Iran class

My six-week class on the history of Iran at the OSHER Institute ended on Wednesday. The young historian working on his dissertation, Zachary Heern, was very good. His wife, who escaped Iran through a camel ride to Pakistan when she was 10 years old in 1984, spoke during the last hour about her experiences. It was very moving and they were lucky to make it out. She was a member of the B'hai faith which is persecuted mercilessly by the government of Iran. She had one strong message about it though on differentiating a government from its people. Many of her Muslim friends and neighbors helped them greatly.

Iran is a complicated place, home to many ethnicities. There is a contradiction between its Persian heritage and the views of Shi'a Islam, which was adopted by most in the 16th century. Persia was one of the oldest civilizations with urban settlements dating back to 7000 B.C. Zoroastrianism was the first recorded monotheistic religion. Farsi is the main language but the Koran is written in Arabic. The Sufi poets who are greatly revered write about many things that fundamentalist Islam disapproves, such as the joys of wine, beauty and sex. And there are different kinds of Shi'ism depending on which Iman is most revered. Its government is a constitutional theocracy. Here are a couple other fun facts: only 1.4% of the population attends Friday prayers and women make up 60% of the university student population. Beware of sterotypes!

Anyone who knows any of the history of Iran knows that the CIA and Brits orchestrated an uprising against the democracy movement in 1953 and reinstalled the Shah on the throne. I now have some good book recommendations which include one on current intellectual thought in Iran and one criticizing the fundamentalist movement in Islam by a cleric who now teaches at UCLA. My best wishes to those who fight tyranny today.