Strangeness and Charm

We arrived in Iran with 30 day visas. Part of the process to extend our stay required us to get our blood tested thereby ensuring we weren’t bringing in any infectious diseases into the country. My husband had already taken his a few months before, so it was me and my kids’ turn.

We went to a hospital in Qom. It was a professional and efficient environment and run entirely in Farsi. My husband handled everything so I had no worries.

The waiting room was mixed with both men and women. We easily found 5 seats for our entire family! Then there was a separate men and women’s lab sections. I went in with my girls and my husband took in my son. It didn’t matter that I don’t speak Farsi because all the information they needed was on the forms we had. The wait wasn’t too long, and the ladies who drew our blood were obviously professionals. It hurt, but it was quick. My kids handled it so bravely. Then we were ready to get out of there fast!

We went to a fast food place called BAMA restaurant. Well, we were 20 minutes early for its opening, so we walked a little bit and went into this little store that reminded me of DOLLAR GENERAL in the states.

Then we went into the restaurant. Check it out on Instagram here! It was large and clean and colorful. There was a small play section for little kids (glad my kids are too old for that now though!). The service was fast and the food was really delicious! It felt so liberating to be able to order anything off the menu since it's all halal.

How much in U.S. Dollars? **

Walking down the streets, there are many shops. I was surprised to see several charming window displays of fancy Iranian household objects. My photos don’t capture all the shiny things, but it was so nicely set up that I’d be intimidated with my humble budget just to go inside and browse.

So some of the elegance was lost with these tacky signs, but really captured the strangeness and charm of life in Qom.

The fancy stores are separated by strangely modest alleyways.

Oh, and we had to cross the street. So. It was frightening. The cars were not traveling too fast, but when vehicles are moving towards you at a steady pace and seem to stop only a few inches from your body, it is a STRANGE thing. Here’s a video of the street after we’d safely crossed. Scroll further down to see a snap I took of a couple on a motorcycle, the woman holding onto her baby. It is of course a culture shock to see so many people packed onto motorcycles (the first night here, I saw 3 men speeding down the highway on a motorbike, one was holding a large hookah pipe even). I don't judge the Iranian authorities or the Iranian people for this. I can still recall being a child in America and never having to bother with seat belts. The safety campaign took a while and a lot of money to successfully lobby for better seatbelt laws in the states, so it's just a matter of time and money here too.

Praise God.

Here are some other interesting street scenes from that day:

*Title of post taken from Florence Welch
**Around $12

Go to Qom

I'm not one that sustains faith through spiritual highs. I push my faith through the strain of thought until my heart feels solid and strong. So that is why I can not describe my experience being at the courtyard of the Lady Masumeh (p) shrine with poetical metaphors or cliched stocked phrases. But I believe in angels and saints and life after death, and I felt all those things were completely real there. I felt calm, which for those who really know me, is not a usual feeling I have when doing something brand new.

We arrived at a parking garage and took a ticket, the fee was minimal. We found a decent spot to park. We began to walk towards the shrine area. There were many small vendors selling items from shoes, pants, house decorations, big stuffed animals, to religious prayer beads and rugs. I didn't stop to take pictures of these because we wanted to get to the open courtyard of the shrine quickly. There were lots of people walking, cars and motorbikes edging through the crowd. The weather was cool and bright so I didn't feel bothered at all. The walk was about 10 minutes until we got to a large set of stairways. When we got to the top, there was an open area where I felt it was a big enough space to pause and take some photographs.

At this point, I can't remember if we had already crossed a small street to get into another large space, but eventually, we found the entrance to the main courtyard of the shrine. There were separate entrances for the women and then men, but they were near each other and once we stepped through those, the large courtyard was open to both men and women. 

As we walked through the entrance there was a quiet crowd of folks slowly approaching turnstiles to pass individually. At each one of those turnstiles was an official female guard with gloves on who pat down everyone who went through. It seemed as if she was checking us for suicide vests. Later someone mentioned to me that it was only recently that the guards were added at these points, when the threat of Daesh (a.ka. ISIS) became more apparent. Daesh hates us Shia and we are often targeted by them. However, I was not frightened at all. Qom has always been the refuge for the Shia of the world, a place where we feel at home and safe. 

As we entered the main courtyard, all the images I'd seen before on the internet came to life and felt familiar. It was a place where I could have spent all day, sitting and walking. There are shops right outside the courtyard and a place within where there is free cold water and cups for drinking. There are several hadith about this great city that I will include with the photographs. 

Imam Sadiq (A.S.) has said:

"There is an angel for Qum who has spread his wings over it and any tyrant who intents bad for Qum, Allah (SWT) melts him down as the salt is melted in water."

(Bihaar al-Anwar, vol. 60, p. 217)

"Salutations to the people of Qum, Allah (SWT) will shower their cities with the required rainfall and will bless them and turn their calamities into safety and goodness. The people of Qum are devout performers of Salat (Namaz). They are jurisprudents, scholars and explore the realities and perform good worship."

(Bihaar al-Anwar, vol. 60, p. 217)

Affan Basri quoted : Imam Sadiq (A.S.) said to me:

"You know why it has been named Qum? I replied "Allah (SWT), His Prophet (S.A.W.) and you know better." Imam (A.S.) said " It has been named Qum because its people will be along Qa'im (the Upholder) from the family of Muhammad (S.A.W) and will support him in his uprising and will remain steadfast."

(Bihaar al-Anwar, vol. 60, p. 216)

Imam Musa al-Kazim(A.S.) has said:

"The heaven comprises of eight gateways and one of it is exclusive for the people of Qum. They are the best of the Shi'ites among all the cities. Allah (SWT) has endowed our love in their nature."

(Bihaar al-Anwar, vol. 60, p.216)

Imam Ali (A.S.) has said:

"A man from Qum will invite the people to the right path. A group of people will gather around him who are of iron will and determination and the heavy winds will not deter them and they are not tired of the war and only rely on Allah (SWT) and the righteous will attain the salvation."

(Bihaar al-Anwar, vol. 60, p. 216)

We didn't enter into the inner portion of the shrine where people can get very close to the burial sites because it can be rather daunting and confusing the first few times, so we will take it slow God Willing. We had come to pay our respects and give our salams to Lady Masumeh (p) and the Ahlul Bayt (p), and to pray for ourselves and others. Mission completed, Alhamdulillah. My next goal is to get inside to see more. InshaaAllah.

My husband and I in the courtyard of our Lady Masumeh (peace be upon her).

Out the Door

So, we've been in Iran for nearly 2 weeks now. The 3rd day here I needed to get out and see this neighborhood so we all went to the local grocery store which I discussed in my previous posts here and here. It was refreshing to get out and see what's beyond our comfortable home walls.

My husband had to return to his full-time school schedule the next day so the kids and I began unpacking and organizing. When Thursday rolled around, my husband had the day off (Here, Thursday is like the American Saturday and Friday is like the American Sunday). I really wanted to go to Qom.

I've mentioned the holy city of Qom in a previous post, but I haven't really done it justice in my blog. The entire time we had planned on moving to Iran, we wanted to live in Qom which is where the universities and the blessed shrine of our beloved Lady Masumeh (p) is located.

We were only able to find an apartment in Pardisan though, so although I was disappointed not to live in the city of Qom, I was grateful to at least have a place to call home in Iran. Pardisan is in Qom Province, about half an hour away from the center of Qom. It's sort of similar to living in Arlington, Texas when you really want to live in Downtown Dallas, Texas.

First we had to make sure the girls and I had our proper outer attire (and my son had long pants). Now, my girls and I have observed hijab in America for several years, but still, I was nervous to get our attire correct, especially since Qom is a very religious and proper place.

The ladies usually wear black chadors in both Pardisan and Qom over whatever it is they want to wear underneath. As long as your chador covers everything but your face and hands, it doesn't matter if you wear a tank top or your pajamas underneath because it's only your outward cover that will be seen (although I'd rather wear something more decent underneath, but the point is, the chador is the key). Now, to some Western folks, wearing a chador may seem inconvenient or the dreaded "oppressive," and yes, I felt a little anxious that our clothes would fall below standard and we might get "in trouble" somehow, but that faded once we got dressed. So sure, Islamic style clothing may be different than throwing on jeans and a tank top without any worries, but it's nothing to get hung up about, much less start violent wars to "liberate" the ladies' skin to the sun. In fact, once you get the right outer jacket and headscarf--it is very easy and convenient.

There are different types of covers (as I learned in bits and pieces of information), and I was slightly worried that me and my girls didn't have the correct kind so we went to the local store to find new ones. Now, we had been told to get a Lebanese style one (more often called an abaya) because it has a zipper in the front and sleeves (unlike some huge Iranian chadors that are basically sheets that one has to hold closed with her hands--no thanks!). We were also told that 65,000 tomans was a bit pricey.

So we were dismayed when the tailor had only one style with sleeves and no zipper priced at 85,000 tomans (about 850,000 rials which is $27 U.S.), which would add up to a big price tag for all three of us, plus we'd have to pay to get the hem taken up for my youngest daughter. I don't know if we were meant to haggle on the price, but my husband's Farsi is not yet at the bargaining stage (I don't like the feeling of haggling anyway so I doubt we'll do much of that if we can help it).

My beautiful youngest daughter trying on a chador at the shop.

So we decided to just wear the black abaya styles we'd brought from Texas because I really wanted to visit Qom that day. Anyway--flash forward to being at the shrine--I noticed not every women was dressed exactly alike. Although the main color was black, the style of clothing and covers varied a lot more than I had thought it would, so I felt at ease in being perhaps less than "traditionally" or "commonly" covered in a certain type of chador.

It definitely felt liberating to be among other Muslim women who observe hijab. Free at last!

So, more details on our trip to Qom next time...