The Ayatollah's Book Of Etiquette

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To have a touch of living as an Iranian I suggest you read The Ayatollah's Book Of Etiquette in the latest issue of Harper's.
What you read there is a part of "Ahkām" (The Orders), a series of Islamic teachings on harām and halāl, "must-do" and forbiden acts, and all the other 'laws' every Iranian child should study at school as a part of curruculom.
I never forget those wasted hours of my life learning Ahkaam. Never hated my country more than those hours in Religious Studies class.
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* A few more readings on this subject:
- For knowing more about life in Iran after the revolution take a look at this book.
- For more on Islamic Shia "Cleaning Laws" see here.
- For more on some Jewish "cleaning laws" (the Islamic ones are a copy of these ones, ... as usual) see here.
- Those ultra-Iranian nationalists who think Zoroastrian religion doesn't have this kind of crap better read Bondahesh. Unfortunately no copy of Bondahesh is on the internet, but I am sure you can buy a copy (in Persian) somewhere on an Iranian online bookstore. Sometime in the future I will translate the parts of Bondahesh about the creation of Woman, and you will see how Zoroastrianism can be as disgusting as the Abrahamic religions.

* Forword (Feb 18, 2005): I finally found The Bundahishn ("Creation"), but the part I wanted to make a link to is removed from the text in the online version. It is at the end of the chapter 15, titled as "On the Nature of Women."

Comments

  1. With no disrespect to you or to your country, is it true that you really have those laws. I was having some doubt as those are published by Harper, and sometimes I've heard that translations are sometimes messed up deliberately to potray a negative image of that culture. Also, do you all really have to study/take those religious class and remember those rules?
    Yep, Zoroastrianism has lots of rules which are against women and various other people. I read those.

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  2. Thanks for your comments on my page. I have left another comment there. The last part, regarding music, might interests you.

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  3. I just wanted to say, Wow, this is the best blog I have seen! Thanks, and I am going to bookmark this site.

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  4. The "this book" link about post- revolution life in Iran goes to an amazon page about graphic novels, not to one on a specific text. I'm guessing maybe it was supposed to point to Marjane Satrapi's Peresepolis? (Looks like her illustration above). Or do you have another recommendation?
    Thanks.
    I like your blog.

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