Iran’s Bob Dylan

In an article “Iran’s ‘Bob Dylan’ Under Fire Over Qu’ran Song,” Radio Farda reports that Mohsen Namjoo, Iran’s most popular, and controversial, musician, has provoked the wrath of  “Qu’ran experts and religious figures” who say Namjoo should be punished for what they call an insult to Islam’s holy book.

Namjoo is known “for fusing traditional Persian music with Western styles such as rock, jazz, and blues,” and for blending “the verses of great Iranian poets, such as Hafiz and Rumi, with his own poetry and words.” But he is now in hot water over a song that includes verses from the Qu’ran.

Abbas Mohajerani, an Iranian-born Islamic scholar based in London, tells Radio Farda that music distracts the listener from “the word of God.”

“When the Qu’ran is being read, everyone should remain silent and listen,” Mohajerani says. “If there is music playing, then the listener’s attention is largely caught by the music.”

Abbas Salimi, a well-known Qu’ran expert, was among the first to publicly complain about the song. In a recent complaint letter to Tehran Prosecutor Said Mortazavi, Salimi said that Namjoo had performed verses of the Qu’ran in an insulting way and that he should be punished.

More complaints have followed, including by the Qu’ran Council of Iran’s Department of National Health and by Tehran’s Qu’ran Society.

And the anger against Namjoo seems to be growing. One Qu’ran reciter has compared the case with the controversy over Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses and the crisis over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that appeared in a Danish newspaper last year. He called on all Iranians and Qu’ran lovers to stand up and defend their “sanctities.”

We keep hearing about how Islam needs their own Calvin or Luther or Leo XIII. Maybe they also need their own Bach, who declared his ultimate purpose in life was to create “well-regulated church music to the glory of God,” and that “music’s only purpose should be for the glory of God and the recreation of the human spirit.” And that, “The aim and final reason of all music was none else but the glory of God.”

If not Bach, then an Islamic Bob Dylan would do quite well. For the real Bob Dylan leaves no doubt where he stands on this great divide. If you doubt it for a second, do yourself a favor and listen once again to his masterpiece Every Grain of Sand . As Bach might say, Soli Deo Gloria.