The Good Ayatollah

In answer to the eardrum-splitting, almost constant chorus of folks who ask, "Where are the Muslims who don't endorse violence, an authoritarian states etc., etc.," I offer up the example of one Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Kazemeyni Borujerdi and pose a question as an answer. Where are the media outlets who will make airtime for an Iranian cleric who is on death row because of his claim that:

…real Islam is free of political ornaments[…]It is included in verses whose interpretation is different from that provided by [the authorities]. Its interpretation is from 1,428 years ago. It is about the rule of the Prophet (Muhammad) and how he lived; he was against repression and opposed discrimination. Our divine leaders took food from their mouths and the mouths of their children to give it to the poor. Today, unfortunately, despite the immense wealth of this country, people live in poverty.

It is especially noteworthy that Borujerdi claims that his is a traditional interpretation of Islam.

Plenty has been said about the reformation, analogous to Christianity's Protestant one, that Islam so desperately needs in order to catch up to the modern world. But if Borujerdi's interpretation is nearly 1,500 years old and the Islamic Revolution just coming up on the big 30, one has to wonder whether it makes sense to make a fuss about 'reforming' Islam. It sounds like the reformists are the problem.

Unfortunately in reporting a story like this, one finds oneself unable to find any reasonable excuse to juxtapose Ahmadinejad's mug with a mushroom explosion…