Iran Banned Chanting “Allahu Akbar”
On the Rachel Maddow show last night, NBC Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel reporterd that the government in Iran has actually banned the chanting of the phrase “Allahu Akbar!”
The cries that they have been calling out at night, a lot of people have heard them. They have been calling out “Allahu Akbar.” Sometimes, they were calling out, “I am Neda,” as well in reference to that young woman who’s been shot.
Today, Iran banned those as well and asked people if they heard their neighbors calling out “Allahu Akbar” at night, which has become this rallying cry to inform on them.
As Roderick Long points out “I guess it’s clear that to Iran’s theocrats, the crat is more important than the theo.”
I agree. And when you couple this with the bans on memorial services and reports that some of the Iranian Mullahs have begun marching against the regime, I would say that Iran’s ruling regime is probably close to losing its religious legitimacy with the majority of people, if it hasn’t lost it already.
“As you all know many weeks ago the administration extended an invitation to celebrate the freedom that this country enjoys. not surprisingly based on what we see in Tehran, no one has RSVP’d,” said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
“Understand that July 4th allows us to celebrate the freedom and liberty that we enjoy. I don’t think it’s surprising that no one has signed up to come given the events of the last few days. Those invitations will be no longer extended.”
Well the regime is totally panicking at this moment it seems. I’d imagine everything will go to hell for the current GOV’T once Rafsanjani finally speaks up. He very well could be waiting for the 40th day before saying anything though.
But as tyrant after tyrant has proven, legitimacy of the majority is not a necessity to retaining power. The key here is going to be the IRG and the Army, because I don’t think the Basij and Ansar can suppress the opposition for much longer.
He’s been quite?
Bah, I meant “quiet”.
lol,me too.
He’s been very subdued and some believe it’s because he’s pulling strings behind the scenes..
People may wonder why the opposition is using “Allahu ‘akbar” as their cry. There’s a reason. This is usually (and wrongly) translated as “God is great”. It actually means “God is greater”. It’s thus really a statement by the protesters that God is greater than the Iranian mullahs, and carries the implication that God will deal with them in due course.