Gonabadi Dervishes and Civil Disobedience

majzooban.org - In an analytical essay entitled "Gonabadi Dervishes and Civil Disobedience", Tavana website focuses on the dervishes' sufferings and consequent protests, drawing upon the ideas of Farhad Nouri, the editor-in-chief of Majzooban Noor website, and Ammar Maleki, a researcher in political sciences.

Tavana website introduces itself as an electronic training platform for Iranian civil society and considers education, capacity building for a civil society, and cultivation of active citizenship as its major objectives. The essay is as follows (the content of this essay does not necessarily reflect Majzooban Noor's perspective):

Tavana- Mid September this year, streets of Tehran witnessed protests, protests that had nothing to do with the Green Movement but related to dervishes standing up for their civil rights. They recently had been enrolling volunteers for "Migration from Iran to Evin" campaign. In the first statement, the primary cause of this campaign was announced to be "a chain of deprivations, restrictions, discriminations, and harassments". In regards to the 9 prisoners on hunger strike, Nematollahi Gonabadi dervishes stated: "Our spiritual brothers are kept imprisoned for defending dervishes' rights and seeking justice, are subject to increasing oppression and violations on a daily basis, and deprived of their most basic rights. Therefore, there are no options for us but to migrate from a large prison named Iran to a smaller one called Evin in sympathy with and in support of our beloved brothers. Freedom in our country is synonymous with slow death. We migrate from Iran to Evin and give up the pleasure of this so called freedom to wear the ball and chain in prison".

This was how on September 20th and 21st hundreds of dervishes appeared in front of the Ministry of Justice in Tehran blindfolded and with tied hands. According to Majzooban Noor, Gonabadi dervishes' official news website, the beatings and the arrests commenced before the crowd reached full formation. Security forces told the passersby that the dervishes are hypocrites and members of the Islamic State. They arrested 400 dervishes, and transferred them to various police stations across Tehran. The saga continued the next day with dervishes voluntarily surrendering their mobile phones and personal belongings before boarding the security force vans to be transferred to police stations. Mojzooban Noor announced that during attacks by security forces, a number of dervishes sustained serious injuries, and a few hours later the arrested dervishes were freed.

Nevertheless, the third rally was set on Sunday, Mehr, 6 (September, 28) Hundreds of dervishes, arm in arm, gathered on Vali Asr sidewalks from Talighani Street to Vali Asr Square to once again voice their objections to state officials. Eventually the representative of the Minister of Justice met with dervishes' representatives, asking them to end the rallies and give the Ministry of Justice a week to discuss the dervishes' issues with the head of the Judiciary. The dervishes agreed and stopped the rally.

Deep roots of Dervishes' harassment
Nematollahi Gonabadi Order is a Sufi branch which follows the teachings and beliefs of Shah Nematollah Vali, an eighth century Sufi. Its current Qotb (leader) is Doctor Noor Ali Tabandeh, Majzoob Ali Shah. They are Muslims and Shiites, who believe in the twelve Imams, and consider peace, equality, and brotherhood as important features of their spiritual path (tarighah). Gonabadi dervishes are usually not actively interested in political involvement, and prefer to hold their rituals without disturbing others. However, the Iranian government has recently been suppressing them and has demolished some of their places of worship (Hosseiniyeh) and the tombs of some of their leaders. Mehdi Karroubi was the only figure in the government who tried to resolve the problems dervishes were faced with and, therefore, during the presidential elections in 1388 (2009), dervishes launched a press agency called "Majzooban Noor" to officially support Karroubi. The events following the elections and Karroubi's house arrest and confinement further exacerbated conditions for dervishes.

Regarding the reasons behind the harassment of dervishes, Farhad Nouri, the editor-in-chief of Majzooban Noor, tells Tavana: "The reasons behind these maltreatments are highly complicated and difficult to recognize due to the combination of politics and religion in the composition of the Iranian state. On the one hand, irrespective of ideological and religious matters, the strong solidarity and camaraderie characterizing the community of dervishes might be misinterpreted by the Iranian state as a threat to security and dominant political authority. On the other hand, the state, as a religious entity, may consider Sufism as an ideological threat which might question the state's interpretation of Islam". He emphasizes, however, that the state is not adequately familiar with dervish reality and aspirations as dervishes have shown no interest in assuming power or even "systematic promotion of their beliefs".
Currently, nine Gonabadi dervishes, named Hamid-Reza Moradi Sarvestani, Afshin Karampour, Farshid Yadollahi, Reza Entesari, Amir Eslami, Omid Behroozi, Mostafa Daneshjou, Mostafa Abdi, and Kasra Nouri, are behind bars. They made their wills on Shahrivar, 9 (August, 31) announcing the start of their hunger strike: "Enemies of religion and law have been opposing humanity in the name of religion and law and making us suffer until death. We will not die of this hunger strike; rather, we will be murdered. Since we are true followers of Islam which is, in a sense, the reviving messianic breath, we will be alive forever as the history has witnessed our attempts."

Happy is the day when I abandon this ruined house, Bring comfort to my soul and seek my beloved
Although I know an alien will not reach anywhere, I will trace the scent of his windswept hair.
(Hafiz)

We want all noble human beings and especially our Nematollahi Gonabadi brothers to continue this path, take vengeance on the agents of these tortures, and make sure they all are justly punished. Farewell"
This hunger strike and the failure of authorities to address the imprisoned dervishes' demands was the "major stimulus for the dervishes' migration to Evin campaign". After more than a month, the hunger strike is still on.

Civil disobedience, the Dervishes' style
Dervishes' way of objecting could be considered civil disobedience. Amar Maleki, a researcher in political sciences who lives in the Netherlands, tells Tavana: "The brave and gentle protests by the dervishes is a classic example of civil disobedience in Iran, as it had all features of this form of civil protest; It was 1. A gentle and respectful way of objecting to dervishes' unfair treatment, imprisonment, and harassment; 2. Conducted in a collective and informed manner, aimed at awareness raising and engaging the public; 3. A public objection announced in advance; 4. A protest measure, with the participants welcoming the possible consequences; and 5. A peaceful and nonviolent initiative. These are all features of civil disobedience which we do not often observe in Iran, because in countries where the level of suppression is not proportionate to the form of protest, people and civil activists tend to avoid protesting publicly and practicing civil disobedience in order to prevent the suppression."
The Coordination Council for the Green Path of Hope issued a statement objecting to violation of dervishes' civil rights and said: "The brave Iranian dervishes offered peaceful resistance to oppression, raised public awareness, and staged nonviolent protests. Their resistance and bravery made the authorities release the detainees."

Therefore, it seems that the dervishes' protests are regarded by civil activists in Iran as a good example of civil objections. This may become a proper model for social movements and the civil society of Iran in the future.