

Interview with Mohsen Ebrahimi

Keyvan Javid:
In your recent book ‘The Rise and Fall of Political Islam’ you refer to political Islam. What is the difference between Islam in general and Political Islam?

Mohsen Ebrahimi:
Islam is a set of often-ridiculous superstitions about the origin and fate of the world, degrading rules and traditions and deeply inhuman edicts about human beings and their relations. Essentially, it is a set of beliefs and rules against human prosperity, happiness, welfare, freedom, equality and knowledge. Islam and a humane life are contradictory concepts and opposed to each other. Political Islam, however, is a political movement and current, which has come to the fore with the aim of safeguarding existing class relations vis-à-vis liberation, equality-seeking and secular movements, progressive intellectual and cultural advances in the world and the working class and oppressed. In a way, political Islam is a political movement with a political objective and Islam is the governing ideology of this political movement. The ultimate aspiration of these sects is to set up an Islamic rule based on the Islamic Republic of Iran and Taliban.

Keyvan Javid:
What is your response to the notion that the rise of political Islam is the result of the domination of Islamic culture among people living in these countries?

Mohsen Ebrahimi:
This is a most superficial rationalisation for the emergence of political Islam. After the Islamic Republic of Iran and Taliban’s coming to power, journalists and experts on Islam have argued that in a corner of the 20th century, in places like Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, Pakistan and Indonesia, some hundreds of millions of people enjoy living under such repulsion; women like being second-class citizens, degraded and stoned to death; youth like to replace recreation, art, theatre, music, cinema, education and sports with sadness, mourning and death; workers enjoy not receiving their wages for six months and seeing the fruits of their labour being used to feed sects of Islamic murderers; and teenagers enjoy destroying their sexual desires and emotions for the sake Islam. These types of rationalisations are at best an insult to humanity. Perhaps there are dimwits among them who relate the rise of political Islam to people’s culture and inclinations, but this is not the crux of the matter. In fact, the majority - from university experts to leaders of political parties and journalists – are part of the Western governments’ publicity machinery to justify open support for Islamic reaction in Iran and Afghanistan. At an historical moment, faced with the possibility of the Left’s emergence, they decided to prop up Islamic reaction and continue to do so, in line with Western governments.

Furthermore, the image given that Islamic currents have grown because they are a source of hope for people aspiring to ‘regain their lost indigenous identity’ is nonsense. In fact, all of these currents have consciously related Islam and the Islamic movement to issues such as escaping poverty and oppression in order to increase their chances of gaining power. They know that in the real world, people take no notice of such things as ‘god’s rule on earth.’ It is not without reason that Islamic sects in opposition behead people and blow up buses on the one hand but are forced to build schools for example with the dollars provided by Saudi Arabia and the Islamic regime on the other. Khomeini promised free oil for everyone; as soon as he gained power, he hollered that ‘the people have not risen up for bread.’

Keyvan Javid:
In light of these, what are the bases for the rise of political Islam?

Mohsen Ebrahimi:
The evolution and rise of political Islam has domestic as well as international bases. In the Middle East and Asia, political Islam, like most other reactionary movements, was born in the context of poverty, economic misery, and political oppression and in periods of political crises. Among the hungry and the destitute, they gained support with the promise of salvation for the dispossessed and in the absence of a strong and secular political left, they gained ground. The ruling classes in these countries have always fully supported this force vis-à-vis the Left as in Iran during the fall of the monarchy.

It is noteworthy that many intellectuals, poets and writers, enamoured with indigenous and Eastern culture and tradition, have shared in all phases of political Islam’s formation and development. There are shining examples of this bunch in Iran as well. Prior to the Islamic regime of Iran’s rule, their job was to sanctify intellectual and cultural backwardness and religious Islamic thought in the name of preserving indigenous identity against Westernisation. After the formation of the Islamic Republic, their job was to rummage into the regime’s personalities in order to find anything to force-feed the people. Now, Khatami is the latest creature these divers have dragged out of the Islamic swamp.

The old Cold War confrontation between East and West was the international ground for the rise of political Islam. The ruling classes and governments in the Western camp banked on the Islamic movement as a dam against the former Soviet Union’s influence and as such fully supported its development. A telling example is the Islamists in Afghanistan. During the Islamists’ ‘holy war’ against the former Soviet Union in Afghanistan, CIA and US National Security Council advisors were always hanging around the camps of Islamic sects in Pakistan. They trained seminarians who later drowned Afghanistan in a bloodbath. The CNN once showed an interesting scene in which Brzezinski was speaking at one of these camps to seminarians, pointing to Afghanistan and fervently calling on the Islamic beasts to win back their holy mosques from the communists. Political Islam was, therefore, partially formed in the context of the Cold War with vast support from Western governments.

Keyvan Javid:
How do you assess the current situation of political Islam?

Mohsen Ebrahimi:
Compared to the last two decades, these currents are in a weaker situation and more importantly have a bleak future. Some of these currents such as in Turkey, Algeria and Indonesia are attempting to capitalise on the economic and political crises in these countries and transform into a force with a share in political power through for example gaining access to parliaments. The most active sections of political Islam today, however, are isolated sectarian terrorist groups. Riddling school buses with bullets, blowing up bombs in crowded areas, massacring defenceless inhabitants of villages, taking tourists hostage and other such acts not only signify the Islamic ideology, of which murder is a primary principle, but also more importantly, signify futile political attempts by a disintegrating force. The situation of the Islamic Republic of Iran is a mirror image of the situation of political Islam in the Middle East. With the advent of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Islamists in Middle Eastern countries gained powerful governmental, moral and financial support. Islamic sects opened offices in Tehran, received cash and arms from the Islamic regime and were trained in the military camps of professional murderers, the Revolutionary Guards. Islamic Republic leaders initially hoped that Islamic sects would quickly come to power in different parts of the world, set up regimes modeled on the Islamic Republic and establish stonings, amputations and floggings. Not only has this not happened but also, the Islamic regime keeps sinking deeper into crisis. The main financial and moral source of these sects is itself in crisis. If Islam’s gaining power in Iran gave hope and backing to Islamic sects, the Islamic regime of Iran’s current crisis has left them defenceless and bewildered. With the Islamic regime’s downfall, their disintegration will be hastened.

Additionally, before the Islamic Republic and Taliban, world public opinion did not yet have a clear picture of political Islam’s vast capacity in unleashing terror. The Islamic Republic and Taliban have shown the world political Islam’s real face.

The Islamic Republic’s downfall will facilitate the disintegration of Islamic sects in other ways as well. Until now, world public opinion on the Islamic Republic has been shaped by official journalism, which has not told the truth and hidden facts. With the regime’s downfall, the world will finally be given an opportunity to know the truth - victims will speak out, prisons and torture chambers would be exposed, torturers will make heart wrenching confessions, Islamic prosecutors and judges will reveal what they did to their victims behind prison walls. Then, people all over the world will see Western government culpability in this state-sponsored crime; they will see what a despicable phenomenon political Islam is.

Mohsen Ebrahimi is a member of WPI’s Central Committee and Political Bureau. The above was an interview by Keyvan Javid in Hambastegi Persian Monthly number 94, May 2001.

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