The destruction of physical evidence is part of the revisionist task. To the average Western scholar, the Bamiyan Buddhas and the archeological artifacts buried in the ancient rubble under the Temple Mount are priceless treasures which must be preserved, restored, studied, and admired. But to a Muslim they are abominations and must be destroyed. If not actual idolatry, they are evidence of non-Muslim civilizations that preceded the introduction of Islam, and are thus an affront to the pride of the entire Ummah.
It has recently been discovered that an exiled Iranian academic literally took a scalpel to valuable Persian history books in the British Library and the Bodleian Library, removing inconvenient and offensive text. His depredations have caused permanent and irrecoverable damage to the historiography of the periods involved.
According to Fravahr.org:
Muslim Academic Sliced Out Sections of Priceless Collection- - - - - - - - -
Harvard-educated Farhad Hakimzadeh, 60, used a Stanley knife to cut out pages, plates and maps from up to 150 historic books. To the untrained eye the damage is barely visible. Yet within the handbound pages of books charting how Europeans travelled to Mesopotamia, Persia and the Mogul empire from the 16th century onwards, the damage caused by one Iranian academic to a priceless British Library collection is irreversible.
Leading scholars at the library are at a loss to explain why Farhad Hakimzadeh, a Harvard-educated businessman and publisher, took a scalpel to the leaves of 150 books that have been in the nation’s collection for centuries. The monetary damage he caused over seven years is in the region of £400,000 but Dr Kristian Jensen, head of the British and early printed collections at the library, said no price could be placed upon the books and maps that he had defaced and stolen.
“These are historic objects which have been damaged forever”, said Jensen. “You cannot undo what he has done and it has compromised a piece of historical evidence which charts the early engagement of Europeans with what we now know as the Middle East and China.”
“It makes me extremely angry. This is someone who is extremely rich who has damaged and destroyed something that belongs to everybody.”
Hakimzadeh, 60, faces a jail sentence today when he appears at Wood Green magistrates court in London. The Muslim, Iranian-born academic left his country after the fall of the Shah and holds a US passport. He has pleaded guilty to 14 specimen charges of stealing maps, pages and illustrations from 10 books at the British Library and four from the Bodleian Library in Oxford dating back to 1998.
Dr. Jensen is mystified as to why Mr. Hakimzadeh would do so such a thing. But the last paragraph of the article sheds some light on a possible motivation for his historical vandalism:
Hakimzadeh was the CEO of UK charity Iran Heritage Foundation (IHF). IHF is believed to be a Para vent for propaganda activities of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
So in all probability Farhad Hakimzadeh was working for the mullahs, doing his small part in the sacred task of obliterating any texts which detract from the glories of Islam in Persia.
The same thing will happen as the Islamization of the West approaches its completion. The process is already underway, as school textbooks are modified to amplify the peaceful accomplishments of Islam and play down its violent expansionism, all the while denigrating European Christian civilization.
The histories of the Battle of Tours, the Siege of Vienna, and the Battle of Lepanto will be rewritten to reflect the glorious successes of Islam in Europe.
Charles Martel? Jan III Sobieski? Los Reyes Católicos? Who are they?
Hat tip: Gaia.
53 comments:
Charles Martel, Jan III Sobieski... and don't forget Ștefan cel mare - St Stephen the Great.
For me, this one of the most outrageous events ever reported in the counter-jihad blosphere.
I'm raging mad, this little repected bastard wiped out 150 historic documents who tell the TRUTH about Islam/West relations.
It's the worse that could happen, since we can recover from political correct fashion, but not from erased history.
I've never been so sure that no muslim is to be trusted near anyhting important to the West, neither universities, authorities, etc...
Horrifying. It makes my blood boil. This is what the desert savages intend to do with our European cultural heritage once they take the power. Goodbye libraries, music, theaters, museums, cathedrals, palaces, castles, sculptures.
Can you imagine a world like that?
The process of denigrating our history was started by the liberals and now it's completed by some savages (whom they invited here) who don't even bother to denigrate and twist the facts, they just remove and destroy whole texts.
Same with the bolsheviks. You did not care much and these people stifled our opposition in the "free" West. We had to be scared of each other in the west. Sometimes the agent might even welcome you as a refugee asking questions on behalf of the West AND the East being imployed by the stupid Western gov. - the W. sometimes knowing that (for ex. in Austria).
Good post, Baron, but I note that you do not address the implications of dealing with people raised with such a damaged view of history.
Someone who is raised with such a distorted history will be fundamentally unable to reason with someone who was not, because they have no common ground from which to establish common concepts. There are no common historical references only the appearance of commonality in many cases.
For instance, both the West and Islam acknowledge the existance of Israel, but we do not have a common definition of what Israel is, upon which to found a rational discussion.
The very question "What should we do about Israel?" may seem to be common ground, but it is not. To the historically damaged Muslim, the underlying assumption of the question is likely to be: "How does Islam get back what was stolen from them?", while to a westerner it is more likely to be:"Why can't these people find common ground with their neighbors?"
Where there is no common understanding of terms, there can be no true agreement in contracts, in philosophy, or even in common sense.
When one cannot depend upon common understanding of terms, there can be no communication, only the appearance of communication.
Take away (re-write) a nation's history and you have the next generation...HMMM...someone infamous said that.....
Bloody savages. These people should be kept far, far away from the cultural treasures of other peoples, not just Westerners. The fact that our authorities deliberately import these people is one of the greatest crimes ever committed against a people by their own leaders. They will destroy everything we hold dear, and take pleasure in doing so. And we're supposed to celebrate this. It's enough to make a man mad.
You have probably already read about Mohammed Omar elsewhere on this blog, the swedish moderate muslim who came out of the closet as a radical muslim recently. This guy is already re-writing our histöry and our nation is not even offoically muslim yet. I visited his blog the other day and read some about this, making the vikings into muslims. There was a picture of a vikingess which veiled her hair which he of course interpreted as a hijab! If I'm not mistaken I've already read about runstones being vandalized. I can guess who is behind that. Also our universities are infiltrated with loads of these people. God knows what they already has managed to destroy over the years. Speaking about the brits, will they erase Elizabeth I from history just because she was a woman ruler? Joan of Arc, who will know her name in a hundred years?
What a coincidence...I was just writing this morning about the importance of archiving information - protecting information - for Western civilization and click over to find this.
I agree, it is enough to make one mad.
This is intellectual murder and he should be treated as if he killed an individual. To murder history and knowledge is to murder the world.
A Muslim is a Muslim is a Muslim. A moderate Muslim is the one who is yelling "Jews to the oven" and sending money to the extremist Muslim.
Why did he have unsupervised access to these priceless documents, and how did it take so long for these defacements to come to light? Such surgical deletions take a good long time to accomplish, they're aren't a quick 5 minute affair.
Modern politicians can't do nuthin' 'bout it. They the growing strength of Islam. Why risk losing one's head over a few books?
As I write this, the radio news is lamenting "the deaths of over 1,100 "palestinians" at the hands of Israel..." bla bla bla..
Remember, the leader of the free world believes Islam means peace. People who read this website and others like Jihad Watch a are small minority. Don't count for nuthin'.
You need to protect yourself and your family. Your government no longer cares.
Oops: "They respect the growing strength of Islam. Why risk losing one's head over a few books?
The French blog Galliawatch has reported over several years the massive cultural vandalism that Muslims have committed in France, including the destruction of centuries old statues and thousands of centuries old historical and religious texts. If you search on Galliawatch for posts from the past few years, you will find things that will curl your hair.
Liberals delete the past as well.. They want us to submit to the ahistorical now of Secular Heaven.
Oxford Dictionary deletes words associated with Christianity and England
Banning of Latin expressions in Local Government
Call Me Mom: "Someone who is raised with such a distorted history will be fundamentally unable to reason with someone who was not..."
Have you tried to engage in a meaningful discussion on any subject other than recycling, "hate speech" or global warming with a product of government schools lately? Good luck.
Charles Bogle said "Remember, the leader of the free world believes Islam means peace." This is a perfect example of the lack of commonality making communication impossible. To a westerner, "peace" may mean anything from lack of conflict to contentment, whereas to a Muslim, peace means submission to Allah. We may be using the same words, but we are not engaging in communication.
ΛΕΟΝΙΔΑΣ - Actually I have been interacting with school age people in my volunteer work for several years. Most of them believe we live in a democracy, not a republic and don't know or care what the difference is. I have heard statements like: "why do I care what's in the Constitution-it doesn't affect me?" and "Why should I worry about my rights-that's the government's job".
The homeschooled young people I have met(including my own) are just so much better informed and educated in every aspect of life than their public school counterparts that I can't believe anyone still wants to put more money into the public school system.
Our older people have no idea what goes on in our schools. (One believed if they did, they would be using their considerable lobbying powers to shut them down.) Any responsible parent with a brain, walking down the halls of a typical high school would know better than to subject their child to such an environment.
Teachers apparently are allowed to do nothing to reprimand them for the filth spewing from their mouths, and they openly refuse to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. They brag about the fact that the teachers can't control them.
I'm sure their parents have no idea what kind of language these kids are using everyday in school. Your child would get a better education with less exposure to violence and filth if they spent their days at the corner tavern.
My apologies, Baron, I'm terribly off-topic.
So, he left Iran when the Shah went out but works for the Mullahs?
Something doesn't hold on as it should here... I don't know why he did but maybe he has played too much islamic Tomb Raider or something of the sort...
A "Harvard educated" vandal no better than the original Vandals, forces of darkness.
Harvard and other hotbeds of marxist thought fuel the fire of Muslim hatred for the West by denigrating everything of European origin while elevating non-European cultures that have created nothing but fetid swamps and blaming their failure on European colonization.
However, long before the Harvard finishing school of anti-western hatred, the ideology of Islam grabs hold of the forming brain in childhood and makes it impermeable to reason, beauty, decency, fairness, a desire to learn.
These pod people no matter how westernized on the surface are part of a primitive cult and each finds his moment to act for the advancement of their cause.
It is insane to allow them anywhere near western heritage, defences or levers of power. Enough of them are pulling Manchurian candidate acts that all must be under suspicion.
The President elect's pedigree could not be worse.
It would be preferable that Muslims have their Caliphate and be herded back into its borders. Their achievements are negligible when surrounded by their own culture. Though some Muslim individuals have had success in the West's intellectual infrastructure, they will not be able to overcome the undiluted benightedness of the ummah. In fact, they will set about killing each other if easy access to the West is cut off. It was a mistake of gargantuan proportions to stop the Iran-Iraq war instead of letting them go at each other, Muslim against Muslim.
Ideally, much of the Left's leadership should be sent along with them to taste the fruits of their labors. A fitting fate for traitors.
Well, for the last commenter:
Public schools, Portugal.
Democratic State Schooling is predicated on the malignant notion that all people are equal i.e. equally identical, like lumps of plasticine to be moulded by teaching.
Everybody I have ever met, EVER, utterly resents their schooling and have nothing but bad memories of it.
My reading of a report on this sustained act of vandalism was that Hakimzadeh had his own collection of (poorer quality) editions of books and had replaced some of these versions of pages in the books he had with those stolen from the British Library. So, it would appear to be greed as the primary motivation, not financial. I believe that the vandalism was discovered by more chance than anything else with another reader discovering damage to a book and bringing it to the attention of the Library. The library then tracked back on every book Hakimzadeh had borrowed to try to see if they have been vandalised - some of his work was very difficult to detect for those not familiar with the particular edition.
Of course, as you point out, if you have a contempt for a culture, you are not going to consider its things of value as being held in trust for future generations. After all, if the end times are coming and Allah can change reality as we know it on a whim, what's the point of preserving something that doesn't make you feel good now, or doesn't get you into Jannah (Heaven), or comes from a culture you believe is in a state of jahiliyah.
Liberals delete the past as well.. They want us to submit to the ahistorical now of Secular Heaven.
The purpose of deleting words from the dictionary is the pave the way for our new Muslim masters, whom said liberals foolishly believe they can control. At this point I think they see Islam as a more effective means of population control than their previous attempts to create the New Soviet Man, which failed.
Perhaps this destruction should become the West's 'Mohammad toons' moment?
This post has been linked for the HOT5 Daily 1/18/2009, at The Unreligious Right
this is the same process humanity has gone thru in other aproaching dark ages.
how does anyone think great books and manuscripts from the past that are mythic now, disapeared? how did the library of alexandria disapear? how did great knoledge of the lost civilizations disapear?
someone somewhere determined that it was too evil, or contraversial or bad for thier agenda, culture, what ever. some barbarian somewhere burned it or destroyed it.
and thats how its lost. he is just a modern example of what happened to important lost histories 1000 years ago or 2000 or 5000 years ago
To the average Western scholar, the Bamiyan Buddhas and the archeological artifacts buried in the ancient rubble under the Temple Mount are priceless treasures which must be preserved, restored, studied, and admired. But to a Muslim they are abominations and must be destroyed. If not actual idolatry, they are evidence of non-Muslim civilizations that preceded the introduction of Islam, and are thus an affront to the pride of the entire Ummah.
Closer examination will reveal that anything and everything non-Muslim is "an affront to the pride of the entire Ummah".
Leading scholars at the library are at a loss to explain why Farhad Hakimzadeh, a Harvard-educated businessman and publisher, took a scalpel to the leaves of 150 books that have been in the nation’s collection for centuries.
Thus revealing their towering ignorance of Islam.
The monetary damage he caused over seven years is in the region of £400,000 ... “It makes me extremely angry. This is someone who is extremely rich who has damaged and destroyed something that belongs to everybody.” [emphasis added]
Permit me to suggest that Mr. Hakimzadeh should find all future earnings garnished and his current assets siezed in order to constitute restitution for his criminal acts. If there is some way to find for treble damages, all the better.
Dr. Jensen is mystified as to why Mr. Hakimzadeh would do so such a thing.
Further demonstrating why academia consistently proves itself to be useless or worse in fighting the predations of Islam.
Armance: Horrifying. It makes my blood boil. This is what the desert savages intend to do with our European cultural heritage once they take the power. Goodbye libraries, music, theaters, museums, cathedrals, palaces, castles, sculptures.
I have long maintained both here and elsewhere that Islam's much dreamed of global caliphate represents nothing more or less than Global Cultural Genocide™.
Notre Dame's rose window will find its last service to man in being a bulls eye for Muslim artillery. The Old Masters' oils will be kindling for bonfires that consume every major Western library. Gutenberg Bibles will be so much toilet tissue to these barbarians.
Call Me Mom: Where there is no common understanding of terms, there can be no true agreement in contracts, in philosophy, or even in common sense.
A superb point that, when integrated with the Islamic practices of kitman and taqiyya, makes all the more clear why negotiations, contracts, treaties and all normally accepted methods of dispute remediation are absolutely worthless with respect to dealing with Muslims. Israel's diplomatic track record with the Palestinians is a micro example of what the West will enjoy in its macro dealings with Islam.
Fjordman: The fact that our authorities deliberately import these people is one of the greatest crimes ever committed against a people by their own leaders.
My only correction would be to add the word "capital" when talking about these crimes. There should be the ultimate penalty for inflicting such mindless viciousness upon civilized people.
NJArtist: A Muslim is a Muslim is a Muslim. A moderate Muslim is the one who is yelling "Jews to the oven" and sending money to the extremist Muslim.
The ever-increasing truth of the foregoing statement presages the West's eventual arrival at the Tipping Point™: Where it will finally become more trouble to live with Muslims than it will be to live without them. The crimes of Farhad Hakimzadeh only hasten that day.
laine: Enough of them are pulling Manchurian candidate acts that all must be under suspicion.
At day's end, this will be the core of arguments for reverse immigration that see all Muslims, citizens or not, returned to the lands of their ancestry. DNA testing will probably be required to sort out the Trojan Horse converts.
Just as these books were ruined, so will Islam push for the ruination of all things Western. The effort will not stop until overwhelming counterforce is applied. Current Western strategies remain reactive to such an unacceptable extent that the initiator for such a tremendous response probably will be the nuclear destruction of several major American or European cities. This is what will most likely trigger the Muslim holocaust.
"The process is already underway, as school textbooks are modified to amplify the peaceful accomplishments of Islam..." BBC Breakfast News this morning advertised a forthcoming TV programme on BBC Channel 4 about Islam being the foundation of Western science.
This is a crime against humanity. This animal should be executed according to the technique modeled by Mel Gibson in Braveheart. You gotta love the headline that ABC gave this news item: "US Man Jailed for Stealing Pages From Rare Books. Wealthy US businessman jailed for slicing pages out of rare books at British library". No mention (of course) of his Iranian identity, just another rich American capitalist. And his motive? Why, he has "… a deep love of books, perhaps so deep that it goes to excess" according to the judge who sentenced this pig to 2 years!?! His family demonstrated their overwhelming grief by much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth! The whole rotten lot of them needs to be repatriated to Iran (from 30,000 ft if necessary).
Zenster,
Thank you for reminding us of the practice of taqqiya (lying to protect oneself or to advance the cause of Islam). It ties in very well with laine's point " Enough of them are pulling Manchurian candidate acts that all must be under suspicion."
I have posted about this here.
If you prefer not to read the post, the main poiint is summed up thusly: "For the record, if someone believes that lying is acceptable to advance their cause, they are not trustworthy in any area of their life. Because you and I have no way of knowing what their cause is, we have no way to tell what they may lie about and therefore can trust them in nothing. Is there anyone who believes otherwise?"
If you read that post you will kindly note that the speaker to whom I refer in the post is Ingrid Mattson. This should be interesting for Americans, because this same woman has somehow gained a speaker's place at Mr. Obama's inaugural prayer service.
I think it's been said above, but it's actions such as these that make me realise Islam is not a religion in the traditional sense, but simply an older version of a totalitarian, political ideology, examples of which littered the 20th Century.
As commenters above have noted, with seemingly more and more of our politicians becoming dhimmified, the process of erasing our own history to be 'inclusive' or avoid offending anyone is well under way. Muslims are increasingly taking advantage of this, our weakness, and will continue to do so whilst allowed to do so. That's why this man must be punished, then deported.
The Venerable Earl said:
"Islam is not a religion in the traditional sense, but simply an older version of a totalitarian, political ideology..."
You are correct. Islam is a total system of religion, government, economics and philosophy. They have never made any secret of this fact or of any of the other things they intend. We in the west seem to be in a state of total denial. I have no other explanation as to why the facts are being so thoroughly ignored.
thll:
There is currently a series on Islam and Science on Channel 4, but they're also running a series on Christianity (the one on Islam was last year).
However, I noted that one of the programmes was presented by Rageh Omar, a Somali-origin Muslim journalist (who once prayed with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a ceremony on a documentary).
He was invited to give the Muslim perspective on the Crusades and other clashes. I can't recall, but I don't think the one on Islam invited Greeks to talk about the fall of the Byzantine Empire or the Ottomans, or Jews about Jizya.
Could be wrong though.
Call Me Mom:
Totally agree. I don't know how it can be that so many people can still be ignorant of what we face.
The trouble is they're not just ignoring the facts about Islam, but all of the explicit actions of it and its adherents. That is madness; how many blows must someone take before they fight back, or at least realise they're dealing with an unpleasant thug?
Earl (if I may shorten your moniker in such an undignified way)
I think it is as much a lack of logic skills as it is denial. Consider the attitude of the victim of a violent crime vs. a holocaust survivor. The one time victim is in such shock over the very idea that someone could want to hurt them, that they will make up excuses for the perpetrator of the crime.
The holocaust victim (or long time abuse sufferer), understands to some degree that it does not matter why the perpetrator is doing this horrible thing, they simply know that the abuser must be stopped.
One can analyze the motives at one's leisure after the threat to life and limb is removed, but one must first remove that threat.
We need to move from making excuses for the perpetrators to removing the threat and I don't think we will until we have suffered a great deal more.
To be as succinct as possible:
Islam is a supremacist, totalitarian,
ultra-violent thug CULT and its adherents are ULTRA-VIOLENT THIRD WORLD BARBARIAN THUGS.
Call Me Mom:
I think that's a good analogy. What this situation reminds me of is accounts I've read of Stalin's reaction to Hitler's betrayal and invasion. Even as the Nazis attacked his troops and raced deep into his territory, at first he refused to believe it was happening, because he'd trusted Hitler. I'd guess that was more to do with not wanting to admit what how poor his judgment had been rather than because he thought Hitler was such a great bloke.
As Fjordman has pointed out before, we're in the same boat; we've invited these people here, accommodated them, been nothing but willing to help, and still they abuse us, attack us, as if they're at war with us.
Well, they are, and for that reason I agree, we do need to remove the threat as soon as possible.
But I fear you're right, and it will take much worse before many willingly open their eyes.
This needs correcting. The Iran Heritage Foundation is not a pro-regime organization, quite the opposite. Members are more likely to be royalists than anything, or democrats, but not regime supporters. It does great work in spreading real Persian culture here in the UK, through exhibitions, seminars etc.
Hakimzadeh’s depredations in the BL had nothing to do with the idea of destroying traces of pre-Ilamic civilization. The material he stole was used to ‘improve’ his own collection, by taking better quality pages from the library and tipping them into his own volumes. They all relate to Islamic countries and are in no way linked to covering jahiliyya culture.
Well Nannette,
I am tempted to ask upon what do you base your conclusions, but that would be pointless.
I have been reading and studying Islam, as have many of the commenter's here. I am simply unwilling to leave the safety of my country, my family and myself to the bland reassurances that this is all coincidence.
I would most politely and respectfully ask you to reexamine the contents of this blog and give me one good reason to accept your explanation of this bizarre crime as the aberration of one man over the logical conclusion that it is one of a series of such crimes and incidents within the context of Islam's stated goals and accepted methods of world conquest.
Call Me Mom: Thank you for reminding us of the practice of taqqiya (lying to protect oneself or to advance the cause of Islam).
You are most welcome and I read your entire article thank-you-very-much. Great writing and good analysis.
My own take is that taqiyya irrevocably damns Islam. Not only is any foundation of trust absent but even the barest expectation of it as well. When confronted with such an ethically lopsided proposal as to trust a Muslim, any Muslim, a rational mind will rebel against such an unjust suggestion.
Islam seeks to award itself all strategic and moral advantages even as it attempts to strip away every last dignity and basic human right of its opponents. (Can you see where this is leading?)
The growing chorus of voices demanding reciprocity from Islam must eventually confront the fact that such quid pro quo can only come in the form of repaying Islam in its own coin. This goes well beyond lies for lies and must also include violence for violence. Quite possibly, even terrorism for terrorism.
My own form of inducing such terror comes in suggesting that, quite possibly, only massively disproportionate retaliations against the Muslim world for their terrorist atrocities will ever inflict enough outright fear and panic that they might consider taking the first step of killing terrorists themselves.
Only when every new terrorist atrocity results in such a rain of immediate death upon the Muslim world will they most likely ever take the first critical step of killing the jihadis on their own.
There is absolutely no reason on earth that the West should be obliged to clean Islam's house for it. Quite the contrary. Constant terrorist predations upon the West should have the final result of Muslims, moderate or otherwise, being thrown out with the jihadist bathwater.
Only when Muslims are suffering to a greater degree than we in the West will they feel any compulsion to change their ways. Until such a time, we are essentially rewarding them by accepting far more abuse than they should be getting in return for their savage barbarity.
Let Islam clean its own house or find it collapsing in rubble around their ears. Our only obligation is to pay Islam in its own coin. A dreadful and filthy currency it may be but it is the only one that Muslims will ever understand.
Thanks Zenster,
I would prefer to convert them all, but that seems unlikely.
Call Me Mom: I would prefer to convert them all, but that seems unlikely.
A noble sentiment and one that I'm sure your Lord would highly approve of. After some extensive talks on philosophy and theology with a wonderful Catholic priest I met in the Philippines, I am now rather confident that if there is one faith which could draw Islam's fangs, it is Christianity.
How ironic that one seeks to rule our world by the sword and the other only by love. This forever shall be Islam's ultimate failing; That of demonstrating genuine love for one's fellow man.
Islam and Western Civilization are in a state of total war. This planet is not big enough for both of us. Coexistence is simply not possible.
The problem is that many Westerners don’t realize it yet, and refuse to realize it.
Although leftism is our most immediate enemy in the U.S., we are going to have to come to grips with Islam sooner or later. This article shows that Muslims cannot be trusted, no matter their profession or level of education. Do not turn your back on them.
(Cross-posted at Gulf Coast Pundit.)
See also the concept of Damnatio memoriae
While I am appalled and disgusted by Mr. Hakimzadeh's actions, I find the statements made in this blog post not only inaccurate but also offensive. I have no direct affiliation with the Iran Heritage foundation but just from their website and past activities, it’s obvious that the organization is not some sort of haven for extremist Muslims conspiring to destroy the West, but a simple expatriate-run Iranian cultural organization: one that has organized quite a number of activities and events related to the pre-Islamic heritage of Iran, including the Persian New Year being celebrated right now (which is based on ancient Zoroastrian traditions that have nothing to do with Islam). Even as I type this, the IHO website is featuring on its home page the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi, who is not only a major critic of the Islamic Republic of Iran but also quite friendly with Paul Wolfowitz and other American neoconservatives who advocate regime change in Iran. Finally, regardless of his professional affiliations, it is very unlikely that Mr. Hakimzadeh's actions were motivated by Islamic fanaticism, considering that his own father was Jewish. While he has yet to explain his reprehensible actions, a more likely hypothesis about his motives for stealing these pages is that he was trying to complete his personal collection of rare books, and NOT as you claim here, trying to efface any record of pre-Islamic history. I’m sure you will block this comment from being posted, and that’s a shame, because it would make your website a little more credible as a forum for dialogue, and not just as an outlet for hate speech.
gs78
"I have no direct affiliation with the Iran Heritage foundation but just from their website and past activities, it’s obvious that the organization is not some sort of haven for extremist Muslims conspiring to destroy the West, but a simple expatriate-run Iranian cultural organization"
May I suggest you examine the practices of kitman and taqqiya before making statements like this. The bottom line is that if someone is willing to lie about their activities to promote their cause, you may not reasonably assign a completely benign motive to any of their activities. That is the consequence of such behavior.
"While he has yet to explain his reprehensible actions, a more likely hypothesis about his motives for stealing these pages is that he was trying to complete his personal collection of rare books, and NOT as you claim here, trying to efface any record of pre-Islamic history."
Why shouldn't he engage in this reprehensible activity for both reasons? Simply because one reason seems to be the most logical, does not rule out the validity of a second or even a third reason.
Yes, some of the posts are a bit heated, but show us where they are inaccurate, historically or culturally with regard to Islam and their practices.
As you see the Baron is not so poor spirited as to squelch comments such as yours from being posted.
Defend your assertions with facts, please, not speculation. I do not regard the fact that the Iran Heritage Foundation often engages in seemingly counter-to-Islam activities or promotions as a reliable indicator of their true mission, because due to the practice of taqqiya, I may not safely do so, and neither can you.
While he has yet to explain his reprehensible actions, a more likely hypothesis about his motives for stealing these pages is that he was trying to complete his personal collection of rare books, and NOT as you claim here, trying to efface any record of pre-Islamic history
Your supposition is laughable on its face. If that's what he was trying to do, he would have stolen the entire book, not remove specific pages that share a suspicious commonality.
“…. If that's what he was trying to do, he would have stolen the entire book, not remove specific pages that share a suspicious commonality.”
Clearly the person who wrote this has never stepped foot in the Rare Books section of the British Library , or any other national library for that matter. Short answer: it’s simply impossible to walk out with entire books. As for the choice of material to steal, Hakimzadeh’s theft covered a wide range of subjects related to the history of Europe, the Middle East and China. But little of that would have aided a project of historical revisionism, if that’s what you mean by the “suspicious commonality” of pages he stole. Finally, there’s the hard fact that this wacko had less-valuable copies of many of these books at his own home, into which he had inserted the stolen pages. Based on the findings of investigators, it is much more logical (and far less paranoid) to conclude that he stole the pages to increase the value of his private copies and sell them for a profit. (Refs: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/nov/21/british-library-sues-iranian-academic and http://www.culturalheritagelaw.org/news-issues/news-issues-in-cultural-heritage/what-drives-people-to-steal-precious-books/).
Now, regarding the comments about practices of taqqiya, or dissimulation. I’m no expert on Islam (not like anyone here is either), but from all I’ve read, there are very limited cases where it is acceptable to dissimulate: i.e. only when your own life or safety are in danger, or (less accepted) to reconcile with an enemy. But NEVER in cases where it would lead to harm or death of innocent people. That said, I still think the argument is irrelevant. A liar is a liar, and would find some way to interpret/distort ANY religious dictum in such a way that suits his needs: if a crazy fundamentalist wants to lie, he will perform any mental gymnastics to convince himself he’s doing the “right” thing. This is hardly a problem specific to Islam: throughout history people of ALL religious have exploited/misinterpreted/perverted religious doctrine to attain their own twisted ends. It’s a problem of human nature, psychology, and individual pathology.
So, if you look members/benefactors of the IHO, you will see that it is comprised mostly of wealthy Iranians who left Iran precisely BECAUSE it became an Islamic State. Now, if we accept your idea that the Board is comprised of fanatical jihadists, then that means these idiots are putting all their money into an organization to promote activities that run directly counter to their own aims! In that case we could only HOPE that all Islamic fundamentalists are as stupid as the guys you imagine are pulling the strings of the IHO!
I don’t know what goes on in the head of sociopaths like Hakimzadeh, but to assume he was driven by economic motives is far more sensible than speculating about his closet jihadism and conjuring up some fantasy of a worldwide terrorist cabal. It does sadden me that post-9/11 fear can make otherwise rational people lose their capacity for nuanced critical thought.
gs78
Perhaps you will accept the words of someone who is an expert on Islam re: the practice of lying for other than the three openly stated reasons.
"Imam Abu Hammid Ghazali says: "Speaking is a means to achieve objectives. If a praiseworthy aim is attainable through both telling the truth and lying, it is unlawful to accomplish through lying because there is no need for it. When it is possible to achieve such an aim by lying but not by telling the truth, it is permissible to lie if attaining the goal is permissible." (Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, The Reliance of the Traveller, translated by Nuh Ha Mim Keller, amana publications, 1997, section r8.2, page 745)"
So, according to this Imam,(and surely you will grant that an Imam can be said to be an expert on Islam) lying is permissible to attain any worthy goal which would not be attainable by telling the truth.
I would say that removing a people's access to their own historical documents is a worthy goal for a follower of Islam. (As is presenting a non-threatening front to help Islam obtain it's political objectives. Because Islam is not just a religion, it is a political, economic, religious and legal system, with the religious arm being a particularly effective means through which to exploit the tendency of free countries to engage in political correctness.) Especially when the overarching goal of Islam is world domination. Destroying historical references of a people is one of the tools used by Islam historically to conquer other peoples and hold them in subjection.
"One of the foundational theological problems for Islam in this matter is the fact that Allah prides himself to be "the best of deceivers" (Âl 'Imran 3:54, Al-Anfal 8:30). How then can deception be negative and morally wrong for Muslims when it is a matter of pride for Allah, the god of Islam? "
The practice of "outwitting" is common and accepted practice among Muslims. Please refrain from criticizing the posters and commenters on this blog for doing our homework and seeing this as a small part of a larger overall context which can be clearly seen by reading the posts on this blog. We may not all be experts on Islam, but one does not have to be an expert on knives to know that the one approaching one's own neck can do one an injury.
It is not my intention, however, to speak for the authors of this blog. Perhaps they will respond to you themselves when they have a moment.
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