Turban Tossing: Yes or No
Turban Tossing: Yes or No. The images and videos being circulated these days about a phenomenon called turban tossing are on the rise. It’s unclear where this idea originated. Some believe that the green light was first given by a cleric, and while no one even thought about this issue, he, as the social media folks say, spoiled it with a sentence.
A text attributed to Ayatollah Arafi, the head of religious seminaries, was published about a month ago, suggesting that if those who remove and burn scarves are not stopped, they will also target cloaks and turbans. However, later, Hawza News, quoting someone close to Arafi, wrote that he never made such a statement in any meeting or speech, and what was attributed to him is completely false and fabricated.
Although some attribute the origins of this phenomenon to the radical revolutionary figures themselves, like the image of Karroubi’s turban being thrown during the events of 2009, or a similar account by Abtahi, Khatami’s office manager, about a physical altercation with hardline conservatives. Meanwhile, the release of an audio file from Ayatollah Khomeini from the 1960s about removing the turbans of corrupt government-affiliated clerics has become another justification for this phenomenon not being new or strange.
Protest with a Recreational Touch
Even if this sentence was entirely fabricated, it seems to have had its impact, and the individual or group that consciously or unconsciously spread it has achieved their goal. Every day, a video or image of a cleric’s turban being tossed is published. It seems that for some, mostly teenagers, turban tossing is considered a form of recreation or game. One person starts filming beforehand, and another quietly approaches a cleric, tosses his turban, and runs away.
It’s recreational in the sense that this form of protest involves the least amount of violence and profanity, although the videos quickly cut off or end after the turban is tossed, leaving it unclear whether any verbal or physical altercation occurred afterward, and whether any of these youths have ever been arrested for turban tossing or public harassment.
Some time ago, a journalist who had been a parliamentary reporter for a long time tweeted that he had seen Hamid Rasaei, a former parliament member and a figure close to the Stability Front, without a turban on the street, implicitly accusing him of no longer wearing a turban out of fear. Rasaei, however, replied that he was mistaken and that he always commutes with his cloak and turban.
Dry and Wet
The appearance of the matter is that the act of turban tossing is a symbolic protest against the behavior and structural political policies that the clergy are at the helm of. From the perspective of the supporters of this act, it doesn’t matter what past or background the cleric passing by has, whether they support the current policies or oppose them, whether they have spoken and acted in line with the existing policies or against them, whether they hold any governmental or ruling position or not.
In the meantime, some sarcastic interpretations have been used to justify the phenomenon of turban tossing. For example, a social media user wrote that when a woman is harassed for her way of dressing and then is told it was her fault for dressing in a way that provoked others, now we say to the clerics it’s your fault, you should have dressed in a way that didn’t provoke us to toss your turban.
Synthesis Instead of Repeating Thesis and Antithesis
However, some believe that the phenomenon of turban tossing, which signifies a sense of social insecurity for a group, is a repetition of a vicious cycle of thesis and antithesis, while we are now seeking synthesis. A writer named Seyyed Hashem Firoozi wrote to the turban-tossing teenagers that you are not supposed to become the antithesis of what you object to and ultimately let the false and deceitful bipolar cycle continue to take victims. Our ideal social life in Iran is a thoughtful existence with the presence of everyone.
Ahmad Zeidabadi, in a critical view of this phenomenon, wrote that turban tossing mainly targets clerics who have no governmental position and may even be critics or victims of current policies. Clerics with high-ranking positions in the system usually do not appear in public so easily, and if they do, they are provided with necessary protection and care.
Zeidabadi also referred to an experience in this regard, saying that some time ago, during a trip to Najaf Abad, Isfahan, he encountered an elderly cleric who, when faced with street protesters, had to raise his hands and say, ‘By God, I am not a government cleric.’ Zeidabadi further protested why fair-minded and tolerant intellectuals do not warn about these phenomena.
Concern Over Turban Tossing in the Region
Nevertheless, it seems this phenomenon has attracted so much attention that it has even caused concern in Iraq. Muqtada al-Sadr, the influential Iraqi cleric, on November 8th, issued a statement on his Twitter in response to the widespread protests in Iran, writing that opposition to hijab might spread to other countries in the region and lead from turban tossing to the removal of hijab from the heads of modest women.
This is while there is no mandatory hijab in Iraq, and the ruling government is secular. However, it seems that the people of Iraq, compared to Iran, have more adherence to religion and tradition in terms of customs, and ironically, the conflicts there have more of a religious and ethnic nature than a non-religious one.
At one time, the Arab Spring phenomenon swept through Arab Islamic countries like a domino effect. It is likely that Muqtada al-Sadr is worried that this time a phenomenon with an anti-custom and anti-religion flavor might become widespread.
Iran Gate has published many special articles about the popular protests in Iran. Below are a few suggestions related to this article.
- Iran Protests and Exaggeration About Generation Z
- Iranian People’s Protests and Non-Violence: Yes or No
- A Polarized Society and an Accusation Called Playing the Middle