American Perceptions of Islam Slides and abbreviated commentary by Michael Craig Hillmann, January 2019 • American critiques of Islam • The notion of multiple Islams • Iranian Islam • Iranian Mosques • Persian carpets • The Koran and pillars of the Muslim faith • Koran illumination • Koran translations • The Muslim Prophet Muhammad (c.570-632) • Famous Koranic passages and chief Koranic doctrines • Issues for contemporary Muslim reformers • Jalāloddin Rumi (1207-1273), Persian poet and Suf • A fle called “Notes–American Perceptions of Islam,” which cites sources, offers commentary on American perceptions of Islam as well as background information on Islam, and includes a bibliography, is available online at www.Academia.edu/MichaelHillmann. A regularly revised copy of American Perceptions of Islam is available at www.Issuu.com/MichaelHillmann.
Michael Craig Hillmann mchillmann@aol.com, 512-653-5152
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American Anti-Islam Perceptions and Views
• POTUS Trump: “There's a tremendous section and cross-section of Muslims living in our country who have tremendous animosity.” •POTUS Trump: “ I think Islam hates us…I don’t know if it’s from the Quran. But there’s tremendous hatred out there that I’ve never seen anything like it [sic].” • POTUS Trump: “Obama founded ISIS.” • POTUS Trump: “I would certainly implement that [requiring Muslims in the United States to register in a database]–absolutely.” • POTUS spokesperson: “Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shut-down of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can fgure out what is going on.”
US President Donald J. Trump
• “‘I think Islam hates us’: A timeline of Trump’s comments about Islam and Muslims” by Jenna Johnson and Abigail Hauslohner, The Washington Post, 20 May 2017.
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• POTUS Trump: “I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down.…And I watched in Jersey City, N.J., where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering.”
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US National Security Adviser Michael Flynn
• Islam is “a cancer.” • “Fear of Muslims is rational.” • Islam is “a political ideology. It defnitely hides behind this notion of it being a religion.” • “All 12 Democrats… in the Florida state senate…voted to impose shariah [Islamic law] at the local and state level.” • “…the American Founding Fathers wanted nothing to do with Islam.”
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• American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin wrote the following in his Autobiography on the subject of a meeting house he envisioned and saw built in Philadelphia: “the design in building not being to accommodate any particular sect…so that even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send a missionary to preach Mahometism [Islam] to us, he would fnd a pulpit at his service.”
• Founding Father George Washington: “If they [Mount Vernon workforce] are good workmen, they may be of Asia, Africa, or Europe. They may be Mahometans [Mohammedans/Muslims], Jews or Christians of any Sect, or they may be Atheists.”
• Founding Father Thomas Jefferson’s Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom…“meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan [Muslim]. ”
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U.S. Treaty with Tripoli (1797) states: “The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen [Muslims]. “Now be it known, that I, John Adams, President of the United States of America, having seen and considered the said Treaty do, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, accept, ratify, and confrm the same, and every clause and article thereof.” Quoted from Omid Saf, “The Founding Fathers’ …Positive Image of Islam,” Memories of Muhammad: Why the Prophet Matters, 2009, pp. 9-13).
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• On 17 August 2017 POTUS Trump tweeted: "Study what General Pershing of the United States did to [Muslim] terrorists [in the Philippines] when caught. There was no more Radical Islamic Terror for 35 years!" Trump here refers to a story he told during a February 2016 political rally about Pershing's forces capturing 50 Muslim prisoners, at which point, according to Trump, Pershing "took 50 bullets, and he dipped them in pigs' blood. And he had his men load his rifles, and he lined up the 50 people, and they shot 49 of those people. And the 50th person, he said, 'You go back to your people, and you tell them what happened.' And for 25 years, there wasn't a problem." [No such event took place. Muslims do not believe that they would be consigned to hell if shot with a bullet dipped in pigs’ blood.] • On 11 January 2018, POTUS Trump, at a White House meeting with legislators, referred to such African countries as Mali and Nigeria as “shithole” countries whose citizens (e.g., Chinua Achebe) America should not accept as immigrants. Readers might review this issue by reading The New York Times, Saturday, 13 January 2018, A1-20.
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Richard Lamm, former Governor of Colorado, in 2017: • “...to destroy America, turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural country...History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a curse for a society to be bilingual. • …to destroy America, invent 'multiculturalism' and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. Make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal…The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity…. [to destroy America]…I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture…My…plan for America's downfall would include dual citizenship…Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other–that is, when they are not killing each other.” • [To destroy America]... I would place all subjects off limits. Make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult of 'diversity.' I would fnd a word similar to 'heretic' in the 16th century, that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like 'racist' or 'xenophobe' halt discussion and debate. Having made America a bilingual/bicultural country, having established multi-cultum, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of 'Victimology,' I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them.'
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Another American Take on Islam (in circulation online since 2006) 1 of 2: “They [Muslims] cannot and will not assimilate into any society that does not embrace their theocratic views. Europe has already suffered a recent invasion of Muslims under the guise of refugees that will destroy Europe as we and they knew it. To ignore the same here will be at our peril. This denial has been the downfall of every non-Muslim nation who has refused to or has been afraid to believe it–do not fall into the trap of thinking anyone who is aware is racist or paranoid–the informed always have the advantage. I want adults and children to understand this regarding MUSLIMS. CAN MUSLIMS BE GOOD AMERICANS? This is very interesting and we all need to read it from start to fnish. And send it on to everyone. Maybe this is why our American Muslims are so quiet and not speaking out about any atrocities. Can a good Muslim be a good American? Theologically–no. Because his allegiance is to Allâh, The moon god of Arabia. Religiously–no. Because no other religion is accepted by his Allâh except Islam (Quran 2:256). Scripturally–no. Because his allegiance is to the fve Pillars of Islam and the Quran. Geographically–no. Because his allegiance is to Mecca, to which he turns in prayer fve times a day. Socially–no. Because his allegiance to Islam forbids him to make friends with Christians or Jews. Politically–no. Because he must submit to the mullahs, who teach annihilation of Israel and destruction of America, the great Satan.”
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Another American Take on Islam 2 of 2:
“Domestically– no. Because he is instructed to marry four women and beat and scourge his wife when she disobeys him. Intellectually–no. Because he cannot accept the American Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes the Bible to be corrupt. Philosophically-no. Because Islam, Muhammad, and the Quran do not allow freedom of religion and expression. Democracy and Islam cannot co-exist. Every Muslim government is either dictatorial or autocratic. Spiritually–no. Because when we declare 'one nation under God,' The Christian's God is loving and kind, while Allah is NEVER referred to as Heavenly father, nor is he ever called love in the Quran's 99 excellent names. Therefore, after much study and deliberation...Perhaps we should be very suspicious of ALL MUSLIMS in this country. They obviously cannot be both 'good' Muslims and 'good' Americans. Call it what you wish, it's still the truth. You had better believe it. The more who understand this, the better it will be for our country and our future. The religious war is bigger than we know or understand! Footnote: The Muslims have said they will destroy us from within. Footnote–The Muslims have said they will destroy us from within.”
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Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump tweet (January 2019) about the U.S./Mexico border: “Border rancher: ‘We’ve found prayer rugs out here. It’s unreal.’ Washington Examiner People coming across the Southern Border from many countries, some of which would be a big surprise.”
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• Check any items on this list of arguably American characteristics that can relate to anti-Islam views of some Americans. 1❒ 2❒ 3❒ 4❒
America frst candor, frankness capitalism privileging of Christianity, religious bias, intolerance 5 ❒ competitiveness 6 ❒ compromise 7 ❒ courage/bravery 8 ❒ ethical principles, morality 9 ❒ privileging of white ethnicity 10 ❒ Eurocentrism 11 ❒ exceptionalism 12 ❒ fair play 13 ❒ family 14 ❒ family history 15 ❒ flexibility, adaptability 16 ❒ friendship 17 ❒ future orientation
18 ❒ globalism/antiglobalism 19 ❒ Greco-Roman, JudeoChristian views 20 ❒ love of homeland 21 ❒ honesty, fair dealing 22 ❒ idealism 23 ❒ individualism 24 ❒ individuality 25 ❒ industriousness 26 ❒ informality 27 ❒ innovation 28 ❒ jingoism 29 ❒ materialism 30 ❒ militarism 31 ❒ moderation 32 ❒ modernity 33indigenous movies/ feature flms 34popular music 35 ❒cultural nationalism
36 ❒ political nationalism 37 ❒ nationality 38 ❒ openmindedness, freethinking 39 ❒ optimism 40 ❒ patriotism 41 ❒ living in/for the present 42 ❒ racism, racial prejudice/discrimination 43 ❒ realism 44 ❒ religious beliefs 45 ❒ resoluteness, will 46 ❒ sexism, male chauvinism 47 ❒ social media 48 ❒ summers 49 ❒ leisure travel and vacationing 50 ❒ xenophobia
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American Take: I want adults and children to understand this regarding MUSLIMS. CAN MUSLIMS BE GOOD AMERICANS? This is very interesting and we all need to read it [this article] from start to fnish. And send it on to everyone…why [are] our American Muslims…so quiet and not speaking out about any atrocities... • Almost one percent of the population of America is Muslim. That’ll be two percent by 2050, an unsettling prospect for some Americans. As for Muslim American responses to terrorism and other atrocities perpetrated in the name of Islam, readers might start with Khaled Abou El Fadl’s The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists (2007) and continue with the scores of books down to Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s The Challenge of Dawa: Political Islam as Ideology and Movement and How to Counter It (2017).
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The Challenge of Dawa: Political Islam as Ideology and Movement and How to Counter It by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Hoover Institution Press/Stanford University, 2017).
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• “... the American public urgently needs to be educated about both the ideology of political Islam and the organizational infrastructure called da’wa [ ]ال ادعوةthat Islamists use to inspire, indoctrinate, recruit, and mobilize those Muslims whom they win over to their cause . • There is no point in denying that this ideology has its foundation in Islamic doctrine. However, ‘Islam’, ‘Islamism’, and ‘Muslims’ are distinct concepts. Not all Muslims are Islamists, let alone violent, though all Islamists–including those who use violence–are Muslims. …the religion of Islam itself is indeed capable of reformation, if only to distinguish it more clearly from the political ideology of Islamism. Da’wa as practiced by radical Islamists employs a wide range of mechanisms to advance their goal of imposing Islamic law [shari’a] on society. This includes proselytizing but extends beyond that. …in Western countries, da’wa aims both to convert non-Muslims to political Islam and to instill Islamist views in existing Muslims. The ultimate goal of da’wa is to destroy the political institutions of a free society and replace them with the rule of shari’a law. • The purpose of this report is to suggest the basis for a new anti-da’wa strategy, designed to check the advance of political Islam as an ideology and a movement. In the frst part, I describe the constitution of political Islam: the foundational principles, terminology, and objectives of Islamist ideology. In the second part, I analyze the infrastructure of political Islam, in particular the institutions and techniques of da’wa. In the third part, I propose a number of policies that...will...halt the spread of political Islam in the United States and perhaps also abroad.
Other American takes on Muslims in America
• Two in a series of racist, sexist, and xenophobic “humorous” online photos.
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U.S. Congressman Steve King (Iowa): • “I marketed your [Donald J. Trump’s] immigration policy for 14 years, and that ought to be worth something…[illegal immigration is] “a slow-motion holocaust.” • “…we can’t restore our civilization with other people’s babies.” • “…cultural suicide by demographic transformation must end.” • “…we need to get our birth rates up or Europe will be entirely transformed.” • “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization–How did that language become offensive? Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?” (The New York Times, January 2019). Donald J. Trump (2014): • Steve King is a “special guy, a smart person, with really the right views on almost everything.” [Our views on the issues are so similar that] “…we don’t even have to compare notes.” 16
• This and 16 further slides introduce numbered American Perceptions of Islam and present images, facts and fgures, and texts that test the validity of cited perceptions, as does oral commentary accompanying live presentations of this slide show.
American Perception of Islam #1
The majority of Muslims live in the Middle East. American Perception of Islam #2
Arabs comprise the chief ethnic group and cultural force in Islam. American Perception of Islam #3
Tens of millions of Muslims live in the United States of America.
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The four most populous Muslim majority countries are not in the Middle East. Arabic is the national language in only three of the ten most populous Muslim majority countries.
• World population: 7 billion • Christians in the world: 2 billion • Catholics in the world: 1.2 billion • Muslims in the world: 1.6 billion • Most populous Muslim countries: Indonesia 205,000,000…non-Arab, non-Arabic-speaking Pakistan 178,100,000…non-Arab, non-Arabic-speaking India 177,300,000…non-Arab, non-Arabic-speaking Bangladesh 149,000,000…non-Arab, non-Arabic-speaking Egypt 88,000,000…Arab, Arabic-speaking Iran 80,000,000…Indo-European, Persian-speaking Turkey 78,700,000…Turkic, Turkish-speaking Nigeria 76,000,000…non-Arab, non-Arabic-speaking Iraq 36,000,000…Arab, Arabic-speaking Saudi Arabia 32,000,000…Arab, Arabic-speaking USA 3,300,000…estimated number of Muslims (2016) 18
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Map of the Middle East+
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American Perception of Islam #4
Monolithic Islam lacks a wide variety of positions, sects, and views. Multiple Islams since 632 CE
• Sunni[te] Caliphate, 632-1258 • Sunni[te] Schools of Thought: Hanaf, Maleki, Shaf’i, and Hanbali • Wahhābi Sunni[te]s • apolitical Sunni[te]s • Reformist Sunni[te]s • Muslim Brotherhood…Egypt • Tālibān…Afghanistan • Al-Qā’eda…Afghanistan, global • ISIS…Syria, Iraq, global • Fātimid Empire and the Isma’ili Imamate …Āghā Khān • Twelver Shi’i[te] Imamate, from 632 to the return of the Hidden Imam ijtihād/ejtehād, mujtahid/mojtahed • Ja’fari School of Thought • apolitical Shi’i[te]s • reformist Shi’i[te]s • Hizbullāh • Islamic Republic of Iran
transcription of Persian and Arabic terms English
Arabic
Koran al-Qur’ān Mo(u)hammad Muhammad Imam Imām Hussein Husayn
Persian
Qor’ān Mohammad Emām Hosayn
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American Perceptions of Islam treats just one of many Islams, Iran’s 12er Shi’ite Islam, which itself exhibits at least three Islams: the Islam of its theocratic government, the Islam practiced by the majority of its citizens, and the culture of Islam in which many educated Iranians participate.
An Iranian postage stamp depicting Friday community prayer at Tehrān University
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An Iranian postage stamp on the occasion of the establishment of Iranian National Tourist Organization Spring 1964
•The images on this INTO stamp, combining modernist lines and shapes and images of minarets, a mosque, and associated calligraphy, speak to the Pahlavi monarchy’s impression of Islamic architecture as a core to the Iranian culture that would appeal to tourists.
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An Iranian postage stamp on the occasion of the
Week of the Child, 1972 a painting by a 6-year old child
• During the modernizing and westernizing Iranian 1960s and through the frst seven years of the 1970s, many educated Iranian urbanites and the Iranian government appeared not to appreciate the fact that 12er Shi’ite Islam gave meaning to life and promise for a better future in the next world for the vast majority of their fellow Iranians. •In 1978, when the Iranian Revolution took place, Iran and the rest of the world would learn how central Islam was to the majority of the Iranian people.
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American Perception of Islam #5
Iranians and Arabs share a common culture.
Iranian Islam • Iranian Americans comment often about the false assumption on the part of some Americans pf their acquaintance that Iranians are related to Arabs and they speak some sort of Arabic or a language related to Arabic. •Many Americans apparently assume that Iranian Muslims and their Muslim neighbors in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Iraq have the same religious beliefs, traditions, and ceremonies. • Many Americans apparently do not associate today’s Iranians with the ancient Persians and their Achaemenid (559-330 BCE) and Sâsânid (224-651 CE) empires. • Few Americans think of Iran as a relatively large country (top 20 in many categories). • Few Americans have any clear notion of the diversity in the ethnic and linguistic composition of Iran.
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Iranian ethnicities and religions
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Linguistic Map of Contemporary Iran
• Fārsi Persian • Âzarbâyjāni Turkish • Kurdish • etc.
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Iran…Iranian…Persia…Persian • “Iran” ن [ ] ایراis the indigenous name for the country and denotes “of/relating to Aryans.” • “Persia” is a Western coinage, based on the Persian word “Pârs” [ ] ااااپ رسor “Fârs [ااااارس ] ف, the name of the ancient central Iranian land in the south/southwestern part of today’s Iran and the name of the province of which the city Shirâz is the capital. • The words “Iranian” and “Persian” are likewise used synonymously. “Persian” is used more than “Iranian” in talking about the country’s art, e.g., “Persian carpets.” The word “Iranian” is used more than “Persian” in talking about history and politics, e.g., “the Iranian government.” • “Persian” is also the name of the national language of Iran called in Persian.
« ی ااااارس [ » فFârsi]
• The phrase “Persian Iranians” refers to Iranians whose native language is Persian and/or who think of themselves as descended from Indo-European speakers of Persian, as opposed to (Âzarbâyjâni) Turkish, Kurdish, Bakhtiyâri, Torkaman Iranians, et al. Persian Iranians are called «ااااارس [ » فFârs] in Persian.
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Iran pop. 80,000,000+
Iran is distinctive among Muslim-majority countries:
• land bridge • crossroads • high plateau • mountains • mountain foothills • plains • salt deserts • Caspian littoral • Gulf littoral • scarcity of water • brown landscape • wide, forbidding vistas • springtime greenness • gardens 29
Annual Commemoration of ‘Arba‘ in at Karbalā
• Americans who have heard of the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca suppose that it is the largest annual gathering of Muslims in the world. But the ‘Arba‘in commemoration 30 in Karbalā, which most Americans have never heard of, is arguably larger.
Muslims March Against ISIS
• adapted from www.alternativenewsnetwork.net, 10 June 2017, Satya Raj: “In one of the largest organized marches in history, millions of Shi’a Muslims traveled through warstricken areas in Iraq to defy ISIS. Women, men, the elderly, and children made their way to the city of Karbalā on Sunday and Monday last week for the holy day of Arba‘in, marking the end of the 40-day mourning period following Āshurā, the date that commemorates the death of the Prophet Mohammad’s grandson Imām Hosayn in 680 CE. Massive crowds paid homage to the shrines of Imam Hussein and his half-brother ‘Abbās in Karbalā, where they were killed in a revolt against the ‘Umayyad caliph Yazid (r. 880-883). 31
Shrine to 8th Shi’ite Imām Rezā (d. 818), Mashhad, 993-1418+
• The largest such complex in the world, this shrine to Im ām Rez ā is unfamiliar to most Americans .
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A cancelled profle of Mohammad Rezâ Shâh Pahlavi (ruled 1941-1979 in a Pahlavi government image paralleling him with the power and glory of Safavid empire (1501-1722) symbolized by the Chehel Sotoon building in Esfahân.
• In Persian script on the diagonal over the image of Chehel Sotoon appears the phrase “Islamic Revolution.”
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Ali Shari’ati (1933-1977) sociologist and anti-Pahlavi reformer
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Islamic Republic of Iran 1991 Bahman 22 [February 11] God’s Day • The Pahlavi government issued hundreds of postage stamps with Mohammad Rezâ Shâh’s image, but very few stamps with images of non-royal Iranians. •Conversely, the Islamic Republic of Iran issued no stamps with images of its Supreme Leadef Ruhollâh Khomeini (19021989) while he was alive, while hundreds of stamps with images of ordinary, anonymous Iranians were printed during the 1980s.
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Islamic Republic of Iran [= IRI] (1979- ) views of the United States of America
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IRI on Israel
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IRI on American Society
• Malcolm X in the role of the African Balāl, Islam’s frst mu’izzin [caller to prayer], implying that America is racist but Islam is not.
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Offcial American Actions vs. Muslim Iran • coup d’état against Iranian PM Mosaddeq, 1953 • support of the Pahlavi monarchical dictatorship, 1953-1978 • support for Iranian royalists in 1978-9 • demonization of the Iranian nation, 1979• support for Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War, 1980-8 • missile attack on an Iranian passenger jet, 1989 • US sanctions against the Iranian people • confusion of IRI and Muslim Iranians • proposed banning of Muslim Iranians from entering America in 2016 • proposed registration of 900,000+ Iranians and Iranian-Americans in America in 2016 • unilateral US abrogation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [= the Iran nuclear deal]
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US Senator Lindsey Graham, May 2015: “Everything I know about the Iranians I learned in the pool room...I ran the pool room when I was a kid and I met a lot of liars, and I know the Iranians are liars... The Iranians cheat and they lie.” “They want a master religion for the world; the Nazis wanted a master race.” “…everything that starts with ‘al’ in the Middle East is bad news.”
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The View of Some Americans about Iran
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Iranians Celebrating the so-called Nuclear Agreement TehrÄ n, 2 April 2015
• An initial American narrative of the reaction of Iranians to the international nuclear power/ weapons agreement reached in Switzerland on 2 April 2015 was that those Iranians were happy that their government could now proceed clandestinely to develop a nuclear bomb.
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Younger Iranian Professionals Socializing in Mashhad, 2015
• What American narrative of Iran takes into account such a typical social scene?
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Iranian Mosques
Madraseh-ye Shāh, Esfahān
Ne‘matollāh Vali Mosque, Māhān, Kāshān
• Christian church steeples reach toward heaven, while Iranian mosque dome designs bring sky and heaven down to earth.
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• Iranian Muslim architecture and architectural decoration seem a pre-modern Iranian response to the generally harsh and brown Iranian landscape and communicate with idealized floral and often stellate, symmetrical, geometric shapes and heavenly blue colors a visual impression of paradise and aspects of divinity.
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Grand Mosque, Mecca, Hajj Pilgrimage Destination
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• al-Masjid al-Nabawi [the Prophet’s Mosque] in the city of Medina, the second holiest site in Islam, one of the largest mosques in the world, and Arabian Islam’s response to Arabia’s 50 landscape.
• al-Qubah al-Khaḍrā’, the green-colored dome built above the tomb of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad (d. 632) and Caliphs Abu Bakr (d. 634) and ‘Umar (d. 644), located in the southeast corner of al-Masjid al-Nabaw ī [Mosque of the Prophetl.
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Jāmkārām Mosque, Qom
ل اله ال “There is اno [lā] god
[‘ilāha] but [illa] God [al-lāh]
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Iranian Islam vis-à-vis Arab Islam
• Differences between the Islamic architecture of Iran and that of Arabia and other Muslim lands suggest that Islam varies from culture to culture, including culture-specifc pre-Islamic and Islamic history, and from environment to environment. • In other words, even without consideration of the many and essential differences between Sunni(te) and 12er Shi’i(te) Islam (the Iranian state religion since 1501), Iranian art, including architecture, calligraphy, painting, ceramics and metal ware, and Persian carpet designs, defnes an Iranian Islam unlike the Islams in Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Turkey, and the Arab world. • What impressions of Iranian Islam do images of Iran’s ubiquitous Islamic architecture give viewers? …………………………………………………………….… …………………………………………………………………………..…………………… Readers can google: “images of Iranian mosques” for a further sampling.
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Mausoleum of the Suf Poet ‘Attâr (d.c. 1221), 16th century, Nishâpur
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Tehrān Wall Mural, 21st century
• A painting inspired by ‘Attār’s Suf allegory called Conference of the Birds. • Conference of the Birds tells the story of a group of birds who undertake an arduous voyage to fnd their eternal, phoenix-like bird king called Simorgh. At the end of the trip, they fnd themselves in a mirrored hall where the thirty remaining birds [= si morgh] discover they have Simorgh within themselves.
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Shāh Cherāgh Mosque, Shirāz
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Shrine to Mas’umeh, Qom
Jâme’ Mosque, Yazd
• Iranian Muslim architecture offers a graphic rebuttal to comprehensive Western criticisms of Islam as derivative and as borrowing from Judaism and Christianity. Iranian Muslim architecture seems original and distinctive as reflective of pre-Muslim and Muslim Iranian Muslim aesthetic and cultural impulses and attitudes.
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Shrine to 8th Shi’ite Imām Rezā (d. 818), Mashhad, 993-1418+
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Shrine to 8th Shi’ite Imām Rezā (d. 818), Mashhad
“There is no god [ilāh] except for the [al] God [lāh].”
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Esfahān’s Royal Square, early 17th century Shaykh Lotfollāh (l)
Mosque Shāh Mosques
Āli Qāpu Royal Pavilion (r)
• From the outside, Iranian mosque shapes, colors, and designs bring the sky down to earth and promise a safe haven from the harsh outside world within their courtyards and precincts. Their designs seem to be images of the gardens of heaven and infnite, indefnable divinity.
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Shaykh Lotfollāh Mosque Façade and Dome, Royal Square, Esfahān
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Shāh Mosque Dome, at the south end of Royal Square, Esfahān
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The Iranianness of the Islamic Architecture of Iran • According to Hooshang Seyhoun (19202014), architect of the tombs of Avicenna, Omar Khayyām, and Sh āh Shojā’ and head of Tehrān University’s Faculty of Fine Arts: “There is no such thing as Islamic architecture…all the architectural forms and elements that we see employed by Muslims over the centuries are mere variations on Sassanian prototypes” (quoted in Talinn Grigor’s Building Iran: Modernism, Architecture, and National Heritage under the Pahlavi Monarchs [Periscope Publishing, 2009], p. 137. • In other words, even the most readily identifable Iranian mosques have Iranian architectural origins and inspiration, which, in turn, signal core differences between Iranian Islam and Arab Islam, among other Islams.
Contemporary Tehrān Mosque
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Contemporary Mosque in TehrÄ n
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Contemporary Mosque, TehrÄ n
• Islam is visible everywhere in Iran, and mosque construction has proliferated since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979.
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• To this point, American Perceptions of Islam has treated American critiques of Islam, the notion of multiple Islams, and Iranian Islam with its Iranian Muslim architecture. Foregoing images of Iranian Islam suggest that the Islam of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is anti-American, while the Iranian Islams of cultural and practicing Muslim Iranians are neutral or pro-American and non-xenophobic. • Part II of American Perceptions of Islam treats, among other subjects, Persian carpets, the Koran, pillars of the Muslim faith, the Muslim prophet Muhammad, and the Suf poet Rumi in the context of these further American perceptions: American Perception of Islam #6 Islam does not allow for freedom of interpretation of its Koran. Because the Koran presents God’s exact Arabic words to humankind, no room for debate or variegated interpretations exist for its readers. American Perception of Islam #7
Islam emerged later than Judaism and Christianity and has adopted or adapted much of its lore and doctrine from those two religions. Consequently, its holy book called the Koran is mostly derivative. American Perception of Islam #8
If not a charlatan, the Muslim prophet Muhammad was at least a sensualist, an opportunist, a ruthless warrior, and a calculating politician. American Perception of Islam #9
Islam forbids the representation of human fgures in art. For example, the image of the Muslim prophet Muhammad does not appear in paintings. American Perception of Islam #10 The Koran preaches jihâd or holy war as a Muslim duty.
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American Perception of Islam #11
Islam has not changed and does not change over time and has exhibited signs of decay and decline since the 15th century. American Perception of Islam #12
Religious Muslims do not ask questions, including questions about their faith, and they unquestioningly accept the rules and regulations promulgated by Muslim religious authorities. American Perception of Islam #13
Muslim peoples have not separated church and state in their societies. American Perception of Islam #14
Muslim nation-states mostly exhibit non-democratic forms. American Perception of Islam #15
Islamic law posits inequalities between men and women. American Perception of Islam #16
The Koran preaches intolerance toward believers of other faiths. Islamic law posits inequalities between Muslims and non-Muslims in Muslim societies. American Perception of Islam #17
Some inherent connection exists between Islam and terrorism. American Perception of Islam #18
The Koran states that Muslims are duty-bound to see to it that others obey Islamic law [sharī’a] and not engage in behavior contrary to Islamic law. American Perceptions of Islam #19
The Persian-speaking Suf poet Rumi (1207-1273), a best-selling poet in America, voices views separate from core Islamic doctrine.
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