Persian Culture Older than history

by Saybhan Samat

(December 24, Cololmbo, Sri Lanka Guardian) From day one of the success of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the US, Israel and the powers in Europe have and continue to demonize Iran in their media. The US spends millions of dollars in the demonizing exercise and broadcasts Farsi language broadcasts daily urging the people in Iran to overthrow the Islamic government in Iran . By the influence of the US, three rounds sanctions have been slapped on Iran by the UN Security Council for not halting her nuclear programme. From 1980 to 1988 the US, all European powers and reactionary Arab regimes helped Saddam Hussein to wage war against Ayatollah Imam Khomeini’s regime in order to destroy his newly formed government.

Iran was portrayed as fanatical evil and terrorist country where it’s own people were treated cruelly and it’s people were executed at a drop of a hat by the fanatical clerics with no right of defence and access to defend in the courts. The US was outraged that its bastion in the Middle-East was lost and worst 52 of its employees in its embassy in Tehran taken hostage by Iranian students. To this day everything that the US, Europe & Israel have tried in order to destabilize Iran has failed miserably. Little or nothing has been told of Iran’s 7000 years of civilization and nobility. The Jewish state whose ancestors were released from captivity by the Iranian King Cyrus from Babylonian captivity and permitted to return to Jerusalem are ironically the very people who want to nuclear bomb Iran now. In fact the declaration of human rights that hangs on the wall of the entrance to the UN Security Council office known as the Cyrus cylinder is from Iran. Western-media has completely and effectively blanketed the rich Iranian culture and denigrates Iran as country belonging to the axis of evil.

Iranian’s religiosity is its most striking cultural feature- it pervades all aspects of life. The national language of Iran is Persian also known as Farsi, an Indo European language. The other main regional languages are Azari, Kurdish Arabic and Lori (spoken by the Lors); and there are dozens of other tongues throughout the 26 provinces, such as Gilaki, Balauchi and Turkman. The Arabic script was adapted to Persian after the Arab invasion.

In Iran as in all Islamic societies, art favours the non-representational, the derivative and the stylized. Many Iranian art forms predate the Arab conquest, but since near all of them reached their peak within the Islamic era, religious influences are rarely absent.

Persian carpets are Iran’s most famous cultural export, dating back to the 5th century B.C, and are still integral part of religious and cultural festivals and also of the economy. The most appealing and melodious traditional music is found among the ethnic minorities, such as the Turkman, Azari, Kurd, Balouch and Lor.

Persian poetry first appeared in the 9th century AD and gradually developed into the enduring canon of epic poems and non-rhyming couplet poems which are part of its cultural treasury today. Persian painting dates back to the Seljuq period, which then faded until the 16th century when flourished along with calligraphy, especially in Shiraz.

Other notable Persian crafts include metal work, glass ware and wood work, which more recently, Iranian films have been remarkably successful. Mohsen Makhmalbaf, maker of Gabbeh is Iran’s most controversial, and most lauded film-maker.

At its best, Iranian cuisine is excellent. It’s heavily based on rice, bread, fresh vegetables herbs and fruits. Meat usually lamb or mutton minced or cut into small chunks, is used to add flavour but is rarely the dominant ingredient except in Kebabs. The national drink in Iran is tea, always served scalding hot, black and strong.

Persia is also known for its mystics and gnostics. Volumes of gnostics literature by stalwarts such as Suharwardy, Ibn Sina, Sadr-al-Mutahallin, Faraddin- Attar, Jalaludin Rumi, Abdul –Qader Jailani and Imam Ghazalli abound in the Islamic world. They were all Persians. When such is the sublime culture of Iran, how can George Bush with all his misdemeanors refer to Iran as a country in the axis of evil. - Sri Lanka Guardian