Ali Dashti

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Ali Dashti (Persian: علی دشتی [æˈliː dæʃˈtiː]) (born 1894 - died January 16, 1982) was an Iranian rationalist of the twentieth century, who was greatly influenced by Umar Khayyam.

Dashti was also an Iranian senator.

1 Life
2 Writing
3 Demise in prison
4 Bibliography
5 References and notes
6 External links

[edit] Life

Born into a Persian family in Dashtestan, Iran in 1896. Ali Dashti received a traditional religious education. He studied Islamic theology, history, Arabic and Persian grammar, and classical literature in madrasas in Karbala and Najaf (both in Iraq) He returned to Persia in 1918 and lived in Shiraz, Isfahan, and finally in Tehran, where he became involved in politics of the day.

Rather than becoming a cleric, he became a journalist and published a newspaper (Shafaq-e Sorkh) in Tehran from 1922 to 1935. He was a member of Majlis at various times between 1928 and 1946.

Dashti was arrested twice: first in 1920 and then in 1921 after the coup d’e`tat that brought the future Reza Shah to power. His prison memoirs, Prison Days, made him a literary celebrity both at home and abroad.

Dashti’s visit to Russia in 1927 was a decisive point for his later development of skepticism and free thought.

His criticism of allowing Tuda party into the cabinet and concessions to the Soviets landed him in prison in 1946. He was appointed a Senator in 1954 until the Islamic revolution in 1979. He was arrested after the revolution and was severely beaten during one of the interrogations. After being released he was not allowed to return to his home. Dashti wrote his thoughts in the book 23 Years which because of censorship could not be published in Iran. It was published anonymously in Lebanon. Ali Dashti gave a copy of Bist o Seh Sal to F.R.C. Bagley in 1975 and requested him to translate and publish it only after his death. Bagley believed this book is valuable because it discusses both values and problems Islam presents to modern Muslims. Bagley says that modern Muslim scholars have not paid much attention to difficulties and for the most part focussed on exposition and apologia.

Ali Dashti wrote Twenty-three Years (the title refers to the prophetic career of Muhammad)which leveled a devastating criticism at some of Muslims’ cherished beliefs. The book was written in 1937 but was published anonymously, probably in 1974, in Beirut, since the Shah’s regime forbade the publication of criticism of religion between 1971 and 1977. After the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Dashti authorized its publication by underground opposition groups. The book may well have sold over half a million copies in pirated editions between 1980 and 1986.

An Iranian newspaper reported his death in 1982.

[edit] Writing

In the book, 23 Years, Dashti chooses reason over blind faith:

Belief can blunt human reason and common sense, even in learned scholars. What is needed is more impartial study.

Dashti strongly denied the so-called miracles ascribed to Muhammad and didn’t acknowledge the popular Muslim view that the Koran is the word of God himself. Instead, he favors thorough and skeptical examination of all orthodox belief systems. Dashti points out that the Koran contains nothing new in the sense of ideas not already expressed by others. All the moral precepts of the Koran are self-evident and generally acknowledged.

The stories in it are taken in identical or slightly modified forms from the lore of the Jews and the Christians, whose rabbis and monks Muhammad had met and consulted on his journeys to Syria, and from memories conserved by the descendants of the peoples of Ad and Thamud.

Muhammad reiterated principles which mankind had already conceived in earlier centuries and many places.

"Confucius, Buddha, Zoroaster, Socrates, Moses, and Jesus had said similar things..Many of the duties and rites of Islam are continuous practices which the pagan Arabs had adopted from the Jews."

[edit] Demise in prison

Unfortunately, Dashti’s passion and courage to speak the truth put his life in danger . Ali Dashti died in 1984 after spending three years in Khomeini’s prisons, where he was tortured even though he was 83 at that time.

He told a friend before he died:

Had the shah allowed books like this to be published and read by the people, we would never have had an Islamic revolution.

The tragic fate of Dashti has striking similarities to that of the Greek philosopher, Socrates, who was forced to drink lethal poison to death for having spoken his mind.

Before listing all the assassinations that Muhammad ordered, including on Abu Afak's life, Ali Dashti wrote in "23 years: A Study of the Prophetic Career of Mohammad" on page 97:

Thus Islam was gradually transformed from a purely spiritual mission into a militant and punitive organization whose progress depended on booty from raids and revenue from the zakat (tax).