Taste of Via

I was on the phone speaking Farsi and I walk to the sample counter at Costco. I start pouring sugar and cream in the small sample cup of new Starbucks’ instant coffee “Via”. My phone conversation ended and I hung up.

“Are you Muslim?” The woman behind the counter asked with an unsure tone that if she is doing the right thing or not.

“I used to, not anymore!” I answered.

The charm on her face is now gone. She turns to me and asks disappointedly “can I ask you why?”

With a smile on my face I answered, “it didn’t work for me, god isn’t for me.” She picks up the coffee pot full of hot water and starts to pour the water in small sample cups.

She looks at me directly and says, “You know if a non-Muslim turn into Islam, it washes off all his sin but if a Muslim turn into another religion is not a good thing.”

I laugh catastrophically while think with myself “oh here we go, another person thinking that apostasy is wrong” I looked at her while she is fixing her hijab and say: “Islam didn’t work for me and if it works for you, good for you. It didn’t work for me.”
“Islam is the last religion,” she says. I take a sip and say, “no it’s not”. I look down to see her name on her nametag. “Shamba.” “She should be a Pakistani or Afghan by her look and Shamba is not a Persian name!” I think to myself.

She rephrases her words “there is no religion after Islam.”

“There is Baha’i faith after Islam” I answer.

She looks up again like she didn’t hear what I said or don’t know what I’m talking about. “It’s a man-made religion.” She answers me with a little bit of upset emotion in her face.

“No it’s not” I say it while I’m trying to keep my smile on.

“Can you prove it?” She asks.

Another customer walks toward her counter and picks up a sample cup and seems like that she overheard our conversation. From her uncomfortable face, you can tell that she is pretending that she hasn’t heard anything.

“Well can you prove that Islam is not a man-made religion?” I answer her back.

There is an obvious disappointment in her face. Existence of a new customer around makes her uncomfortable to answer me back. She looks down and keeps pouring water in those sample cups. I throw my cup away and start walking.

With an unpleasant voice she said, “Thanks for stopping by and trying our new product.”

بهنود و مادر مقتول

بهنود شجاعی در یک نزاع خیابانی بصورت غیر عمد و در حال دفاع از خود ۴ ساله پیش به سمت احسان (مقتول) حمله ور میشود و در نهیات با مجروح کردن او باعث مرگش میشود. بهنود در زمان قتل فقط ۱۷ سال سن داشت. ایران با امضا نمودن حقوق کودک در کنوانسیون مربوط پذیرفت که از حقوق کودکان دفاع کند. هر فرد زیر ۱۸ سال در قوانین بین المللی کودک حساب میشود. و چون بهنود در زمان قتل زیر این سن بوده طبق قوانین بین‌المللی حکمش به عنوان یک کودک باید مورد برسی‌ قرار بگیرد. بر طبق قوانین جمهوری اسلامی اجرای حکم به بعد از رسیدن به سن قانونی‌ معلق میشود.

مصاحبه زیر با مادر احسان نصرالهی است که به آزاد شدن بهنود شجاعی که پسرش را کشته بود رضایت نداد و منجر به اعدام بهنود شد. خانم نصرالهی به خاطر این رضایت نداد که خانواده قاتل در مدت ۴ سال حبس بهنود از او رسما عذر خواهی‌ نکردند و با امید داشتن به حقوق بشر و غیر، سعی‌ در مورد بخشوده شدن بهنود داشتند. بهنود به دفعات شخصاً خودش از مادر مقتول عذر خواهی‌ کرده است.

لطفا پس از دیدن این مصاحبه، فکر می‌کنید آیا اگر جای مادر مقتول بودید چه میکردید؟ دوباره: شما فعال حقوق بشر نیستید شما مادر مقتول هستید با یک پسر که او را از دست داده‌اید.

چی‌ فکر می‌کنید؟