Nowruz 1386

Like any other different experience I've had here, I started the Persian New Year in a very different way: I was attending a lecture at the moment of equinox. Technically speaking, Persian year begins at the vernal equinox where the length of day and night is equal and that marks the beginning of spring.

Iranian traditions hold that whatever you do at that very moment will determine what you will be doing for the rest of the year. Well, I'm not much into that sort of traditional beliefs. But if that be the case, I'll probably be attending lectures for the rest of the year. Not so odd. That's why I'm here.

This is the shiny part of the story, however; I felt sad to start the New Year thousands of miles away from my family and (especially this year) Imam Reza. This year, anniversary of our 8th Imam was just one day before Nowruz (first day of spring). To me (and probably a lot of people like me), it sounded like Imam Reza was bridging the years 1385 and 1386, delivering us the New Year and thus making it blessed by God.

There's something unique about Iranian culture. Persians, who used to have a rich culture for millenia, took Islam from invading Arabs and internalized it within their culture. The blend of Islam you find in Iran is something inseparable from Iranian culture. Islam is not merely the official religion of this country; it's part of the culture of this people. They are so intertwined. Nowruz is an example.

People of this country who are proud to be Iranian and Shia at the same time (me included), start the New Year praying to God, asking Him to make the New Year a blessed one. And they prefer to celebrate the New Year at holy places. Mashhad (where the shrine of our 8th Imam is located) tops the chart.

People travel to/from Mashhad all over the year. But over Nowruz, so many pour in there that you can hardly get a free room in any of the numerous hotels (even star-less hostels). You'd find people sleeping in the street, literally. Over Nowruz, you'd see lots of tents not only around camping sites and parks, but also along the streets leading to the shrine of Imam Reza. And Mashhad could be cold over March. Yet, nothing stops this influx of people. This year, coincidence of Imam Reza's anniversary with Nowruz must have made Mashhad virtually a city of tents.

I've lived almost all my life in Tehran, but I've never missed Tehran even for a single day since I arrived here. But I do miss Mashhad and Nicosia (for different reasons of course!) by and large. And especially with such a coincidence this year, I felt more like deep yearning to be in Mashhad for Nowruz.

My parents have migrated to Mashhad recently. So, I used to be a frequent flyer between Tehran and Mashhad over recent years without worrying about hotels. And I could easily celebrate Nowruz near Imam Reza. But this year, I had to visit (ziyarat) him from thousands of miles afar on the other side of the planet. And I started the New Year in a lecture hall instead of the golden dome I felt so homey praying beneath. And that was not the only unusual experience here.

In Iran, anniversary of Imam Hussein's martyrdom has been a national day of mourning all over the years this country had a Shia govt (except for a short period during Reza Shah rule), no matter what kind of politics ruling the system (over the early centuries of Islam, puppet rulers allegiant to Umayyad or Abbasid caliphs suppressed Shia in Persia ruthlessly). The day that Imam Hussein was brutally killed is known as Ashura (surely, Shia don't hold true things mentioned as Significance of Ashura for Sunni Muslims under 3rd and 4th paragraphs of this explanation about Ashura).

Ashura is an inseparable part of Iranian (and Shia) culture. In Iran, Ashura ceremonies take over the whole country and overwhelm people's life. When you walk around streets in Iran, you can observe even non-practicing Muslims joining the ranks of mourners. And this is not limited just to Shia Iranians; even non-Muslim Iranians like Zoroastrians, Armenians and Jews participate and sometimes contribute to it by way of providing nazri meals for Muslim mourners (one of my Sociologist friends in Iran told me that Jews in Isfahan have their own Hussainia commemorating martyrdom of Imam Hussein). When I was in Iran, I had ample time as a Sociologist to study people while participating in Ashura ceremonies.

And this year, I had to commemorate Ashura in a very different way. Ashura was on Tuesday. So, I had to rush back home from my first class, say the prayers and salutations (ziyarat) and rush back to campus for my next class (which was ironically, Religion in Post-Modern Culture). And again, doing that ziyarat from thousands of miles away. And trivially, all that without being present amid mourners in Mashhad streets marching to the Shrine of his grand-grand-grandson Imam Reza. Yet, he can hear me and watch me even here.

I started my education here on Ghadir. May God keep me observant and seeker of their path for the duration of my study and career as a Sociologist.

O Reformer of the hearts and eyes,
O Moderator of the night and day,
O Transformer of the shifts and moods,
Transform our being to the best.

(Prayer recited at the beginning of the Persian New Year)

On Bigotry, Prejudice & Guaranteed Salvation

Well, as I had written in my previous post, my last field observation was not quite pleasant. I was pondering for a while how to write about it or whether to write about it at all. Then, I realized however objective I try to be, I cannot write about the church and in the meantime remain neutral. So, I decided to clarify a few points.

First, I must give a brief on my conservative friend. We got friends in a meeting held by the Office of Multicultural Student Services to promote understanding about gays. The meeting went by the title: "God and Gays, Bridging the Gap" (after a documentary by the same name). There, after screening the movie, the producer and the director of the movie (who were practicing lesbian partners BTW) tried to show that there's nothing wrong to be gay and Christian at the same time. Although I didn't feel like attending what I (as a Muslim) consider an assembly of sinners, my sociological convictions overpowered me. However, with my sheer Islamic appearance, I felt the gaze on the black sheep since the beginning.

And as is the case with such events, there were a couple of evangelical Bible-wielding guys trying (inefficiently though) to discredit the fallacies of those proud Christian gays. OK, here's my first point:

when you're not knowledgeable/competent enough to defend your beliefs, you'd better keep silent. Defending a belief in a weak/inefficient way does more harm than good. And when you're in an atmosphere where emotions overrule reason, it makes your effort even more futile and miserable.

Anyway, my interest in following their line of reasoning through the different translations of Bible they carried, caused mutual interest on their side and more unfriendly looks on the other side (by the end of the meeting, the director's look this way was more like a glare).

After the meeting, I started exchanging beliefs with this young passionate Christian guy with whom I felt like a brother in belief. And after a while he (like any other evangelist) started giving arguments (or what he assumed to be so) to make me understand that the only way to salvation is through Jesus Christ and that he was killed in order to redeem us from our sins and anybody who doesn't believe that way wouldn't be saved. Apparently, he'd picked the wrong person.

I've had my pre-college education in an elite evangelical Islamic school. You may think of elite Catholic high-schools to get an idea of the style and quality of the education. Even when I got into college to study engineering, I still believed they (as a high-school) had a higher standard of education than my college. Their objective was to train religious professionals. When they founded the school (50 years ago), being religious and professional at the same time was (and ironically is still) considered mutually exclusive.

But in the meantime, although I'm ultimately grateful for what they taught us in math, science and computers back in 1980s and although I owe my religious knowledge to them (and I admire their dedication to their cause), I don't feel comfortable with the way they tried to indoctrinate us with their evangelical views of Islam.

Just as with Christians, there are similar views among some Shia theologians who believe that our third Imam was killed to guarantee us salvation. There's a difference between the common meaning of Imam (one who leads prayer in a mosque) and the special meaning of Imam (leader) in Shia theology. According to us, there have been 12 Imams appointed by God as the successors of our Prophet to keep Islam upright. In this special meaning, Imam is the exclusive representative of God on earth at any given time (in other words, there can't be more than one Imam at the same time).

Our third Imam (who was a grandson of our Prophet) lived during the rule of a self-acclaimed Caliph, named Yazid, who was the embodiment of corruption (you may think of Henry VIII to get a slight idea). And this guy was so arrogant and so out of his mind as to ask Imam Hussein to not only accept his rule but also pledge his allegiance to him as the Caliph (successor) of our Prophet and acknowledge his corruption as representation of true Islam.

Surely, he defied this call with his famous quote: "If the religion of Mohammad wouldn't stand upright unless I be killed, so swords come get me". And that's exactly what happened. He along with 72 of his associates and relatives were surrounded in a desert (presently known as Karbala in Iraq) by Yazid's army of mercenaries, were denied access to water for days and were brutally killed and beheaded in an unfair battle (not sparing even his 6 month old baby) with their heads sent to Yazid as trophies. And this was a turning point in the history and theology of Shia: you have to defy oppression and corruption at all costs (even your life).

Then, some Shia theologians came up with the idea that his brutal killing amid that desert 13 centuries ago would guarantee us automatic salvation (when I mentioned about this, my friend's first reaction was: a sinner cannot grant salvation; apparently Islam and Quran have more respect for other religions' sacred people).

Now, I put on my engineering hat for a while. In automatic control systems, we have 2 kinds of systems: with or without feedback. In the first type, a sample of the output is fed back through the controller (or compensator), the result compared with the desired value, the error is added/subtracted to/from the input and so on. This way, the system adapts itself according to what's desired at the output for the given input. In the second type however, the system continues working regardless of what input has resulted in what output.

An example of the first would be air-conditioning. You set a desired temperature for your room and then the thermostat measures and accordingly regulates the functioning of air-conditioner and as a result, you get the temperature desired. However, in a washing machine (which is an example of a system without feedback) the controller just pours water in a predetermined way, rinses, rotates and dries. And it doesn't care how dirty the laundry has been to adapt its functioning accordingly. It just works in a pre-determined way. And here's my second point:

True, Imam Hussein (as an Imam appointed by God) is in a position to grant us salvation through God if and only if we follow God's rules clarified by him (and the rest of Imams), but there is no guaranteed salvation going to sinners merely by calling upon Imams without following their path (or at least doing your best to that end). Our sixth Imam has clearly stated: "Our salvation won't reach people who disregard prayer (to God)". The same would apply to Jesus Christ and Christians. Neither Imams (for Muslims) nor Jesus Christ (for Christians) are automatic washing machines.

I have difficulty with accepting the idea that Jesus Christ would guarantee salvation for anybody who just calls him Savior no matter whether he's following Christ's teachings or not. So, if that were to be the case, why did he ever bother to preach so much (Matthew 7:21-23 and elsewhere) about how to live and how to follow his suit?

And it makes it even worse when you see yourself as the only one that would be saved just because you're the only one believing in such a doctrine and see yourself and your doctrine superior to anybody, again, just because you believe so. And again, there are similar views of exclusiveness and superiority just because of belief in this guaranteed salvation doctrine among some Shia people. And here's my third point for my evangelist friends:

I've been subject to indoctrination on guaranteed automatic salvation and have lived in a Shia culture drawing to such doctrines for far more years than the time you began to attend some Bible studies. And I don't find my belief and passion in Imam Hussein to be any weaker than yours for Jesus Christ (not that I'm not already in love with him).

If you believe you can do in a 5-minute stand-up crash-course what years of comprehensive indoctrination in my own religious tradition has failed to do, you're simply wasting your time (and mine). And worse so, if you try to establish a self-acclaimed exclusive salvation over holding to such an interpretation of Jesus Christ's words merely by repeating the interpretation as the sole proof to its validity.

Sometimes such a feeling of superiority of one's belief wouldn't renounce just other faiths; it could lead you to cast aside people of your own faith either. I was talking to one of my evangelist friends about Christians who don't view Trinity as holding Jesus Christ to be God and he exclaimed: WE don't consider them Christians.

And while my conservative friend and I were on our way to the church, I mentioned about Lutheran churches and he scoffed: "Lutherans believe that a sprinkle of water would save them, but salvation comes only through Jesus Christ". Later on, when I mentioned about this to a Lutheran pastor, he smiled. The prejudice (fed by ignorance) was so sheer that he didn't need to say much in defense.

Although I'm a practicing Shia, thankful to God for my beliefs and for my passion with our Imams, I don't find merely claiming those beliefs as a ground for being exclusively saved or being superior to anybody. One could be just hopeful in God's grace and mercy.

Traditional vs Contemporary Worship (4)

I've started a fruitful enlightening E-discussion with the pastor of Hampton Park Christian Church mentioned in a previous post. He seems to be very interested in this traditional/contemporary thing. It was amazing to find out that he's dedicated a whole sermon to Worship Wars (as some refer to this issue). This sermon could be downloaded here (in PDF). And don't be fooled by his (apparently) very funny language. Actually, as a wounded, somehow disabled, decorated veteran of worship wars, he has much to say; serious stuff. The rest of his sermons (in PDF) could be downloaded here. And in case you don't realize by reading his words, he identifies himself as a very liberal person.

In our correspondence (which has not remained limited just to this issue), he's mentioned a generalization (that seems to be held by some others also) about contemporary/traditional worship:

"The most liberal and contemporary churches in style tend to be the most conservative and traditional in their theology (CedarCreek for example). And likewise, the most liberal and contemporary churches theologically tend to be the most traditional/conservative in their worship styles (Episcopal Churches)".

I'm not informed enough yet to pose a serious challenge to his theology vs worship-style theory. However, those so-called litmus tests would apply here: for example how those churches react to issues like ordaining gay pastors, or acceptance of gay members in general, or sermons given by women. I know of gay-populated churches who have contemporary services (in extreme cases led by a lesbian or gay pastor).

You can find very contemporary services on both sides of the theology spectrum. Although Megachurches (and hence modern services) were originally platforms adopted by evangelist/televangelist pastors to make their words heard in a post-modern society, contemporary services are gradually finding popularity everywhere.

Still, you can find conservative-minded people holding fast to their traditional ways of worship (even in our fast-paced contemporary culture). Such churches are content (sometimes complacent regrettably) with their beliefs and don't find themselves compelled to add much modern attractions to entice people. Their (already) faithful audience (customers) could be more easily retained if they stick to their traditional ways in a black and white world.

I'm quite familiar (and somehow fed up) with such conservative perspectives from my tradition as a Muslim, raised and educated in an elite Islamic school. Still, I find it interesting to observe the same views in a country commonly (yet falsely) identified/stereotyped with Hollywood, Madonna or Michael Jackson.

Today, I attended one of those conservative churches. This has been the most traditional service I've attended here. I'll write about it in a future post. I assume I may attend even more traditional services. I'm just waiting for the spring and warmer weather to be able to visit more churches more conveniently.

Angry God, Angry People

I came across this research seeking to clarify the relationship between religious indoctrination and violence. Although I approve neither their methodology nor the way they've drawn their conclusion, the idea to explore the relationship within an academic framework is interesting.