Shi'i or Sunni? Part 1

When I meet people in Iran, they all start with an interrogation to figure out who I am and what I am doing in Iran. They are incredibly curious at this foreign woman in Iran who at first glance could pass for an Iranian, but has a funny accent when she speaks Persian and is obviously from some faraway country. In the past two months and a half months that I have been in Iran, I have met a lot of people from every walk of life - from university professors to taxi drivers. Almost everyone asks me the same questions in the same order, including one question which I am incredibly uncomfortable with.

It goes something like this:

Question number one: "Where are you from?"
Answer: Amreeka

Question number two: "Are you Muslim?
Answer: Yes

Question number three: "Sunni or Shi'i?"
Answer: Uhhh, it's a long story...

Question number four: Are  you married or single" - with lots more questions about my personal living circumstances...

...and so on, until the questions get very personal, onto how much rent I pay per month in the US, where I bought my clothes and how much they cost, and what my parents do for a living.

I never felt particularly "Sunni" until I came to Iran, but I have come to embrace my "Sunni-ness" as a mode of defense as a religious minority and in the face of multiple verbal attacks/criticisms I have faced in Iran for my particular religious beliefs and practices.

In places like Egypt, where I lived for a long time, no one ever asked me if I was Sunni or Shi'i, I was just Muslim as was everyone else although it goes without saying that most Egyptians follow some variation of Sunni Islam. The kind of Islam I practice is similar to the kind found in Egypt, an Islam that includes love of ahl al-bayt and self-identification as a Muslim, but not specifically Sunni, rather just Muslim. Muslims in the US don't tend to ask each other about their denominational affiliations either, so undergoing constant interrogation about my specific beliefs really unsettled me.

While Sunnis are a majority among Muslims, Shi'is are a minority making up only about 10% of the total Muslim population in the world. They are profoundly aware of their minority status among other Muslim-majority countries and make sure that Iranian non-Shi'is are aware of their minority status in Iran.

During the first few weeks in Iran, I prayed with my hands at my sides, which is a practice of Shi'i Muslims, Sunnis pray with one hand on top of the other, either on their chest or stomach ara. I told myself it was ok to practice dissimulation, or taqiyyah, in order to avoid any confrontation, besides in the Sunni Maliki school of law, madhhab, there is a choice to pray with one's hands up or to the side. When I arrived in Iran, I really had no idea about the current situation there, and so took many precautions, perhaps sometimes more than necessary, before I felt comfortable in the country and understood local customs and traditions...

Couchsurfing in Iran

If you haven’t heard of CouchSurfing before, you can visit the website and check it out. It has been around for a few years and provides another way for travelers to explore new countries and even their own country. I only heard about it when I read an article on from the NY Times (LINK), and signed up for the site. Since I have based in Shiraz, I really wanted to travel around, but I only know two Americans here, both of whom were busy with their research, and my Iranian women friends do not travel alone without their families for such extended periods of time. So basically I was on my own, I could either just stay in Shiraz for the whole time, or if I wanted to venture out, it would have to be alone.

I quickly found out that Iranians are very active on the site (probably the most active in the Middle East!) and found female hosts in a number of cities. I ended up staying with families in Qom, Zanjan, and Tehran (for one night, when I moved to a friend’s apartment for the rest of my stay there) and meeting up with locals in Esfahan, Tabriz, which made my experience much more enjoyable. I couldn’t find female hosts everywhere I went, so sometimes I had to stay in cheap hotels, which are really terrible and dirty in Iran, so staying with families was a welcome change from hotels. I especially enjoyed meeting up with local women, all of whom were highly educated and enjoyed showing me around their beautiful cities.

So, couchsurfing really works and you can use it in the most unexpected places – like Iran!

Notes from the Bahrain International Airport

 Here I am, sitting in the prayer room of the international wing of the Bahrain Airport, in a room of sleeping ladies, a group of Iraqi women who are obviously villagers by the cotton print dresses they wear under their chadors and make-shift cotton belts. They were all covered with their black chadors that covered their snoring bodies. There are about 20 of them, all joining in a great snoring chorus, their bodies heaving on the red prayer carpet. Slowly, one by one, the women woke up, waking up their friends in their loud and coarse Arabic. And then the strangest thing I ever saw – one old woman took out a cigarette and lit up right in the masjid and just smoked away until others complained in indignation. And even stranger, the group of women were on their way to Makkah for Umrah!

Outside, every gate is full of nationals from various countries who have some sort of connection with the Gulf or who are transiting through, like I was. The Bengalis heading to Dhaka, small dark men wearing prayer caps who look exhausted and relieved to leave the Gulf, sit quietly, staring at the passersby. The Filipinos heading to Manila look like a lively bunch, talking loudly and excitedly. The Egyptians heading to Cairo are a mixed bunch, some show influence of having imbibed Gulf-style Islam in their clothing, others wear typical Egyptian clothes, women wear the standard hijab and abaya (or long, flowing robe) and many of the men wear gallabayas. The Gulf Arabs, in their long, starched and ironed white robes flow along the halls, the only way to distinguish between various nationalities is by the way they tie their kufiyas or the kind of scarves they wear. Gulf women wear fabulously expensive and glamorous jilbabs, black robes with crystals encrusted along the sleeves and front, red ruffles lining the front and back, and long, pointy high heels to match their luxurious clothing. A group of men and women from who-knows-where are dressed for Umrah, the men wear white ihram, or white terry-cloth for their pilgrimage to Makkah.

Wandering around the airport, you never know what language to speak, next to me, there’s a woman who looks Iranian in her long black chador, I’ll try Persian with her. One of the transfer agents looks South Asian, guess that means I’ll have to speak English with him, and the ticket agent looks like some sort of Arab, so I’ll try Arabic with him and see how that goes. This airport seems like some kind of Muslim United Nations, I must admit, I love people watching, and this is a great place to do it. Seven hours in the airport is a long time, inshallah, I’ll be able to amuse myself during this time…then on to Umm al-Dunya, Egypt, for a couple of days!