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The Paradox of Modern Iran – Part Iv

2011-09-24T13:23:00.001+05:30

I almost forgot to post the most interesting part of my reading, the quotes from the book. This is the kind of stuff which keeps my passion for Reading afresh:

I found a beautiful verse “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”

‘You say something; I believe it. You insist; I begin to wonder. You swear on it; I know you’re lying.’

On American hegemony: “We are interested not in compromise but in coexistence.”

An Iranian Diplomat’s view on Holocaust:

“There was no Holocaust.” He gave me a knowing smile. “Sure, some people died,” he carried on, perhaps because of my hanging lower jaw and dead stare, “but you see, there was an outbreak of typhus in the prison camps, and in order to stop its spread, the Germans burned the corpses. All told, something like three hundred thousand people died from typhus.” Mohammadi smiled again, a little triumphant smirk.

For some Freedom means Having the choice to wear whatever they like and for others Having a Full Belly.

My interpretation: Freedom means differently to different people, for a teenager it will be the Freedom to talk to a girl, exchange phone numbers, hang out together, dress as they feel like or even sex. But for a mid-age Iranian, it might mean better economic scenario, cheaper vegetables, free education for his kids or Cable network.

“All business in Iran is like first-time sex: first there are the promises, then a little foreplay, followed by more promises and perhaps a little petting.” He had a disgusted look on his face. “At that stage, things get complicated—you’re not sure who’s the boy and who’s the girl, but what you do know is that if you continue, you might get fucked.”

Sex in Iran has had a “don’t ask, don’t tell” quality…… allows for temporary marriages as short as one hour, known as sigheh, for the very purpose of religiously sanctioned fun………Women were expected to remain virgins until they married, ……..The plastic surgery practice of hymen reconstruction was so common in Tehran in prerevolutionary times that some doctors devoted their practice to it

“I don’t even tell God my problems or worries, but I do tell my problems about God.”

“Iranians deserve their reputation for being annoyingly proud…. the nuclear issue is another matter of Haq, basic rights that deeply resonate for a Shia people that has long suffered from inferiority and superiority complexes, often simultaneously.”

“The Americans aren’t so foolish as to invade a country where ten-year-old boys will strap grenades to their bodies and hurl themselves under tanks.” Witnesses have said that sometimes Iraqi soldiers, seeing the boys charge them in their Hossein-inspired frenzy, would abandon their positions and run away, not necessarily out of fear, but out of shock and amazement. “If you want to understand Iran, you must become a Shia first.” Rafsanjani’s supposed words rang in my head.

On Complicated relation between Arabs and Iranians:

What can one make of Iranians who shed genuine tears for an Arab who died fourteen hundred years ago, who pray in Arabic three times a day, and yet who will in an instant derisively dismiss the Arab people.

Arabs, according to Iranians, were an uncultured lot, barely literate, and their brute force persuaded the Iranians to convert to their religion but not their way of life. Why Allah would choose, in His infinite wisdom, to reveal His Word to an illiterate Arab in the desert is not a subject of debate in Iran, but then again, even for Iranians, Allah putatively works in mysterious ways.

“Iranians long ago became Muslims, but they didn’t become Arabs.”

Kind of Hyperbole we are used to find in religious texts:

“Imam Hossein’s anger at the death of his father, Imam Ali, he said, with much gusto, that Hossein immediately got on his horse and slew, in one continuous action and armed only with his sword, 1,950 soldiers from the Caliph’s army.”

The Paradox of Modern Iran – Part III

2011-09-24T13:18:00.001+05:30

I was really fascinated by the description of places which Mr. Majd visited during his Iran stay. I never knew much about Iran and frankly I just thought that it would be like just another Arab country, but I was proven wrong. Iran is Iran and shares no similarity to any Arab country, except Religion.

Postcards from Iran:

Mashhad : Iran’s second-largest city, is home to Fatima’s brother’s grave, the Imam Reza Shrine, and pilgrims regularly travel from one city to the other as part of their Shia duties.

The shrine of Fatema Mæ'sume

Jamkaran Mosque:

A popular pilgrimage site for Shi'ite Muslims. Local belief has it that the Twelfth Imam (Muhammad al-Mahdi) — a messiah figure Shia believe will lead the world to an era of universal peace — once appeared and offered prayers at Jamkaran. On Tuesday evenings especially large crowds of tens of thousands gather at Jamkaran to pray and to drop a note to the Imam in a well at the site, asking for help with some problem.

Mr Majd went to the Office of Iranian Foreign Ministry, to meet one of his subjects, Manouchehr Mohammadi, is the Deputy foreign minister for research and education of Iran, for the book. He has given a detail description about the surroundings of this building and obviously I was tempted to check its image.

Beautiful Town of Yazd, in Iran

Badger(windcatcher) is a traditional Persian architectural device used for many centuries to create natural ventilation in buildings.

Yazd used to be the centre of Zoroastrianism, before Islam reached Iran. There are still few monuments left, reminiscent of those days.

While reading about ‘Zoroastrians’ I read an interesting fact on Wiki:

India is considered to be home to the largest Zoroastrian population in the world. When the Islamic armies, under the first Caliphs, invaded Persia, those locals who were unwilling to convert to Islam sought refuge, first in the mountains of Northern Iran, then the regions of Yazd and its surrounding villages. Later, in the ninth century CE, a group sought refuge in the western coastal region of India, and also scattered to other regions of the world. In recent years, the United States has become a significant destination of Zoroastrian populations, holding the second largest population of Zoroastrians after India.

Now from Ancient times to something contemporary:

Swords of Qādisīyah are a pair of triumphal arches in central Baghdad, Iraq. Each arch consists of a pair of hands holding crossed swords. The two arches mark the entrances to a parade-ground constructed to commemorate then Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's declaration of victory over Iran in the Iran-Iraq war (though the war was considered by many to have ended in stalemate). The arms rest on concrete plinths, the form of which make the arms appear to burst up out of the ground. Each plinth holds 2,500 helmets of, what Saddam claimed, Iranian soldiers killed during the war, and are held in nets which spill the helmets on to the ground beneath.

In February 2007, it was reported that the new Iraqi government had organized the Committee for Removing Symbols of the Saddam Era and that the Arc of triumph monument had begun to be dismantled, which was against the will of most of the Iraqi people. The demolition began on Tuesday, February 20, 2007. At that time, 10-foot (3.0 m) chunks had been cut out of the bronze monument. Numerous Iraqi bystanders and coalition troops were seen taking helmets and bits of the monument away as souvenirs. The decision to remove the monument, made by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, was challenged by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who blocked the demolition on February 21.

Persepolis and the story associated with it.

Qanats, an underground irrigation system.

Ferdowsi and “Shahnameh

”

Tomb of Ferdowsi, Tus

Azadi Tower:

Built in 1971 in commemoration of the 2,500th anniversary of the Persian Empire, this "Gateway into Iran" was named the Shahyad Tower, meaning "Kings' Memorial", but was dubbed Azadi (Freedom) after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Originally intended to remind coming generations of the achievements of modern Iran under the Pahlavi dynasty, it has become a symbol of the country's revival.

Diplomat Club

Cars used in Iran

Samand Peugeot 206

I really loved the image of Imam Hossein (below) in the background. I tried to find it on web but couldn’t so in the end I copied it from the book.

Hazrat Imam Hossein

Technorati Tags: Iran,Places to visit,Hooman Majd,Jamkaran,Qanat,Azadi Tower,Hazrat Imam Hossein

The Paradox of Modern Iran – Part II

2011-09-24T12:59:00.001+05:30

In continuation to the last post, below are the few interesting facts I learned while reading the book.

Guardian Council (the body that ensures the principles of Islam are adhered to by the Majles and also vets candidates running for election, theoretically on their Islamic qualifications),

Just for my memory I have noted down the Presidents and Supreme Leaders:

Supreme Leader of Iran (Rahbar) :

Ayatollah Ruhollah Mousavi KhomeinI (1979-89)

Ayatollah Ali Hoseyni Khamenei (1989-Present)

Supreme Leader has direct responsibility for foreign policy, which cannot be conducted without his direct involvement and approval

President of Iran

Abulhassan Banisadr (1980-81) (impeached)
Mohammad-Ali Rajai (1981-81) (assassinated)

Ali Hoseyni Khamenei (1981-85-89)

Akbar Rafsanjani (1989-93-97)

Mohammad Khatami (1997-01-05)

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-09-Present)

Shir’e: “Shir’e is made from the charred remnants of previously smoked opium and is the preferred method of drug taking among the hardest of hard-core opium addicts in Iran, who number in the hundreds of thousands. Boiling the burned opium in water, removing the scum, and then straining the gooey residue results in an opiate perhaps tens of times more potent than fresh, raw opium, itself by far the most popular drug in Iran. A small homemade paraffin burner is set on the floor, and the shir’e, a brown paste the color of a Tootsie Roll, is carefully kneaded onto the tip of a homemade pipe that looks something like an elongated kazoo. (Regular opium smokers often use beautiful pipes, sometimes made to the owner’s specifications, and handsome tongs, usually in pure silver, to lift white-hot charcoal briquettes from extravagantly decorated ash pits to their pipes.) Lying on the floor, one smokes shir’e upside down: unless you’re an expert, you need an assistant to guide the inverted pipe to the open flame. One puff and your head starts floating, pain now an adversary that appears vulnerable to conquest; two or three puffs and you experience a high that is serenely beautiful: problems fade completely away, anxiety and pain surrender, and nothing, you think, can take away the beauty. Not even a full-scale invasion by the U.S. military.”

Women in Iran keep their maiden names when they marry, including on all legal documents, and use their husband’s name only if prefaced with “Mrs.”

Imam Jomeh: Mullah who conducts Friday prayers

Moharram: the first month of the Arabic calendar,

Tasua: one of the two holiest days in a holy month of mourning for the martyrdom of the Shia Imam Hossein. Other being Ashura, is the actual day of Imam Hossein’s martyrdom. During Ashura week, it is customary for families with means to provide free food in their neighborhood, not just for the poor, but for anyone who wishes to indulge,

Zanjeer-Zani: chest beating.

Ghammeh-Zani, “cutting oneself with a blade,”

In Islam it is haram, or “forbidden,” to harm one’s own body to the point of danger—that is, danger from death due to, in this case, a potential deadly infection. He neglected to mention the Ayatollahs’ other reason, one they all agree on and one that has a strong Shia basis: that any act that can be misunderstood, misconstrued, or simply viewed negatively by the non-Shia world must be avoided in order to protect the faith from those who might view it in a negative light or, worse, defame it.

Rosehs is a sort of passion play, actually a passion play monologue; the story of Hossein’s martyrdom (or the martyrdom of other saints) is recited by a mullah who is an accomplished actor and who deftly manipulates the audience into tears simply by telling them of the injustice of it all.

Old joke in Iran about Moharram:

A foreigner, it seems, arrives in Iran during Moharram and is witness to the multitude of public grieving ceremonies, the crying, the chest beating, and of course the black flags adorning almost every building and house. “What’s happened?” he asks an Iranian. “We’re mourning Hossein’s death” is the reply. “Oh,” says the foreigner, “I’m so sorry. When did he die?” “Fourteen hundred years ago,” says the Iranian. “Boy,” says the foreigner, “news sure travels slow around these parts!”

Kalashnikov Vs M-16: Iranian soldiers use AK-47 and 56 while US army mostly uses the M series, specially the M-16s.
Mr Majd talked to one of the Republican guard and he wished that he’ll get his hands on the M-1’s one day.

Why superbikes are banned in Iran: “Non-suicide operations were often carried out by men who fled as passengers on the backs of motorcycles, the most powerful of which were banned as a result and the reason that today still no motorcycle with an engine larger than 150 cc can be bought in Iran.”

Controversy regarding Khomeini: “Khomeini wasn’t even Persian, his paternal grandfather was an Indian who immigrated to Iran (to the town of Khomein) in the early nineteenth century”

Controversy regarding the flag

After the islamic revolution of 1979, Khomeini changed the national flag of Iran.

Old flag from Shah’s regime vs New flag

Some of the people couldn’t understand so as to why the Supreme Leader has chosen a Sikh religious symbol for Iran’s National Flag. On the left is the “Sign of Khalsa (Khanda)”, of the Sikh religion, and on the right is the Iranian flag if it is replaced with that Sign.

As per Islamist Shariyat Laws, A man would not shake the hand of a woman not his wife, sister, or daughter (mahram to men in Islam, which means women who can be uncovered and one can physically touch, while all other women, even cousins and aunts, are namahram, and therefore even their hair mustn’t be seen).

Noheh, the Shia religious lamentation traditionally sung a cappella on holy days of mourning.

You can watch the Channel 2 broadcast of official Roseh and then you’ll understand Shia psyche a little better.

There’s so much abut Iran which I would like to know but I have started my next book, Guns of August which is too infectious, so I’ve to move on
But if any of you want to dig more : here is some raw material:

1953 Coupe by CIA: Mossadeq nationalized the Iranian oil industry, in effect demanding their right to the profits from their own oil, the British responded publicly, and at the UN no less, that Iran’s exercise of its right was a “threat to the security of the world,” words that have been repeated by the United States in response to Iran exercising its right, haq, as far as Iranians are concerned, to produce nuclear fuel.

1979 Islamic Revolution

1981-88 Iran-Iraq war

US shot down Iran Air flight 655

US Hostage situation

The Trial of Khosro Golsorkhi

Sanctions UN Security Council resolution of December 2006

Succession of Grand Ayatollah for Supreme Leader

What is Uranium Enrichment and why US doesn’t want Iran to pursue it.

Role of Jimmy Carter

Check Khosro Golsorkhi and Keramat Daneshian

Check Akbar Ganji

Check Shirin Ebadi

The Islamic Revolution

US Conflicts

MEK: Mujahedin-e-Khalq Check their origin and what was their purpose

Its leaders, Massoud and Maryam Rajavi,

Technorati Tags: Hooman Majd,Guardian Council,Iran,Rahbar,Ayatollah,Shir,Moharram,Ashura,Rosehs,Flag