Sincronía Summer 2004

Homayoun Kheyri

In the second week of November 2003, one week after Afsaneh Nowrouzi learned that

her execution had temporarily been stayed by a Supreme Court decree; she eagerly

anticipated a visit by her husband to celebrate the news. Convicted for killing the head of

security police on an Iranian island in the Persian Gulf, the 34-year-old mother of two

had spent the last six years in a desolated prison in southern Iran waiting execution,

despite the fact that the dead man had attempted to rape her (Dareini, 2003).

Iranian newspapers informed Nowrouzi’s husband, Mostafa Jahangiri, that he could have

a private meeting with his wife. But after traveling to the Persian Gulf port city of

Bandar Abbas, where Nowrouzi is being held at the notorious Bandar Abbas prison,

Jahangiri was turned away by prison authorities. Upset by the news, according to Yas-e

Nou newspaper, Nowrouzi hit her head repeatedly on the wall of her cell. A prison guard

sprayed her with tear gas to subdue her, infecting her eyes for almost a week.

In Iran, if a woman is raped, she is considered an adulteress and faces death by stoning.

But if a woman fights off a sexual predator and kills him, she can then be tried for murder

and faces death by hanging. If a man is proven to have raped a woman, his punishment is

execution by hanging. But in almost all cases, the man is set free because judges

traditionally look for signs in the behavior and clothing of the woman in order to explain

away the act of rape. A Persian-language proverb goes like this: "it is the tree that hosts

the worm", meaning rape is caused by women and their suggestive behaviour. What is

hidden behind social behavior in Iran? Is there anything really hidden there?

The Iranian government claims that there is nothing to hide, because Islamic ideology has

covered all aspects of the social life in Iran for the past twenty-five years. They further

claim that Iranians have accepted Islamic regulations imposed after the Islamic

Revolution of 1979, and they confirm their historical choice annually by participating in

honouring revolutionary demonstrations. Iranian government says that Islamic law has

been a part of public choice since 1979, and that this form of law has never had the

opportunity, until now that is, to be implemented for the past 1300 years since the death

of the prophet Mohammed.

The penal code that is based on the Iranian interpretations of Islamic law states that a

woman who injures or kills a rapist in self-defense will not be prosecuted. However,

proving self-defense is very difficult. The woman must demonstrate that her defense was

equal to the danger she faced. Additionally, she also must prove that inflicting harm was

her last resort in escaping rape. The Iranian government does not publish prison records,

and there are no official statistics showing the number of women who have been

sentenced to death by stoning for rape. In 2002, the press reported four cases, but it is

generally believed that the number is higher. This is an example of a huge contradiction

or even confrontation between different interpretations of Iran’s penal codes, which is

tearing the society apart.

The seeds of Islamic Republic were planted in Iran during 1970s by Islamists discourse,

which was openly against westernization. Contrary to the discourse of modernity, which

was the bases for constitutional revolution of 1906 and followed by Pahlavi dynasty

(1925-1926), Islamist discourse aimed at constructing an Islamic version of modernity,

which defends Iran in the face of ruthless cultural invasion of the West (Khomeini, 1971)

and cultural imperialism of the United States (Shariati, 1978). Although the ideology of

political Islam was opposed to the western/modern regime of Shah, it shared the same

stand with regards to women: they were both against Western feminism since the Shah

also publicly announced, "Western feminism is a false ideology because women possess

certain unique endowments and with those go unique responsibilities" (Paidar, 1995:

p177). The Shi’ite version of modernity was also anti-west and thereby against the

western model of women. But in order to present a new version of modern Shi’ite, it was

evident to its proponents such as Morteza Motahari that the tradition position of Islam on

women should be seriously modified. Therefore political Islam, which mobilized a major

sector of the Iranian population in the events of 1978-1979, took radically different

positions on women. This inevitably led to a different configuration of Islam, revolution

and feminism in Iran.

Throughout the modern history of Iran, the clergies claimed the total religious authorship

over the "sacred" sphere of family. The family and at the core of it, women, were the site

of political struggle between the modern state of Shah and clergies. By the rise of the

discourse of Islamisation in the 1970s, Islamic clergies engaged in a debate over Islam’s

stand on women, which would be modern and yet Islamic. Motahari in his book The

System of Women’s Rights in Islam (1978) discussed the position of men and women in

the shariat (Shi’ite law). In his re-interpretation of Qoranic verses, he showed how Islam

treats both men and women equally while it acknowledges their "natural" differences.

The core of his argument was that the social sphere should be separate from that of the

family because man-made laws govern civil society whereas the holy and sacred sphere

of family is governed by natural laws.

Motahari was one of the first clergies, who in a political climate of 1978 openly discussed

the idea of Islamic society and its connections to scientific rules. Although Motahari was

assassinated within the first year of the Revolution of 1979 by an Islamic radical terrorist.

his works on making connections between Islam and science are still important. A reader

said to Zanan (women) magazine that all women in Iran feel trapped by the lack of new

scientific interpretations of Quranic verses. She continued that it seems Afsaneh

Nowrouzi needs a scientific judgment, something that is absent now in Iranian law; the

pure Islamic law is enough.

When Western scientists say that modern science developed only in Western Europe in

the time of Galileo during the Renaissance and during the scientific revolution, they

mean, I think, that it was there alone that there developed the fundamental bases of

modern science, such as application of mathematical hypotheses to Nature, and the full

understanding and use of the experimental method. As Fishman (1996: p89) states

Galileo was referring to the symbolic representation of relationship expressed as

mathematics usually expresses them, in the timeless present. Nevertheless, before

Galileo, Islamic scientists and more prior than others, Iranian scientists had seen

remarkable achievements in many directions. For example, Iranian astronomers were the

most persistent and accurate observers of celestial phenomena anywhere before the

renaissance. The root of Iranian astronomy was in Jundishapur. Nasr (1970: p31) points

out that in the third century A. D., Shapur I founded Jundishapur at the site of an ancient

city near the present Persian city Ahwaz. Jundishapur gradually grew into a metropolis,

which became a centre of ancient sciences, in which medicine, mathematics, astronomy,

and logic were taught.

Although before Islamization of Iran astronomy was considered as a sacred science, after

Iran Islamized, astronomy strongly tied to religious characters and grew into a popular

science. In fact, the Muslims continued the tradition of Ptolemy in astronomy, while

making extensive use of the knowledge of the Persians and Indians (Christopher, 1972)

and kept their sacramental beliefs on astronomy (Nasr, 1970). My special emphasis in

this paper is in sacramental beliefs on science. In fact, it seems that one of the most

important parts of social behaviors of Muslims, which has continued till now has derived

from sacramental beliefs on science. Such beliefs, which have come from religious

interpretations for science, influence the Muslims’ popular life. For example, praying,

wedding, death, eating, drinking, traveling, buying, selling, and above all judgment and

governing are extremely under the influence of such religious interpretations. Let me

give another example. Nasr (1970: p174) says that it is certain that such astronomers as

al-Biruni knew of the possibility of the motion of the earth around the sun, and even – as

al-Biruni proposed, in his question to Avicenna – the possibility of an elliptic rather than

circular motion of the planets. But none of them did, nor could they, take the step to

break with the traditional world view, because that would have meant not only a

revolution in astronomy, but also an upheaval in religious, philosophical and social

domains. The wall of the cosmos was preserved, in order to guard the symbolic meaning,

which such a walled-in vision of the cosmos presented to most of mankind. In fact, the

breaking of these walls would destroy the symbolic content of the cosmos, and it was

difficult to conceive of the sky as some incandescent matter whirling in space and at the

same time as the throne of God as mentioned in Quran.

Although science, particularly astronomy, has been popular among Muslims, it has also

been a strong reason for eventing social gaps between governors and people in Islamic

countries. Islamic governments, especially in Iran, refer their reasons for such gaps to

Ibn Khaldun who had said in his "Muqaddamah" (from the Islamic Tradition, 1972:

p116) that the science are of two types: a natural type (Philosophical and Intellectual

sciences) for man to arrive at through his own thinking, and a textual type (Transmitted

sciences), which he takes from one who originated it. The first type is the rational

sciences, so that through study he identifies the correct from the incorrect. Ibn Khaldun

had stated that the second type is traditional sciences. He emphasized that in the second

type the mind has no scope except to link the peripheral issues to the foundation (usool).

Ibn Khaldun had classified Philosophical and Intellectual sciences to Logic, Natural

Sciences or Physics, Sciences beings beyond Nature or Metaphysics, and Sciences

dealing with quantity. Also he had done it for Transmitted sciences to Quran, Hadith (the

sayings of the Prophets and their chain of transmission), Jurisprudence (sacred law),

Theology, Sufism, and Linguistics sciences (such as Grammar, lexicography, and

Literature) (Nasr, 1970). Ibn Khaldun in Philosophical Sciences has classified the

science of the occult properties of letter of the alphabet, astrology and astronomy. One of

the biggest and the best-known gaps is here. In Iran, and also in other Islamic countries,

Philosophical and Transmitted sciences get connection to each other only by

governmental interpretation. In other word, astronomy connects to Quran, Hadith and

Jurisprudence and makes a ground for governmental orders.

Let me begin to explain, but first of all I should open a window, then I will open the door.

The window is: The fast of Ramadan, the fourth Pillar of Islam, starts when Islamic lunar

calendar comes to its ninth month. Observing the thinnest crescent of the new moon

should prove the first and the last day of Ramadan. These two days will only be accepted

if three judges observe and certify the existence of crescent in sky. It will be a great Sin

if someone continues fasting in the last day when moon is observed and reported by these

judges. More significantly, during Ramadan eating, drinking and smoking are restricted

in public sites between sunrise and sunset, so if someone breaks this law, a judge will

punish him/her on behalf of public authority. The penal code, which is based on

governmental interpretations of Islamic law, comes from the Quran and Hadith, two

important sources for the Islamic Judiciary. As Khomeini (1989: p359) said "The

Glorious Quran and Sunnah (Hadith) contain all the laws and ordinances man need in

order to attain happiness and the perfection of his state". Thus, both of these sources

enable the judges to announce whether Ramadan has begun and finished. In addition, the

orbital position and form of the moon and sun also influence the judgments in Islamic

countries.

According to Hale (1986: p120) "Science is central in modern life". However, in Islamic

countries science mixed with culture has a generally stronger relation with public life.

Moreover, in Islamic countries bodies of knowledge have been always supported by

cultural beliefs and "reproduce themselves day by day" (Hales, 1986, p14). "At a general

level there is a difficulty we have to struggle with, in terms of the images which our

culture offers us for picturing science to ourselves" (Hales, 1986, p15). The nature of

science in Western countries is something, which comes through the man thinking,

whereas science in Islamic countries comes by religious interpretation of world.

Therefore, in Islamic countries, science is the product of interaction between cultural and

religious beliefs rather than discovering by natural experience.

Science in teachings of Islam is essentially Gnostic in nature. All forms of knowledge,

even the most external, take on a sacred character, so long as they remain faithful to the

principles of the revelation (Nasr, 1970: p64). Hidden Sciences (al-uloom al-khafiyyah)

are well-known sciences, which are supported by revelation. As Canteins (1997, p447)

has explained, by Hidden Sciences must be understood diverse traditional sciences that

for reasons intrinsic (esoteric sciences taught by means of the oral tradition) or extrinsic

(sciences that modernism has relegated to the rank of out-of-date disciplines and has

placed in obsolescence, with the result that what one can know of them- especially of the

texts that are incomprehensible for want of the necessary deciphering or because of

ignorant scribes- is presented as a degraded residue and in many cases as practically

unusable) do not figure in the programs of universities and are not made the subjects of

official instruction.

Hidden Sciences in Islam are based on the idea of Unity, which is the heart of the Muslim

revelation. As a result, the idea of Unity itself comes from the mystics of Islam.

Nicholson (1989: p149) points out that whatever terms may be used to describe Unity,

the unitive state is the culmination of the simplifying process by which the soul is

gradually isolated from all that is foreign to itself, from all that is not God. The Sufi

authors had utilized the resources of theses sciences in order to expose certain views with

the desired precision, tonality, or suggestive profundity (Canteins, 1997). However, it is

generally accepted that their closest followers get the ability for understanding of Hidden

Sciences. Who are those followers? Mostly, interpretations that come from Shi’ite

(Twelve-Imam) thinkers, the official religion of Iran, say the religious leaders of Shi’ite,

are the real followers of Mahdi, the last Imam, who is the source of knowledge.

Gobel (1989: p4) has remarked that, according to Shi’ite doctrine, Muhammad had

selected Ali, through designation, as his successor, and Caliph (Imam); Ali had in turn

appointed the next caliph, and so forth. The particular attributes of the Imam and, most

of all, those of Ali are the criteria to which all rulers will have to adhere. The conditions

that a legitimate ruler must meet are nass (written statement), hikmah (wisdom), and

afdaliyyah (seniority). The only one who meets all these perquisites is the Mahdi (the

son of eleventh Imam), the Islamic messiah or Sahib al-Zaman (The Master of Time, or

The Lord of the Age), which has been in occultation ever since 873-874 A.D. The right

of the Mahdi to authority in this world can be traced backed deductively from Imam to

Imam, all them to Ali, then Muhammad thus to the Quran, and thereby to God. After the

martyrdom of Mahdi’s father he became Imam and by Divine Command went into

occultation. Mahdi has passed a minor occultation and now is in the major occultation

and would continue until the day God grants permission to the Imam to manifest him.

According to Tabataba’i (1989), during the minor occultation Imam had chosen a special

deputy for a time, one of the companions of his father and grandfather who was his

confident and trusted friend. "Mahdi during his both minor and major occultation would

and will answer the demands and questions of the Shi’ite through his deputies"

(Tabataba’i, 1989: p8). Shi’ite thinkers such as Tabataba’i say that the duty of Mahdi is

not only the formal explanation of the religious sciences and exoteric guidance of the

people, but also in the same way, he has the duty of guiding men outwardly. In Shi’ite

doctrine, Mahdi and his duties during occultation bear the function of guardianship

(walayah) and the esoteric guidance of men. In fact, "it is he and his duties who direct

man’s spiritual life and orients the inner aspect of human action toward God"

(Tabataba’I, 1989: p11).

According to the beliefs of Shi’ism, Mahdi (born in 868 A.D.) should by now be nearly

twelve centuries old. Shi’ite religious leaders say this long life is a miracle, which is not

impossible nor can be negated through scientific arguments. However, "medicine has not

even lost hope of discovering a way to achieve very long life spans" (Tabataba’i, 1989:

p11). Normally, Jews, Christians and Muslims accept the miracles of the prophets of

God according to their own sacred scriptures, and in the same way, Shi’ite ties the

particular interpretation for Mahdi’s long life, his occultation and the communication

with his deputies by miracles and sacred scriptures. How did Mahdi’s deputies or agents

select for being guardian of people during his occultation? Mahdi himself selected four

of them. Uthman inb Said Umari, Muhammas inb Uthman Umari (son of the first

deputy), Abu’i-Qasim Hussein ibn Ruh Nawbakhti and Ali ibn Muhammad Simmari.

After the death of the fourth agent without naming a successor (940 A. D.), Mahdi’s

major occultation began and still continues. Nevertheless, Shi’ite believes Mahdi still has

other deputies. The most important character of Mahdi’s deputies is stated by Sachedina

(Messianism and the Mahdi, 1989). According to Sachedina (1989: p26)"The Imams,

being heirs to the prophetic knowledge, were supposed to have been endowed with

esoteric knowledge (al-ilm) which enable them to prophesy future events, especially

those connected with the destiny of their followers". Sachedina points out that the divine

prophetic knowledge of the Imams also represented the Mahdi, the last in the lines of

these heirs. The Islamic government of Iran, for the past 25 years, has been continuously

announcing by governmental statements that it is a real Shi’ite government that has met

particular characters, which are expected for Mahdi’s government. Thus Khomeini and

now Khamenei are time deputies of Mahdi.

After Islamic revolution of 1979 in Iran, Khomeini called his own religious position as

wilayat-i faqih, "which can be translated as the ‘guardianship (or rulership) of the

jurisconsult’ (and not ‘of the theologian’, as is sometimes suggested, for the simple

reason that the theology and fiqh, or Islamic jurisprudence, are two different disciplines,

which can on occasions be at odds with each other) (Enayat, 1989: p334). Khomeini’s

interpretation of the Shi’ite ideology tied Iranian religious government to the prophets

and the Imams, something he called faqihs’ governing, "administer and rule the state and

no implement the laws of the sacred path" (Khomeini, 1978). Although Khomeini said

wilayah is not something which elevating its holder to a position higher than that of an

ordinary human being "the requirements of political power since 1978 have fostered a

psychological environment which does accord extraordinary status to the faqihs" (Enayat,

1989: p335). This environment, which was supported by radio, television and

newspapers (all of them were and are absolutely under observation of government and its

censorship system) made an appropriate base for popular acceptance of the supernatural

status of faqihs, and a quality tantamount to the Imams.

Khomeini has anticipated some objections in his treatises, for example about science.

Therefore his answer was: "Science and techniques are required only for executive and

administrative affairs and the faqihs can always call for executive and administration of

the country and for promoting justice among people (Enayat, 1989: p339). But before

this answer, he had pointed out that shar’iah (Divine Law) must be the only law that is

accepted during the occultation of Mahdi (Khomeini, 1978). It means all the scientific

law must be certified by faqihs, before any public announcement. Therefore for the past

25 years in Iran, science, art, philosophy, culture, politics, economics, and even faith

must pass the tests of shari’ah of Shi’ite.

Social version of faqih is hakim (wise) who has acquired the status of political ruler over

others. "According to Khomeini’s doctrine, the commands of such a ruler are of two

types: The first type purports merely to a religious precept. The second type is issued on

the basis of the ruler’s personal direction and his understanding of what is expedient or

beneficial for Muslims, this command is called custodial order" (Enayat, 1989: p342).

Khomeini’s arguments have linked to a new interpretation of religious pragmatism,

which allow faqih or its social version hakim to cover whole aspects of public life

included decoding the science. "This sacred science- characteristic of Semitic world- is

considered to be the key to all the other sciences" (Canteins, 1997, p448). The best

summation in hidden science, which is quoted by Canteins, comes from Ibn-e Arabi, a

best-known hakim who is a key-person in Khomeini’s philosophical quotations: "The

Universe is a vast book; the characters of this book all are written, in principle, with the

same ink and transcribed on to the eternal Table by the Divine Pen; all are transcribed

simultaneously and inseparably; for that reason the essential phenomena hidden in the

"Secret of Secrets" were given the name of "transcendent letters". And these

transcendent letters, that is to say, all creatures, after having been virtually condensed in

the Divine Omniscience, were carried down on the Divine Breath to the lower lines and

composed and formed the manifested Universe" (The Hidden Science in Islam, 1997,

p449). Therefore, Hidden Science impresses the whole aspects of public ideology, and

regardless to new science achievements, encourages people to explore the world for

finding the appropriate answers for unlimited human questions. Hakim, on behalf of

people, and for the sake of preserving Muslim unity and public order explores the

answers, and by his understanding of what is expedient or beneficial for Muslims

presents the best choice. "The religious authority of the principle faqih and [hakim] of

the land" (Enayat, 1989: p342) allow them to use any possibility for interpreting the

public issues. As Canteins remarks, "Abu Ishaq Quhistani, another well-known hakim

has characterized the importance of the science of letter (al-jafr) [which rests on a sacred

language and is considered to be key to Hidden Sciences] by saying that it is the roots of

all the other sciences" (The Hidden Science in Islam, 1997, p449). Quhistani allow

hakim to present his understanding of the religious books as science. Science of letter is

based on hakim’s individual understanding of the world. While this understanding is

sacred for hakim’s followers, it is considered by scientists to anti-science.

Now in Iran, in spite of temporary social position of scientists, faqih and hakim,

supported by media, represents the national and religious beliefs of the nation. Also,

religious beliefs normally do not change in short period, while at the same time scientific

ideas continually change. Therefore, people prefer to keep religious beliefs rather than

changeable scientific ideas. Even more importantly, as Shi’ite say about Mahdi and his

deputies, they are the symbols of ultimate knowledge of human being. It conduces that

Shi’ites strongly support the religious leaders as Mahdi’s agents, and ask them for

showing the solution in earthly and futurity. The reason is: there is nothing that Mahdi

and his deputies and then his agents have not been informed about. And as Tabataba’i

(1989: p9) has said: "In different religions that govern the world such as Hinduism,

Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism and Islam there are references to a

person who will come as the saviour of mankind" and (p11) " It is he who directs man’s

spiritual life and orients the inner aspect of human action toward God". By attaching to

messianic ideology, it is a suitable material for religious leaders to cover whole aspects of

public life included science in their individual interpretations and understandings (The

most famous slogan for Iranian soldiers during Iran-Iraq war of eight years, which was

broadcasted by radio, television, newspaper and even by wall paintings, was encouraging

them to be martyr in Mahdi’s way and to be ready for forgiveness the soul and body in

his time deputy- Khomeini. Gradually, by the media support Khomeini achieved the

highest social levels, and was considering as a social idol and sometimes Mahdi himself).

While in modern world "the production of knowledge in biology, transnational genomics

has begun to transform understanding of life, bodies, disease, health, illness, relatedness,

identities, nature and humanness" (Fujimura, 2000, p71), by Khomeini’s charisma as a

clergyman and a religious leader, for the past 25 years, the Islamic government of Iran

have obtained the appropriate power to interpret whole the social issues, included

scientific problems. They call this power the social responsibility of religious

government. The core of this power comes from two ideas, priority and unity.

Goran has explained the priority in science and anti-science (Goran, 1974). He has said

that "Clerics fostered the germ of science prior to the Renaissance" and continues that

"Even more significant is the advance of science occurring with the rise of Islam". Goran

(1974, p16) claims that because "for several centuries after Mohammed’s dead in the

seventh century, the Muslim world had great achievement in many branches of science"

thus there is no conflict between religion and science in Islam.

Nasr (1970: p21) has said about unity that "The arts and science in Islam are based on the

idea of unity, which is the heart of the Muslim revelation. Just as all genuine Islamic art

provides the plastic forms through which one can contemplate the Divine Unity

manifesting itself in the multiplicity, so do all sciences that can properly be called Islamic

reveal the unity of Nature. One might say that the aim of all the Islamic sciences and,

more generally speaking, of all medieval and ancient cosmological sciences is to show

the unity and interrelatedness of all that exists, so that, in contemplating the unity of the

cosmos, man may be led to the unity of the Divine Principle, of which the unity of Nature

is the image".

According to Mahdi’s doctrine, before zuhur (occurrences or reappearance) of Mahdi,

only faqihs’ (who are clergies) interpretations in the world can be valid. The reasons are:

first, faqihs have strong background in "cherishing manuscripts and have harboured

scholars in theology" (Goran, 1974, p16); it means they are prior to educate knowledge to

people. And second, they are "responsible for keeping unity between Muslims" (Nars,

1970. p21). In fact, the rule of Mahdi means the rule of the Prophets and the rest of

Imams. But before the occurrence of Mahdi, his deputies would call the people to the

path of God. The successors of the Prophet and Imams are also considered hujjah

(Sachedina, 1989). Hujjah, (which is a common religious name for the clergy of Shi’ite

in Iran) will be ruling until the period of raj’ah, the time of Mahdi’s return.

Central to Khomeini’s argument, as a faqih, is his strong belief in the necessity for an

Islamic government in times of Mahdi’s Occultation. The ultimate task of an Islamic

government is being the symbol of unity by playing the role of a centre for collecting

Mahdi’s followers or his soldiers, and preparing a social basis for attracting intellectuals,

as a source of knowledge prior for the occurrence of Mahdi. Khomeini’s Idea allows the

Islamic government to expand its authority to scientific affairs to make a religious utopia.

He had tied his doctrine to some social events after death of the Muhammad and

concluded that none of Muslims doubted the necessity for a religious government.

Khomeini (1989: p358) says: "The nature and character of Islamic law and the divine

ordinances of the shari’ah [or Divine Law] furnish additional proof of the necessity for

establishing government, for they indicate that the laws were laid down for the purpose of

creating a state and administering the political, economic, and cultural affairs of society".

Khomeini’s doctrine, which has emerged from Shi’ite ideology, follows Imam Ali’s (the

first Imam of Shi’ite) doctrine. Ali (658 A.D.) in his famous letter to his governor, Malik

al-Ashtar al-Nakha’i, in Egypt wrote "the Muslim soon develope a complicated science

of the shari’ah, a science which embraces every dimension of human conduct" (1989:

p74). The science of the shari’ah, in Khomeini’s definition completely covers a social

system. It contains even "provisions relating to the development of embryo in the womb

and what food the parents should eat at the time of conception" (Khomeini, 1989: p359).

Nicholson (1989, p68) had explained that such knowledge comes from "three organs of

spiritual communication: the heart (ghalb), which knows God, the spirit (ruh), which

loves Him; and the inmost ground of the soul (sirr), which contemplates Him".

Nicholson points out the Jalaluddin Rumi’s address for the knowledge. "This knowledge

comes by illumination, revelation, inspiration" (Nicholson, 1989, p70), the slogan that for

the past 25 years and under the pressure of government has broadcasted by radio and

television programs and written in newspapers articles.

Although during these years, Khomeini has always been considered as a faqih, the

Islamic government of Iran also introduces him as a Sufi, something that is fundamentally

in opposite to Shi’ite ideology. Khomeini’s lyrics that were published by government

would prove this particular situation equal to the great Islamic thinkers, and closer to

Mahdi than other deputies. Nicholson has explained how the Sufi’s knowledge

influences the science. "While ordinary knowledge is donated by the term ilm (science),

the mystic knowledge peculiar to the Sufis is called ma’rifat or irfan" (Nicholson, 1989,

p71). According to Nicholson, the ma’rifat of the Sufis is the direct knowledge of God

"who bestows it as a gift from Himself upon those whom He has created with the

capacity for receiving it" (Nicholson, 1989, p71). Nicholson argues that Muslims believe

whereas ma’rifat is sponsored by God its receivers have appropriate knowledge to know

nature of things. Logically, this doctrine annuls every scientific law. The core of this

knowledge that would cover science is istinbat, a sort of intuitive deduction. "The

mysterious inflow of divinely revealed knowledge into hearts made pure by repentance

and filled with the thought of God, and the outflow of that knowledge upon the

interpreting tongue" (Nicholson, 1989, p24). Istinbat, the axis of management in the

Islamic government of Iran, and have become applicable by government in whole social

sectors from judging in courts (Nowrouzi’s case) to distinguish the validity of

observation of the crescent of new moon (for the beginning and the end of Ramadan holy

month). This is important to say that, the Islamic government of Iran has tried to collect

whole characters that help the making of a supernatural feature for a religious leader;

however the selected characters, like Sufism, stayed in opposition to nature of Shi’ism.

After the ‘79 Islamic revolution of Iran, as Bayat (1989: p343) has explained, "when

tensions arose as a result of the incompatibility of philosophical mystical or scientific

views with basic tenets of the faith, censorship were effectively imposed by specialists of

the Islamic law, who emerged as a group of self-appointed protectors of the community

from religious deviation". The most challenging issues came up in astronomy, and about

Holy Ramadan. Although, the harmony of the rotation of the moon around the earth has

been scientifically accepted for long time, the science of the shri’ah has some provisions

for accepting the emergence of the crescent of new moon at the beginning and the end of

Holy Ramadan month. Although Baqir Sadr, one of the most prominent and influential

Shi’ite thinkers of modern times, has influenced the ‘79 Islamic revolution of Iran, the

Islamic government of Iran has never accepted his almost scientific ideas in astronomy.

Sadr, who was executed by the Ba’th government of Iraq in 1980 for explaining his

philosophy on Islamic area, has used the methodology of astronomy. His modern

religious doctrine is based on proving the harmony of galactic matters to achieve concept

of The Revealer, the Messenger and the message. Sadr’s interpretations in Islamic law

are more compatible to the modern Islamic society rather than other Shi’ite thinkers.

Sadr (1989, p: 411), after explaining some particular characteristics of the solar system

remarks: "Science, in the light of special phenomena, was also able to postulate the

existence of electrons before the discovery of the cloud-chamber. Scientists, in all these

cases, have used the inductive method of proof, based on the computation of probability.

We shall employ the same method in our argument for existence of the wise Creator".

For the past 25 years. Iranian newspapers have tried to publish Sadr’s modern ideas in

logical relationships between Islamic government and nation. However they have never

allowed writing about his scientific methodology. In fact, scientific interpretation of

socio-religious activities is under ownership of Islamic government. The strong

relationship between astronomy and Islamic philosophy, which influence even Islamic

judgment, refuses any incompatible ideas with governmental trends. Islamic government

of Iran always refers journalists to religious books, which show Shi’ite Imams have

drawn scientific territories and nobody, even Sadr, can not go further away. One of the

most famous referees of Islamic government is ja’far al-Sadiq, the sixth Imam of Shi’ite.

Nasr (1970: p295) states that "the sixth Imam were not only master of religious and

spiritual sciences, but wrote about natural sciences as well". Also Nasr points out that

many of the famous Muslim scientists and philosophers- such as Avicenna, Nasir-i

Khusru, and Nasir al-Din al-Tusi- were either Shi’ite, or from a Shi’ite background, and

one of them- Jabir ibn Hayyan, "who lived in the eight century and is the father of

Islamic alchemy" (Nasr, 1997: p418) - was one of Imam Ja’far disciples (Science and

Civilization in Islam, 1970). Islamic government immediately rejects the views of any of

the scientific critics that are opposite to Imam Ja’far’s ideas. Goran (1974) had classified

such behavior as a conflict between science and religion. His example comes from Saint

Augustine who saw science and theology as two separate realms with a gulf between

them. Goran (1974: p15) says that Saint Augustine had wanted his fellow Christians to

know science so that absurd statements would not jeopardize the fundamental ideas of the

religion. Same appear to be true with the Islamic government of Iran.

One of the most serious conflicts between Iranian journalists and Islamic government was

occurred on August 11, 1999 while the last eclipse of the 20th century was occurring. This

unique cosmic phenomenon was visible throughout Iran from northwest to southeast.

Khatami’s government, as one religious reformer government after Rafsanjani’s- another

succumbed religious government to growing domestic demands for political reforms, and

as pressure for political change gradually gained momentum from outside the country,

found it is easier to hold on power in cultural way rather than by force of Islamic patrols,

also it could be a new approach for reforms. Finally, the last eclipse of 20th century was

the best pretext. Domestically, a combination of scientists and journalists were

instrumental in paving the way for the new atmosphere of science in Iranian society.

Externally, the linkage of Western scientists and international science institutions like

NASA was crucial in encouraging tourists for traveling to Iran where the government had

scaring tourists off for 22 years.

Historically, solar and lunar eclipses have strong research background in Islamic

astronomy. Nasr (1970: p170) points out that "Al-Battani (or Albategnius) discovered

the increase of the sun’s apogee since the time of Ptolemy, which led to the discovery of

the motion of the solar upsides … He also discovered a new method for determining the

time of the vision of the new moon, and made a detailed study of solar and lunar eclipses,

used as late as the eighteenth century by Dunthorn, in his determination of the gradual

change in lunar motion". Following this background, it was expected the unique

situation of Iran again make a chance for Iranian Muslim astronomers to explain their

knowledge about solar eclipse to public. Hence, virtually the entire religious leadership

had had to publicly commit them, if only rhetorically, to the values that were essential for

the consolidation of the freedom of press to encourage people to new aspects of

astronomy. According to Shi’ite ideology, solar and lunar eclipses as well as earthquake

are signs of the Apocalypse, so people have to pray, while the eclipse or earthquake are

occurring. Islamic government eventually could not stay in its decision in the freedom of

press, and prohibited the broadcasting of the last eclipse of century as well as writing

merely scientific aspects of it in newspapers. Contrariwise, one month later a lot of

strange rumors were spread about solar eclipse and its relationship to the Great Sins,

which had occurred by people against in-time religious leader of Iran. Therefore, antiscience

information filled the public sphere up, while Islamic government restricted the

current of science information in media. In fact, anti-science was born from the heart of

religious ideology. The decision for prohibition of broadcasting came from an up-dated

faqih’s istinbat that interpreted the last solar eclipse as a time for praying in mosques and

not a time for a scientific experience.

In spite of Shi’ite origin of the Islamic government of Iran, it seems that this government

is narrowing down to accept an obsolete ideology among different Islamic branches.

This ideology belongs to the Sabaeans of Harran, which traced its origin back to the

Prophet Idris (the Enoch of the Old Testament), who is also regarded in the Islamic world

as the founder of the science of the heaven and of philosophy. Nasr in Science and

Civilization in Islam has explained that, "this religious community possessed a

remarkable knowledge of astrology and astronomy, which had links to certain aspects of

the Islamic esoteric doctrines" (1970, p30). Nasr also has said that the Sabaeans of

Harran doctrines were in many respects similar to those of the Pythagoreans. Now it is

accepted that not only Ismailis (a branch of Shi’ite) correspond closely with Pythagorean

School, but also Pythagorean doctrines have been founded both among the Shi’ite

philosophers and again among Sufis. It may bring an answer to why Islamic government

of Iran tries to simulate all its important events by numbers.

The Islamic government of Iran significantly follows the Pythagorean sense of numbers,

and similarly, encourages people to follow this sense. 72 martyrs of Karbala war (680

A.D.), 72 martyrs of Islamic government (1982), 19th and 20th of Holy Ramadan month,

decade of Fadjr in Bahman month (1979), 15th of Khordad month, 7th of Tir month

(1982), 10th of Moharam month, and so many other numbers, which carry the religious

concepts from past until present are the well-known signs of the way that Islamic

government is following. They are attaching their extreme religious interpretations about

government to the scientific sophistries, for certifying other absolutely unscientific

judgments that are done on the behalf of Mahdi. The Islamic government of Iran is

filling up the theoretical gaps of its ideology by scientific claims, for example how is the

relationship between Mahdi’s occultation, his old, and the new biological research?

What is the relationship between chronologies of Islamic revolution of 1979 and the

Quranic prophecies?

The Islamic government of Iran forces people to accept the governmental ideology that

they say has derived from Imam Ali’s letter to Malik al-Ashtar al-Nakha’i, the governor

of Egypt. Ali (1989, p75) had written to al-Ashtar that: " Control your desire and restrain

your soul from what is not lawful to you, for restraint of the soul is for it to be equitous in

what it likes and dislike". The Nowrouzi’s case is one of the challenges faced to Islamic

government, while the head of security police, a governor of Islamic government, had

attempted to rape a Muslim woman. Islamic theories are not still adequate to support

governmental affairs. In contrast, the theories for separating the faith and government in

Iran are growing up.

Sincronía Summer 2004

Sincronía General Index