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March 4, 2013       Share:    

Source: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=il&tbm=nws&q=%22Iran%27s+Pre-Islamic+Legacy%22&oq=%22Iran%27s+Pre-Islamic+Legacy%22&gs_l=news-cc.12..43j43i400.2045.4751.0.13484.3.2.0.1.0.0.817.953.0j1j6-1.2.0...0.0...1ac.1.egP1yTroiSk

Iran's Pre-Islamic Legacy

(Wall Street Journal) Sohrab Ahmari - "I sought the safety of the city of Babylon and all its sanctuaries," Persian emperor Cyrus declares in his account of the 6th-century BCE conquest. "As for the population of Babylon...I soothed their weariness; I freed them from their bonds." That tolerance earned Cyrus the reverence of exiled Babylonian Jews, whose temple in Jerusalem he subsequently restored, according to Biblical accounts. The Islamic Republic looks pretty awful when measured by Cyrus' yardstick: Discrimination against minorities is enshrined in law. Iranian theocrats detest Iran's pre-Islamic legacy. Ayatollah Khomeini once declared: "We do not worship Iran, we worship Allah. For patriotism is another name for paganism. I say let this land [Iran] burn. I say let this land go up in smoke, provided Islam emerges triumphant in the rest of the world."

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