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Bonding with Iran

IN OCTOBER, we were part of a Muslim American delegation of peace and conflict resolution experts who went on a one-week trip to Iran to discuss ways in which various Iranian groups approach conflict prevention, resolution and dialogue. Our delegation met with peace-practitioners, lawyers, human rights experts, NGOs, scholars, religious leaders and students.

There is a tremendous amount of internal debate among these groups in Iran. The Western image of a closed society of mullahs dictating every Iranian’s thoughts and movements is far from the reality. We learned through discussions with the ayatollahs that there is vibrant expression of self-criticism and debate surrounding current issues, including voices opposing some of Iran’s foreign policies.

In Qom, we met three Grand Ayatollahs who had been selected by Ayatollah Khomeini to govern the Council of the Judiciary, the main supreme judiciary in Iran. They expressed their commitment to peace, improved relations with all nations, and the urgency of a dialogue among civilisations.

Over the course of our stay, the Iranians we met showed great curiosity about our work in conflict resolution and how it was for us — as Muslims — to live in the US. The majority of our conversations focused on the best ways to promote pluralism and democratic values in an Islamic context.

Our delegation met members of the Islamic Commission on Human Rights in Teheran, who taught us about the ongoing activities in Iran that protect the rights of the country’s citizens, especially those of children, women and labourers.

There is an exceptional amount of debate on and off campuses on finding practical ways to reform the political culture. The majority of the scholars and students we met expressed eagerness to engage and share their views and work with American counterparts. It was common to hear Iranian professors speak authoritatively on modern French, English and German scholarship, much of which had been translated into Farsi. Iranian students may have not had much opportunity to meet Americans in Iran over the past 28 years, but this did not prevent them from reading and analysing American political philosophy and society.

Having spent time in Teheran, Qom and Isfahan, we can testify to the need to reduce the mutual Iranian-American ignorance of each other’s cultures, societies and needs. Aside from witnessing the beauty of Iran itself, the trip exposed us to the diverse voices of Iranians.

In the mind of many Americans, Iran is a stagnant society, closed off to progress and modernity. This trip forced us to question our basic views of each other. Only in the past 10 years has the portrayal of Iran begun to include images of reformers as important actors paving the road to progress. With a literacy rate of 92 per cent, Iran has a vibrant civil society and intellectual life.

Unfortunately, the delegation returned to the United States only to find the debate over military strategies for ending Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme still continuing. Even since the release of the National Intelligence Estimate (NEI), we still find a continued push towards confrontation by some. This adversarial approach is not only dangerous, but it is also indicative of the degree to which American policymakers can be removed from the reality in Iran.

On several occasions in Iran, we were reminded of a saying by the revered Imam Ali: “Ignorance is the enemy of human wisdom”.

Let us learn from these exchanges so that we might prevent ignorance. And let us open the channels of communication between these two nations so that we might become wiser.

©Common Ground News Service