Patience with the enemy, why be harsh with the friend?
Without any hint or innuendo, as an observer, one can appreciate the decision of the Islamic Republic’s officials to act rationally in response to Israel’s warmongering actions. Probably, anyone who cares about the destruction of Iran would do the same. Although defending the nation’s dignity and geography is essential and the most important task, war is vile and ruthless.
I am not concerned with the details of this decision; foreign policy is more complex than what can be prescribed in a note. Recently, I’ve been hearing keywords in the speeches of military and state officials that indicate patience and avoidance of hastiness in decision-making. This constantly reminds me of Saadi’s verse: ‘If one can endure the tyranny of the enemy with patience, why should I not be patient with the tyranny of a friend?’
Events of just the past few days, not months or years, cross my mind. I think about how, despite any ideological differences, Saeed Madani is not more of an enemy to us than Netanyahu. He is not dangerous to the country’s security; he is a critical researcher and university professor who has been imprisoned in recent years.
I do not understand the logic behind his imprisonment. Usually, imprisonment is meant to achieve two outcomes: either to remove a dangerous individual from society or to punish the offender. I doubt that even the judge who sentenced Saeed Madani and others like him would think for a moment that his presence in society poses the slightest danger to anyone.
Even if the issue is having a critical perspective, it is unlikely that such individuals would think for a moment that thinking and expressing their opinions was wrong and be reformed. In any case, this researcher has been imprisoned by a judge’s order. But the fact that further punishment is imposed during this university professor’s imprisonment, sending him to a prison outside his family’s residence, astonishes society.
We hadn’t yet digested that news when we heard that Zia Nabavi and Hasti Amiri, two students protesting the serial poisoning of students, are summoned to serve their prison sentences. Two students who have previously tasted imprisonment multiple times, whose only activity was writing devoid of insult and anger on their social networks.
I hear all this in just these past few days and juxtapose it with the rational decision against Netanyahu’s warmongering. I revisit Saadi’s verse: patience with the enemy, patience with the friend. I try to put myself in the decision-makers’ shoes. I think that compared to Netanyahu, any domestic critic is like the friend Saadi wants to be patient with, not the enemy.
I try to look at how decision-makers deal with critics from the perspective of political, security, and ideological considerations. Yet, I still don’t understand the logic of how one can be patient with a murderer like Netanyahu and not consider a fellow university professor or critical student worthy of that patience. We consider the worst scenario: that individuals like Saeed Madani, Zia Nabavi, and Hasti Amiri are not considered friends and are seen as enemies by some officials. Even then, I don’t understand this contradiction of patience with the enemy and harshness with the friend.
Is it more dangerous for the political structure if two students, whose only capacity and potential threat are a few lines of speech and criticism on their limited social networks, remain in society, or if this event becomes a news bomb? Is it more prudent for Saeed Madani to serve his sentence in Evin Prison, or for his exile to another city to become a news bomb, with many writing about the additional injustice inflicted on his family due to this exile?
As clear as the sun is Netanyahu’s enmity and those who agree with him, not just with the political system but with the entirety of Iran. It is evident that the names we’ve heard a lot these days—Saeed Madani, Hasti Amiri, and Zia Nabavi, and others like them—are well-wishers for Iran.
Regardless of whether we sympathize with them or not, or whether we consider their arguments and logic right or wrong, few can doubt their good intentions for a better collective life in this country. Now, if we view Netanyahu as the enemy and these individuals as the friend, shouldn’t decision-makers reflect more on Saadi’s verse? Shouldn’t the patience and leniency of decision-makers, and even their prudence, be more extended to the friend than the enemy?
