If there is any individual in the entire Muslim world who deserves the title of “Islam’s Renaissance Man”, it is the Iranian President, Syed Mohammad Khatami.
Today as Iran’s President he leads, intellectually and politically, the efforts to push ahead with the spirit of Islam while saving it from the clutches of diabolic isolation.
He pursues this task as no less than a crusader for what is contemporary and Islamic in essence. The costs to Khatami are high. As he controls the highest political seat in Iran; he encourages Iranians to opt for freedom of speech and thought. Through his extraordinary writings and speeches, he declares that a society where freedom of speech and thought is denied is no different “from a corpse” which stagnates, decays and then withers away.
He has continuously called upon the parliament and the judiciary to encourage the strengthening of Iranian civil society which would make important contribution to the progress of Iranian society.
In these turbulent times of transition, Khatami leads the force of openness, debate and dialogue in Iran. Dialogue and rationality, Khatami has repeatedly maintained, are the most powerful tools for reforming state and society.
Khatami is both a contributor to and a father of the Iranian Revolution. He, therefore, understands power in its many dimensions. Khatami promotes no simplistic idealist. He also preaches no pragmatic realism. In seeking to lay the foundations of a durable and contemporary Iranian society, he is constructing the Iranian thought with humanism as its foundation.
He addresses all sections of the society – children, mothers, farmers, students, the elderly and others too. For example in his message to the young students parliamentary elections on December 22, Khatami argued that “in today’s tumultuous and mysterious world, an active participation of nations in civil establishments and societies in order to restore citizens’ rights and rein in levers of power … while protecting faith and morals which human beings have been missing today, is a must.”
While Iran pursues a pragmatic and self-interest based foreign policy, Khatami, through his statesmanship, has earned for Iran a ‘place in the sun’. Within the Muslim world and also globally Khatami’s words are taken seriously. When he calls for the obvious, a dialogue of civilizations, the world pays attention.
The soft-spoken Muslim statesman-scholar calls for a non-combative proactive and rational response to the ostensibly increasing religion-based antagonism. Khatami’s three-word response to Samuel Huntington’s three word pessimistic and alarmist declaration of a Clash of Civilizations is now widely quoted.
Born in 1943, the son of a cleric, Khatami studied theology in Qom and Esfahan. He holds degrees in education and philosophy. With a journalistic and teaching background, he served as a parliamentary deputy, chief editor of the pro-government newspaper “Keyhan” and as a moderate cleric.
He was Iran’s Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance between 1982 and 1992. His liberal policies, specifically, allowed permission for new newspapers and magazines to emerge. He was then forced to resign due to these policies. While a highly controversial figure within the sections of the Iranian establishment, Khatami has twice been elected president. First in May 1997 and for the second term in June 2001, when he won around 77 per cent of the votes.
The challenge for Khatami is a complex one. The road ahead is difficult. But he is as good as they come; perhaps even better. He may just match the challenge.
:k: to a great Muslim politician - how different things would be if the Islamic world had more Khatamis, and fewer Sauds, Mubaraks, Assads, Hussains, etc…