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The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran
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| Part No: | 0385523343 |
| Manufacturer: | Doubleday |
| MFG Part: | |
| Customer Rating: | 4.0 / 5.0 |
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A revealing look at Iran by an American journalist with an insider’s access behind Persian walls The grandson of an eminent ayatollah and the son of an Iranian diplomat, now an American citizen, Hooman Majd is, in a way, both 100 percent Iranian and 100 percent American, combining an insider’s knowledge of how Iran works with a remarkable ability to explain its history and its quirks to Western readers. In The Ayatollah Begs to Differ, he paints a portrait of a country that is fiercely proud of its Persian heritage, mystified by its outsider status, and scornful of the idea that the United States can dictate how it should interact with the community of nations.
With wit, style, and an unusual ability to get past the typical sound bite on Iran, Majd reveals the paradoxes inherent in the Iranian character which have baffled Americans for more than thirty years. Meeting with sartorially challenged government officials in the presidential palace; smoking opium with an addicted cleric, his family, and friends; drinking fine whiskey at parties in fashionable North Tehran; and gingerly self-flagellating in a celebration of Ashura, Majd takes readers on a rare tour of Iran and shares insights shaped by his complex heritage. He considers Iran as a Muslim country, as a Shiite country, and, perhaps above all, as a Persian one. Majd shows that as Shiites marked by an inferiority complex, and Persians marked by a superiority complex, Iranians are fiercely devoted to protecting their rights, a factor that has contributed to their intransigence over their nuclear programs. He points to the importance of the Persian view of privacy, arguing that the stability of the current regime owes much to the freedom Iranians have to behave as they wish behind “Persian walls.” And with wry affection, Majd describes the Persian concept of ta’arouf, an exaggerated form of polite self-deprecation that may explain some of Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s more bizarre public moments.
With unforgettable portraits of Iranians, from government figures to women cab drivers to reform-minded Ayatollahs, Majd brings to life a country that is deeply religious yet highly cosmopolitan, authoritarian yet with democratic and reformist traditions—an Iran that is a more nuanced nemesis to the United States than it is typically portrayed to be.
| | Some interesting anecdotes and gives you a little bit of an idea of what Iranians think about their country and the world, at least through the author's eyes. However, the book did not seem to be organized in any particular way and just skipped around from topic to topic, making it hard to maintain interest and follow the author's thoughts. |
| Well written but not a great read | 2010-03-12 | 3 / 5 |
| I bought this book after I heard about it on NPR. The book is well written and easy to follow. The theme centers on how intelligent, competent, but misunderstood by others, the Iranian society is. The book goes on to list daily examples on how the Iranians outsmart other nations from street savyness to diplomatic superiority. The reader soon begins to wonder about this great nation that is so capable and so misunderstood by everyone else. There seems to be an expectation, a constant need by the Iranian people for recognition of their superior abilities which the rest of the world seems to ignore to their detriment. That perception impermeates the book and was the main reason why I stopped reading it half way through. I agree that Iranian society is truly a capable and intelligent social group, but their success or failure lays - not in the perception of the rest of the world - but in how they shape their own society. For example, to read about a minister official spending time and effort to ousmart the author with cunningness, wit, and endless hospitality, does not make Iranian society smarter, better, but it does give the book self defeating arguments why the Iranian peope's destiny is not in how others understand them, but in how themselves understand their own culture and if there is anything they want to change about it.
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| A Brief Introduction to Modern Iran | 2009-12-30 | 4 / 5 |
| | The Ayatollah Begs to Differ provides a brief and easy to read introduction to modern Iran. The author, Hooman Majd, grew up mainly in the West, but his family resides in Iran. He feels equally at home in both worlds. In this book, he tries to explain Iranian culture to Westerners, mostly through a series of stories about his own recent (post 2001) visits to Iran, along with little bits of history. The author clearly has no particular agenda. He simply relates his experiences. If (like me) you don't know much about Iran, this book makes a simple and relatively interesting introduction. |
| Loving a Country Means Knowing Its People | 2009-11-25 | 5 / 5 |
| Why is it so easy to criticize or even damn what I don't understand? I would like to think the cause is that I've been misled by someone other than my self. Maybe it was a news article in the paper or maybe it was a commentary I heard by a "reputable" anchor person on TV. Or maybe it was a special TV broadcast by the President of the United States calling Iran part of "the axis of evil."
After reading The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran, I must confess to author Hooman Majd and the Iranian people that I was misled about Iran. I was swayed by the news media; but what really bothers me is, I did nothing to learn accurate facts about the people of Iran. Modern Iran (formerly Persia) is a composite of many complicated elements which I knew little or nothing about.
According to The Ayatollah Begs to Differ, the all encompassing influence affecting the seventy million Iranian people is their firm belief in their Muslim religion. It is not a Sunday only faith. It is a daily religion whereby the vast Iranian population attempts to emulate the lives and thinking of their Ayatollahs. These men are high ranking clerics known for their scholarship in Islamic studies, philosophy, logic, ethics, and their interpretation of a just life according to the words of Allah.
Prayer plays an important role in every-day Iranian life. Shia Islamists including current President Ahmadinejad have long believed that a twelfth Imam or spiritual leader/prophet from the distant past (circa 974 C.E.) will appear at the end of days beside Jesus Christ who will follow him. This Imam is thought to be a Messiah: Imam Mahdi.
At Jamkaran, a pilgrimage site about ninety-six miles southwest of Tehran in the city of Qom, each Tuesday visitors drop prayer petitions in a well. They believe that the spirit of Imam Mahdi might favor their requests. Some pilgrims believe he mixes with them anonymously in human form.
Since his first election win in 2005 President Ahmadinejad has donated millions from government funds to the Mosque at this site, and according to The Ayatollah Begs to Differ, he refers to hidden Messiah Iman Mahdi in every speech hoping he will arrive soon, in body, to right the injustices of the world.
Iranians love to talk politics. Author Hooman Majd tells a story that clearly delivers his message that Iranians want to be respected as a nation.
1) They want to govern their own country-----without interference.
2) They wish to solve their own problems-----without interference.
Majd tells of riding in a cab with a friend while talking politics with an older cab driver. The driver readily boasts that if any country invades Iran, everyone will fight the invaders including himself. If I remember correctly, the driver was sixty-eight years old.
In spite of what has happened during recent elections where Ahmadinejad stands accused of reporting false ballot counts, Iranians still consider their country to be a democracy--not one fashioned after the United States, but a decent theo/democratic country nonetheless.
The protests of thousands seen on TV after Iranians heard the election results were caused, not so much because citizens disliked Ahmadinejad, although they may now, but because he usurped their democratic right to vote. This truth came about when Iranians realized it was logically impossible for him to beat other candidates including Mir Hossein Mousavi by an eleven million vote margin factoring in voter turnout.
Author Hooman Majd claims that The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, alluded to these votes in a sermon, "but failed to concede ... that the only way to cheat by eleven million votes was to never count them in the first place." True to their religion under Allah, perhaps Iranians may feel that world events are irrelevant under His holy Will.
Today, Iran's democracy moves on. Accurate election results may never be known. But what would irk Iranians more than the troubled election would be "meddlers" from any country especially the United States or even worse, Iranians educated in the United States who, tainted by our ideas of democracy, would attempt to tamper or influence the religious/political course of modern Iran.
If change is to come, come it will but from within Iran and at the right time! In spite of Ahmadinejad's election where Iranians took to the streets in protest, it would appear that a relative calm is in place. The Ayatollah Begs to Differ states they Iranians are not seeking another revolution like 1979. They believe those days are finished. What they want is recognition of their democratic rights to bring about the freedom to enrich and manage their own prosperity in the future.
This book is excellent reading material for anyone who, like me, was ignorant of what Iranians have achieved for themselves since their revolution 30 years ago (1979) and what they hope to have in future years. At present, Iran is problematic for the United States mainly because of misinformed politicians and a general lack of education on the part of Americans.
For sure Ahmadinejad despises all things American because our nation boasts the "right" way a democracy should operate and attempts to proselytize it--maybe conquer and enforce it might seem more accurate.
Hooman Majd writes with accuracy, fluency, and humor. I enjoyed his comparison of Iran's Supreme Leader with the pope, both claiming infallibility. He also talks of a website which posts questions for an Ayatollah to answer. Quite often, his response included the word "repent." Majd wrote "Digital confession ... The Vatican should get in on this."
I would hope that politicians, governmental bureaucrats, President Obama and his staff would read The Ayatollah Begs to Differ. Why?Accepting another nation and all the apparent contradictions within its complicated system of democracy, would be a giant step toward bargaining for world peace.
Other interesting books:
Iran: Persia: Ancient and Modern, Third Edition (Odyssey Illustrated Guides)
Islam and Feminisms: An Iranian Case-Study (Women's Studies at York)
Guardians of the Revolution: Iran and the World in the Age of the Ayatollahs
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| A different perspective | 2009-11-22 | 4 / 5 |
| | The moment I picked up this book I couldn't put it down. Written like a diary, this book takes us on a journey through the country, the cities, the homes and the personalities of the people there. The people we meet have colorful characters, although in many cases a not so colorful life. We read about a Jew that defends the Islamic Republic, about an Ayatollah that begs to differ, a cleric that has no problem in smoking some opium from time to time in what is supposedly the theological center of Iran, a young lady covered from head to toe in a black chador but that nonetheless the author found to be sexy, about rich Iranian's that are so busy drinking alcohol and dancing at parties that they don't understand what is going on outside the walls of their homes, and finally about former president Khatami who promised more than he can deliver. There are many things that I don't agree with the author about. For example, he tells us that Hashemi Rafsanjani is a reformer, although the man is nothing but a clever manipulator. I found it interesting how on one occasion the author quotes a reformer saying "We shouldn't have elections because stupid people vote for stupid men (in a reference to Ahmadinejad)". Another reformer complained that Ahmadinejad has made it difficult to register illegally shipped Mercedes cars because he wanted to fight corruption. A third complained that now he has to go personally to the customs office because he can't finish the clearance over the phone, which is illegal, as he used to, again because Ahmadinejad wants to fight corruption. I don't think that the author was aware that at many points the reformers came out as an arrogant bunch that think they should be elevated to some place above the common man. I say that the author wasn't aware of this because he clearly viewed the reformers in Iran positively, and in many areas he voiced his dislike for many conservative figures. The highlight of the book was the author's character. He was someone that belonged and didn't belong at the same time. The book is beautifully written and provides a valuable insight on the Iranian culture, religion and, to a lesser degree, politics. |
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