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A screen shot I took from a youtube coverage of Iranians shouting "Allahu Akbar" from their buildings at night. The twinkling lights are the individual souls trying to get Allah's attention.
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The intense news coverage of Iranians protesting the elections was intriguing to watch. At first, though, it sounded like it would end up tragically, like the Tiananmen Square incident, but a hundred times worse.
Then, the protests kept going day after day, and I tried to find in the news coverage (or I should say the Facebook, twitter and youtube coverage) some insight into the demonstrators, and what they expected to accomplish.
Finally, there was one strange and underreported episode. In the dark of the night, with only the building lights to illuminate the scenes, chants of "Allahu Akbar" bounced off from building to building. Why didn’t we hear these chants during the day, and why in the dead of the night?
I think it is the syndrome of the absent Allah. Try as Muslims might to find him, Allah makes himself invisible, unattainable, unapproachable. This is why the minaret chants are so plaintive, crying out to Allah to show himself. I sent a comment on this to the View from the Right a while ago, which was kindly posted here, focusing on architectural and decorative design elements which force Muslims into this futile, incessant search for Allah.
Night makes Allah’s absence all the more poignant. At least during the day, there are signs and symbols on buildings, mosques and even people (the hijab-wearing females) to give an impression that Allah is in their midst.
At night, the Muslim has to contend with the darkness, which only conveys emptiness. The Iranians’ shouts were attempts at getting Allah to respond to them, in this dark moment of their protests.
Once I heard those chants, I realized that there was no revolution. Perhaps the theocracy might be subdued, but Iranians will remain Muslims, and they will have to battle, for eternity, the strong forces of a totalitarian, sharia-based country with their wish for a democracy. Unfortunately, the two are incompatible. They will have to give up one or the other. They will have to choose between Islam and democracy. And I think they have chosen Islam.
