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Behzad Mehrani

Perhaps we use fewer words with positive connotations that are not used in the discourse of the ruling system in Iran. When we speak of freedom, justice, human rights, human dignity, or the right to life, we are referring to valuable concepts that are often also positive in the vocabulary of despotic regimes and dictatorial individuals.

They also believe in human rights, freedom, and justice and are committed to upholding human dignity.

None of those who hold a stick in the streets and beat students and workers in front of others, or humiliate and imprison students, have the intention of trampling on the human dignity of others or ignoring human rights. They also claim that their hearts are set on respecting human dignity and their goal is to establish human rights and eradicate crime and violence in society.

Those who execute or sentence atheists in public are also speaking of human dignity. Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, sees retribution as an act in which mercy and kindness are hidden. When you execute someone who has committed a crime, you are actually showing kindness to them and causing them to be killed so that they cannot continue their misconduct. This protects both themselves and others from their actions in this world, and in the afterlife, their sins are lessened due to their early death, resulting in less punishment for them.

Ayatollah Khomeini

May.‌

He says: “If today, someone who commits corruption on earth is killed, it is a mercy for himself, with the belief that it is a form of discipline, not that it is something contrary to mercy. The Prophet, peace be upon him, is a mercy to the worlds and all the wars he has waged, all the invitations he has made, are all mercy. When he says that killing them is even a greater mercy for mankind. Those who think that this worldly comfort is mercy, and being in this world and eating and sleeping like animals is mercy, they say that because Islam is mercy, it should not have limits, it should not have retribution, it should not kill. Those who know the root of punishment, those who have knowledge of the issues of punishment in the hereafter, they know that even for this person whose hand they cut off for what he has done, it is a mercy. His mercy is manifested on the other side. For the one who commits

As we can see, Ayatollah Khomeini considers oppression, execution, retribution, and war as mercy. In fact, when it comes to human rights, those who hold this belief believe that respecting human rights means doing exactly what they are doing, and that systems that do not have public executions, do not cut off the hands of thieves, and do not whip others, are actually violators of human rights.

In the words quoted from Ayatollah Khomeini, a reason is presented for the mercy of torture and execution that is worth considering. He says that the mercy of these seemingly harsh actions is only evident to our minds when we die and move from this world to another, and a judgment is established and we stand before God and realize that these actions, which seem to violate human rights, are actually in line with human rights.

Ayatollah Khomeini in these words emphasizes on key points that the key to understanding this type of worldview is what he speaks of. He argues that “those who believe that this worldly comfort is mercy and that existence in this world, eating and sleeping are acts of mercy” are the same people who think that execution, retribution, and cutting off hands are not based on kindness and compassion.

What is here is an emphasis on a matter as the truth beyond this body and beyond this flesh and skin and bone, that for that supreme truth which is essentially a worldly matter, we can suspend or take away this body and soul or cut off a part of it.

The modern world, which goes against the beliefs of the Ayatollah, does not value the essence of humanity and does not consider respecting human beings as a priority. Instead, it places importance on the physical body and disregards the thoughts and ideas of individuals. It fails to recognize the dignity of human beings, even if they are criminals, and this is why it opposes execution, torture, amputation, and stoning.

Mowlana has a couplet that many of us have heard. It goes: “Where…”

May.‌

He says:

Oh brother, you have all the thoughts.

The rest is bones and roots.

It is the fact that a human is all about thoughts, and these thoughts are important. They open the way to understanding and not looking down on others who may seem insignificant in the eyes of others, but have a strong foundation and roots.

They bring it after this verse.

If your thoughts are flowers, they will create a garden.

There was a thorn in the middle of the rose garden.

If a human has dignity -which they do-, it lies in respecting these bones, roots, flesh, and skin, and by fate, what remains is their very own thoughts.

In the new world, the more effort is made to prevent legal rulings and punishments from harming the human body, the roots of this lie in the respect for human life and body. Every day, human societies strive more than the day before to move beyond punishments such as execution, flogging, and even traditional forms of imprisonment, and the roots of this lie in the reverence for the human body.

What can we do?

Fighting against dictatorial regimes that unjustly rule over people and violate their dignity can take various forms, some of which are more dangerous and some less dangerous, while many are completely safe.

Consider public execution; as the name suggests, these executions take place in public. This means that these executions gain their legitimacy from the “public” or the group of people. It means that you and I must gather in a place for these executions to take place. The theatrics of closed systems require the theatrics of “us”. It is enough for people not to gather in a place where a human is to be hanged and make a scene, so that the small stage of these executions can be dismantled.

Human dignity is something that is manifested by respecting it in this world and before death. All these executions in front of the eyes of citizens have only resulted in the promotion and glorification of violence. On one side of this violence is the government, but on the other side, “we” stand.

We are the spectators of the violent and brutal military conquerors who consider war, death, execution, whipping, and torture as the mercy of God.

Resources.

1- Continuation of the struggle until the removal of sedition from the world: Sahifeh Imam, Volume 19, page 114, Tabian website.

Assuming the caravan, which is the refuge of the suffering Sufi: Masnavi Ma’navi, Book 2, Section 9, Ganjoor website.