I conceded to wearing clothes under my mantou after local breezes began setting the stage for an unscheduled hemline hike.
Today was the introduction to Iranian Air on a flight from Tehran to Mashhad.
The airport scene was unusual:
* Women and men segregated at check-in
* Women face the “hair and lipstick police”
* Everyone gets a full frisk
* All batteries have to be removed from carry-on bags…could be the makings of a bomb. This includes camera batteries. Nahman commented as he boarded the plane, “I’d be the perfect candidate to carry a bomb—at my age, I’m useless”.
We were flying a Soviet Tupolev “727-ski” (Typolev 154M). What a feeling of confidence when the Iran Air maintenance man checked the tire of the plane by beating on it with a screwdriver.
We met an Iranian passenger who lived in the US…in Oklahoma. His comments on the mispronunciation of “Iran” by Okies…. “When I hear “Ear-Ran”, I ran…” (Iranians pronounce Iran as “ear-ran.”)
We landed in Mashhad and it was like landing on another planet. There were hoards of “black packages” running around the airport
Putting on our chadors
We got our formal “chadors”, complete coverage for the Mashhad sites. They were ugly, hot and hard to keep on, although we did provide major amusement to the locals as our group attempted to put them on.
We headed to the city, and learned that we had gotten approval to enter the “Holy Precinct” (Harem-e Motahar e Emam Reza), the most holy Islamic site in Iran, the tomb of the 8th Imam of the Shiites, Imam Reza.
A little history of the Shiites:
Shiites believe in 12 Imams, or leaders of the faith that succeeded Muhammad. They are all descendents of Muhammad through his daughter Fatima and her husband Ali (more of Ali later). The Imams are believed to be infallible, sinless, and to have a divined right to authority.
The fourth Imam, Hussain, is one of the most revered. He died in 680AD at Karbala in Iraq -about 50 miles south of Baghdad- in a suicidal attack on the Sunnites, an attack that split Islam into Sunnite and Shiite camps forever. (More of Hussain and Karbala later.)
Reza is the only Imam buried in Iran, and since travel to Iraq isn’t possible, Reza’s tomb has become high in importance.
The 12th Imam, al Madhi, is (surprisingly) not dead. He hasn’t been seen since 880AD, an absence that is called an “occultation.” He is expected to return at some point in time, his return signifying the beginning of justice on earth. Some Iranians feel Ayatollah Khomeni is the 12th Imam; he never denied or affirmed that he was. If he was, he sure didn’t learn much between 880AD and 1979AD. In any event, Shi’ites believe that Mullahs derive spiritual power from al Madhi, and so they are better off that he is in occultation.
More interesting factoids:
Shiites pay a religious tax called zakat directly to their clerics (mullahs), rather than to the state. This gives some mullahs great wealth to go along with their spiritual power.
They believe in “temporary marriage” called “muta,” in which a man and woman can agree to be married for a short but specific amount of time, and how much monetary support the man will pay. If she has a child, the man is expected to pay support even though the marriage is over.
Finally, they believe in “taqwa,” which is a principle that gives them permission to hide their religious beliefs in time of danger. This principle has been loosely interpreted by some to hide the truth when is suites their purpose…a bit of a problem.
One of the really strange facets of Islam in Iran: the Mosque attendance at the main time of prayer on Friday, at noon, is very light compared to that of Sunnite Arab countries. This is inexplicable, since the Iranians are quite religious. Perhaps prayer is felt to be a private act.
Some Mullahs were very nice to us; others gave us the “evil eye.” We called the latter guys the “steely eyed mullah men.” They didn’t seem happy with visitors from the Great Satan.]
We got our orientation and filled out our application forms to enter the Imam Reza complex. We visited the Gohar Shad Library and Gohar Shad mosque built in the 15th C and looked into the Imam Khomeini courtyard
John saw a prayer stone at the Sahn-e Quds courtyard and slipped it into his pocket.
* Prayer Stones (“Mohr”) Mohr are about one square inch in size, and are placed on the ground as a place for the head to touch during prayer. These “stones” are made from Karbala clay so the worshiper’s head, and prayers, can be close to the beloved Hussain.
We cleaned out the museum gift shop of Ayatollah postcards. During this transaction an Iranian woman sitting next to John fell over stone unconscious onto the floor of the museum. The Americans found help, but her husband, standing a few feet away, did nothing. She eventually came around.
We checked in at the Homa Hotel with ”Down with USA” in huge gold letters over the main door. Welcome to Iran…
Every hotel room in Iran has a ceiling sign pointing to Mecca, a prayer rug and prayer stone and copy of the Koran.
Wake up calls—if not answered, they’ll come to your room, knocking and yelling, “Get up, Get up!”
The chief ditz on the tour, Jeanette, remarked on the “beautiful baby moon”. We resolved to sit as far from Jeanette as possible for the remainder of the trip. This was a wise policy as it subsequently turned out. She was a card-carrying idiot.
We left at 3:00 and didn’t return to the hotel until 8:00… We decided that we would never again do anything with the group that we don't want to do, and we decide to make a lot of free time for ourselves each day away from the group. Thanks, Shurlukh.
We blew off the group dinner and walked into Mashhad.
We stopped at the local women’s clothing store and bought two outfits for me then found a local dive for greasy kabobs and Zam-Zam. The locals were amazed to see Americans.
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