When I was in Iran, I knew that all the propaganda by the Western media (and also evangelicals) about religious minorities in Iran was just that: propaganda. But still, I could realize that practicing your religion while the whole culture of the country revolves around a different religion would not be comfortable.
One example would be religious holidays. Christians have to go to work on Sundays as the weekend holiday in Iran as a Muslim country is on Friday. And over my visits to Assembly of God Church in Tehran, I found it unusual to attend Sunday worships on Friday (although almost all of the other churches that I knew did it on Sunday). Now, I'm in a position to experience the same thing here in person.
My worst experience was on my first Ashura over my first semester in 2007. I had two classes on that day. And this is a day we Shia Muslims abstain from worldly activities and commemorate what happened to Imam Hussein and his associates in Karbala 14 centuries ago. It's somehow like Good Friday for Christians (although more solemn and mourning-dominated). Even if I could have got the permission to skip my classes, it wouldn't had been practical, as one of them was a seminar, not a lecture. And missing it, meant missing the discussions that I couldn't catch up with simply by reading the notes (and unlike lectures, students rarely take notes on seminars). And ironically, the seminar was on religion.
But even if there was the possibility of skipping a class as a student, the possibility doesn't even exist for me now as a TA with my teaching duties. When I found that all my discussion sections are on Friday morning, I didn't feel very comfortable. Friday is the weekend holiday in Islam and you are recommended to abstain from work and spend the morning on some prayers and worship (this is different from regular daily prayers). Although Friday prayer and worship is not as big deal in Islam as it is with Shabbat in Judaism or Sunday with some Christians; under necessities, you may work on Friday.
But this Friday was different. Last night was the first of Qadr nights. We're recommended to spend the whole night on vigil, prayer and worship. It's not mandatory, but when you're on a month-long banquet of God, you wouldn't want to miss such an important night. However, when you have to attend a class at 8 am as a TA, you cannot afford to stay up all night (in Iran, they allow employees to report to work up to 2 hours later on the day following Qadr nights). And I had to suffice to the essential prayers and sleep for a little while and get up for my sahari meal (see here for more). And I couldn't sleep after that.
And sleep deficiency makes me kinda cranky. And that was how I felt this morning. I could handle the first two sections pretty well, but as the exhaustion of talking and walking for about 2 hours (almost non-stop) built up on top of sleep deficiency, my performance over the third section was less than satisfactory. And passionate as I am about quality of teaching, I felt grumpy while riding my bike back to the longhouse. More or less like my first Friday of this semester. It's not fun to be a religious minority in a foreign country.
One example would be religious holidays. Christians have to go to work on Sundays as the weekend holiday in Iran as a Muslim country is on Friday. And over my visits to Assembly of God Church in Tehran, I found it unusual to attend Sunday worships on Friday (although almost all of the other churches that I knew did it on Sunday). Now, I'm in a position to experience the same thing here in person.
My worst experience was on my first Ashura over my first semester in 2007. I had two classes on that day. And this is a day we Shia Muslims abstain from worldly activities and commemorate what happened to Imam Hussein and his associates in Karbala 14 centuries ago. It's somehow like Good Friday for Christians (although more solemn and mourning-dominated). Even if I could have got the permission to skip my classes, it wouldn't had been practical, as one of them was a seminar, not a lecture. And missing it, meant missing the discussions that I couldn't catch up with simply by reading the notes (and unlike lectures, students rarely take notes on seminars). And ironically, the seminar was on religion.
But even if there was the possibility of skipping a class as a student, the possibility doesn't even exist for me now as a TA with my teaching duties. When I found that all my discussion sections are on Friday morning, I didn't feel very comfortable. Friday is the weekend holiday in Islam and you are recommended to abstain from work and spend the morning on some prayers and worship (this is different from regular daily prayers). Although Friday prayer and worship is not as big deal in Islam as it is with Shabbat in Judaism or Sunday with some Christians; under necessities, you may work on Friday.
But this Friday was different. Last night was the first of Qadr nights. We're recommended to spend the whole night on vigil, prayer and worship. It's not mandatory, but when you're on a month-long banquet of God, you wouldn't want to miss such an important night. However, when you have to attend a class at 8 am as a TA, you cannot afford to stay up all night (in Iran, they allow employees to report to work up to 2 hours later on the day following Qadr nights). And I had to suffice to the essential prayers and sleep for a little while and get up for my sahari meal (see here for more). And I couldn't sleep after that.
And sleep deficiency makes me kinda cranky. And that was how I felt this morning. I could handle the first two sections pretty well, but as the exhaustion of talking and walking for about 2 hours (almost non-stop) built up on top of sleep deficiency, my performance over the third section was less than satisfactory. And passionate as I am about quality of teaching, I felt grumpy while riding my bike back to the longhouse. More or less like my first Friday of this semester. It's not fun to be a religious minority in a foreign country.
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