Iran Trip - Al Asr 2008
Assalam-u-Allaikum
I just want to give everyone who is about to read this a heads up: I am about to tell my experiences of my recent trip in Iran with the Al-Asr group and will go into details for a lot memories that I can recall. I'm not asking anyone to read it, I primarily wrote it up for my self, it might get boring for some to read which is why I am giving the heads up already. In my post you will see some words that are underlined or perhaps in a different colour (depending on which forum I am posting it on) and that's because those are click-able links, as I have made the post some what interactive. If you do read it, I hope you enjoy it InshAllah.
I don’t know where exactly to begin as there seems to be multiple starting points but I guess I can say I can start off from ShiaChat.com the forum. In March of 2006 I came across the 14th Annual Al Asr thread but didn’t pay much attention to it. Later on I realized that some of my friends in Toronto that have been to Iran had gone through this group and were speaking much good of it and so were the many members on ShiaChat who went with the group. I decided that it was perhaps a group that I would want to go with and decided that I would plan to go the next year in 2007. Once again the 15th Annual Al-Asr thread was made and I had plans of coming but due to some issues at university with my courses I was unable to make it that summer. I was a bit upset as well but everything happens for a reason and I realized it on this trip. That school year I had sorted out my credits from before so I don’t have to take summer courses again to stay up to task with my degree as I had experienced during first year of university and had made it my full intention to go with this trip. One good friend from the forum that I’ve now known for more than 4 years was also one of the managers on the trip. I was always in close contact with him and getting more information regarding the trip from him so I was well prepared for it from at least a year in advance. As 2008 approached and after the Ayam-e-Aza went by, the 16th Annual thread on ShiaChat was made once again and they had started the registration process for the trip. I signed up and then what every person on the trip had to go through I went through it as well, waiting for the visa to come and then paying for the ticket. I and the other non-UK residents had to pay for our ticket to London separate. I didn’t have any money and I didn’t want to ask my parents this time either as my mom travels often as well and she had just recently been to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia (where my dad lives) and I knew that the budget wasn’t enough for me to ask them for tons of money. I started looking for a job right after my final exam in April and I found a job which was from 4 PM till 1 AM in an in-bound call center for RBC (Royal Bank of Canada). It was actually a very respectable job but a bit tiring due to the shift however it was paying well and I was working full time. Finally I had made enough to pay for the tickets and I did so and it felt great paying from my own pocket. In the mean while I had also informed my cousin in London about the trip and that I’m going and that it would be a great idea if she can come too (it could be one in a life time opportunity anyways). Anyhow I finally got my visa after a month and I was all set now. I traveled to London around July 10th. A lot of people were asking me about my experience in London but I’m not sure why that was the case considering I’ve been to London many times in the past, in fact I’ve been going there almost regularly since 1995/6; so the place is nothing new to me. Anyhow, that week in London went by quick, went to the orientation as well and finally that Sunday of July 19th came and we were all at Heathrow airport.
My Khala (aunt) and my cousins came to drop me at the airport. I met my friend (Ayaz) at the airport – he was the only guy I knew at that time, off ShiaChat – another friend of mine (Hadi) who I also knew off ShiaChat for a few years had already gone to Iran a day before us. However I was well aware that there were a few sisters off ShiaChat on the trip and also a few other guys who were coming but I wasn’t that close with them (before the trip anyways). Anyhow, we checked in our suitcases at the airport and went for Zuhar/Asar prayers and then finally said good bye to our family members and went to the gates. On our way to the planes another boy came up to me and asked me if I’m Ali Imran and I said yes and he told me his name (Aon) and he was also someone who I had spoken to before on ShiaChat. Oh yes how can I forgot, they got dogs to sniff all of our bags (hand luggage) before we boarded the plane! How bias! Okay cutting the long Heathrow security check and long walk to the gate short: we boarded the plane, Iran Air.
At this point I don’t recall too much and I can’t remember the faces of anyone, who was who and what their names were. On the plane I was sitting beside Aon and in our row we had this very nice uncle (Uncle Zahoor) and Moulana Sabzawari. On the journey I was speaking with Aon the whole time and then also with Moulana Sabzawari and uncle Zahoor for a while. At that time they had informed me that the group doesn’t know yet but our flight from Tehran to Mashad, they could not find an earlier flight so we will be staying in Tehran for quite a while (a good 10-12 hours I believe it was). Finally we landed in Tehran – at this point I still wasn’t having free conversations with many of the boys and was still trying to get used to each other’s personalities. When the plane landed in Tehran, I couldn’t believe I was actually in Iran. We were at Imam Khomeini international airport and it was a very decent airport. While checking out all the individuals who had an American passport got questioned a bit longer than the rest of us. I had a Canadian passport and they asked me a couple of questions and asked why my dad is in Saudi Arabia and what do I do in Canada. It was funny, when ever they would ask where you are from they didn't expect you to say Canada or America, rather they wanted to know where you are really from. As in if you are Pakistani or Indian. Any ways, we came out and this was the time when the boys were about to realize what they were going to deal with for the rest of the month. Suitcases. Yes that's right, the boys had to carry around not only their own suitcases but also the suitcases of every female (who were twice the amount of the brothers in numbers) on the trip. By the way, just a side note: I didn't mind carrying their suitcases around at all and I don't think any of the guys were bothered either. I know for a fact I learned some valuable lessons on patience, hard work and brotherhood just by dealing with the suitcases.
Once we had gathered all the suitcases we came out and I first of all went to Moulana Hamza and said salams to him and gave him salams from certain people in Toronto (as he had been reciting in Toronto for this past Muharram). Also met Brother Mohsin (manager) for the first time and then our friend Hadi who was there before us with another brother Abu Talib (that was not his real name, but we still used to call him that). Abu Talib had been to my mosque in Toronto many times and he was in fact related to some of my close friends here in Toronto, so we clicked on very well right from the start. At this point I must add, I still wasn't talking freely with any of the other guys, as in, we weren't really having conversations or anything - I wasn't feeling left out or anything but just that everything was happening so fast and I was a bit tired as well. We prayed Fajr at the Tehran airport. I believe some time around then, the rest of the group figured out that we will be in Tehran for a few hours as our flight to Mashad was later on in the day. After Fajr, we took the suitcases and started loading them onto the small truck. After that we boarded the bus as we were off to the grave of Ayatullah Khomieni just a while drive away from the airport. At this time on the bus, I started to look around at all the brothers and started to see what they look like and even started to make small conversations with the few who were around me.
We finally reached Ayatullah Khomeni's grave and we started taking pictures as soon as we came out the bus. We came and we sat on this grass area and we were waiting for breakfast - we got pasta I believe - I liked it. All the boys finally started to open up a bit and started cracking jokes (what all South Asian boys do best). There was this old man who came and was screaming "Naan-e-Shireen, Naan-e-Shireen, Naan-e-Shireen" - Sweet Bread, it's like Sheermal and for some reason the boys just started laughing and that was perhaps the first phrase we learned in Iran and would use it as jokes through out the trip. After eating some of the boys became restless as we didn't know why we were all sitting outside and not going inside to see the grave of Ayatullah Khomeni. So some of us boys went ourselves and recited Fatiha and of course took pictures. Then we went to this area in the middle where there was a big pillar just to rest and sit down. They guards inside wouldn't let us sleep and one of the boys kept sleeping and the guard would come and wake him up. Soon time some of the brothers took this folder out and I was just looking at them at that time and then I asked what were they. I saw they were all Noha and Qaseeda writeups. They started reading nohas quietly inside and then I told them I recite as well in Toronto. We started to decide what we will recite on the upcoming Shahadat and Wiladat dates (we didn't really stick to the plan as we kept reading different nohas as the days progressed). They asked me to recite something at that time so I just read a qaseeda. Then the whole time we were practicing different noha and qaseedas. The day passed by and the boys were getting a bit irritated - because boys will be boys at the end of the day. So we tried to look for a soccer ball (football as the Brits call it) and then one of the boys went to some next place (God knows where he went) but he came back with a ball in his hand as he had bought it from some place. We started playing for a while there and then a while later we boarded the bus again and made our way to the Tehran local airport to our flight to Mashad.
Cutting the long story short – story of pulling out the suitcases from the bus and loading them back on to the trolleys and checking them in and going to the gate area and praying Zuhar and Asar – we boarded this plane (Iran Air) which was to go Mashad. We flew to Mashad and once again after dealing with the suitcases and loading them onto the buses (this time it was two different buses) we were on our way to the hotel in Mashad. Once we reached the hotel, we unloaded the suitcases again and put them in the entrance for the sisters to carry their own to their rooms and the boys took their own to our rooms. Finally we were in our rooms. All the boys and Moulana Hamza were in one room (and I mean all the boys). The managers were in the room beside ours. By now I had managed to learn almost every boys name and we were all having proper conversations by now (I guess we thought we might as well, since we are going to be spending the whole month together). That day in Mashad we didn't do anything as we were all tired and just rested through the day - we had dinner and namaz and went to sleep.
The next morning we had an introduction assembly where we all briefly introduced ourselves and why we chose to come on Al Asr. After that we were given a briefing on the ethics of Ziyarat and also about some rules and regulations of the trip itself. Soon after the assembly we all got ready for what we had all been waiting for; the ziyarat of Imam Ridha (as). We boarded the bus and brother Ayaz asked me to recite a salaam (Main Khaak-e-Karbala Hun') and I felt lost myself as I couldn't believe I was reciting something in such a holy place. It has always been a dream for me to be able to recite something in Medina, Karbala, Najaf and Mashad and now one part of the dream was finally coming true. Finally the bus took a turn onto a road and we laid our eyes for the first time on the shrine of Imam Ridha (as). We read a loud salawat which followed by almost complete silence from everyone on the bus. It was as if we were in a different dimension and before we knew it our eyes had become watery and tears started to roll down. I don't know why I was crying at that point and I still can't figure out why. Was it due to the fact I was so happy to be granted the opportunity to be able to do the ziyarah of the Imam or was it over the fact I kept repeating the sentence Assalam-u-Allaika Ya Ghareeb al-Ghuraba in my mind over and over again - perhaps it was a mixture of both. We proceeded towards the entrance and my legs were trembling. In the background I could hear the echoes of someone reading masaaib which made me cry even more. As we finally made our way to the actual zarih inside we did our first Ziyarah beside Moulana Sabzawari. After ziyarah, the first time almost all the guys went and tried to at least touch the zarih it self and I believe almost all of them did - it's not easy at all I must say as it is jam packed. After that I went to the side of the zarih and tried to pray 2 rakah and behind me was Moulana Sabzawari. After praying he told me to look towards the zarih and he took a picture of me with his digital camera - it was such a memorable moment for me. After the ziyarah we had time to sit and recite the Qur'an or just read other duas and ziyarat while there was still time for Zuhar/Asar. After the salah we used to meet at this meeting point and then would make our way back out of the haram and onto the bus back to our hotel.
The usual schedule after that used to be breakfast in the morning and we would be out after breakfast and would come back from outside after praying Zuhar and Asr. Then we would eat lunch and get some time to rest followed by two back-to-back classes. After class we used to get more rest time (and when I say time for rest I’m speaking a good few hours and we could easily relax and do a lot of other things) and by then it would be time for Maghrib and Isha. After that we would go for dinner followed by a group discussion at night and then we were told to hit the beds (however most of us used to sleep very little and very late at night). This was the general schedule, obviously there were few days where we didn’t have classes and times where we were out a bit longer than usual or nights where we didn’t have group discussions and had Dua Kumail/Tawassul on the respective days alongside the various Jashans and Majaalis as well.
One of the days, we traveled to Nishapur. At first when we came out of the bus there were a lot of people who were there with horses and you could ride the horses (obviously had to pay them as well). I jumped on a horse pretty much as soon as we got off the bus and wow that was some fun stuff. The man let the horse go on it's own and it even ran fast for a bit and I thought I would fall but thank god I didn't because that would have been very embarrassing. Anyways, after that in Nishapur we visited graves of some famous people, like Umar Khayyam - his grave was under this magnificent piece of architecture (a poet and a mathematician), Farid ud-Deen Attar (a herbalist) and Kamal al-Mulk (a painter). After them, we went to a grave of an Imamzada (Mohammad Mahroq). He was one of the offspring of Hazrat Musa Kazim (as). I can't remember if we did all this on the same day but regardless I'll mention the next two places in Nishapur as well. We went to the qadamgah of Imam Ridha (as) where the footprints of Imam Ridha (as) were. Beside it, there was a well of Imam Ridha (as). The boys decided to give pursa to Bibi Fatima (sa) and we did matamdari right outside the qadamgah. When ever we did matam outside we used to get a lot of people staring at us and recording us, perhaps fascinated by the way we did our matam. After that (once again I can't remember if all this was on the same day or not but we also visited the grave of Bibi Shatita. You can read more about her about 3/4 of the way down here - just search (CTRL+F) Shatita. Any ways, in Nishapur after doing all these things (which I now have doubts as to whether we did all these things on the same day or not because I remember doing wudhu at the grave of the Imamzadah for Salah) we went to this guest house where we had lunch and prayed Zuhar and Asr. After prayers, we went to eat and then we were free to do what ever. Some guys went to rest and slept under this shed area, while some of us went and met up with some Irani kids and had conversations with them and played some soccer as well. After resting there for the day we made our way back to the hotel in Mashad.
Let me speak a bit about our classes that started off in Mashad. Moulana Hamza was giving lectures on Aqaid and Ahkaam. The Aqaid lectures were amazing because this was the first time I was learning about the very own Usool-e-Deen that we think we know all about, however Moulana was playing the devil's advocate at times throwing questions at us that made us ponder over various things. The first few lectures were all on Tawheed and these lectures may I add, were based on pure rational reasons rather then using the Qur'an and Hadeeth. For some it was too much to handle, some who were a bit young and couldn't grasp the material, they were welcome to join Moulana Hamid who was speaking on tafseer. These lectures on Aqaid would continue till the end of our stay in Qum, where we went from Tawheed, Adalat, Qayamat, Nabuwat and Imamat. Followed by the Aqaid lectures we also had sessions on Ahkaam where we got a lot of fiqh rulings clarified and were free to ask questions. During the nights in our group discussions, once again we were free to ask any question and start discussion. I must say however, I asked the first question in the very first group discussion since everyone was just silent and staring at each other. I won't go over the details of what was discussed in these lectures and group discussions because that would be too much to explain and get into.
Going back to the haram of Imam Ridha (as), we visited the graves of Sheikh Bahaiee and Sheikh Hur al-Ameli. Outside of the haram, we went to Bazaar-e-Ridha (as) a few times where we could go shopping; most people bought rings from here. Soon the day of the Shahadat of Imam Musa Kazim (as) approached. That day we went to the haram during the day and as usual made our way to the ziyarah. This time I had done the ziyarah and by now most of us guys figured out that it's really not about struggling and trying to get to 'touch' the zarih, so after ziyarah I left and went to this hall where the Imam leads the prayers and where they usually hold majlis and lectures. I knew that they must be doing something there and I was right. In a totally packed hall, they were having the Masaaib of Imam Musa Kazim (as). I obviously could not understand everything that they were saying but even the few words that were similar to Urdu and just the way they recited the Masaaib were enough to make anyone cry and what's more than knowing that you are still in the haram of Imam Ridha (as) while the masaaib of his father are being recited. One of the days we did a noha inside the vicinity of the haram of Imam Ridha (as). After Zuhar/Asr that day we went back to the meeting spot and made our way back to the hotel. I believe it was either a Tuesday or a Thursday night so before Maghrib/Isha we had a majlis. After namaz and dinner we had a dua (Kumail or Tawassul - can't recall) and we had matam right after that. It was probably the first time the boys were about to do proper matam after a majlis and we weren't really organized as we were all still getting used to each other. We read three proper nohas but after that we didn't really end off properly and it was very disheartening but nevertheless it was a learning experience for all of us. On a Friday we went for Ziyarah again, but this time near the evening time and we read Dua Simat and the sun set was beautiful. After the Dua and Ziyarat we did Maghrib and Isha and came back to the hotel.
In Mashad we also went and met Ayatullah Makarem Shirazi and he gave us a lecture on the media and how we should be well aware of the propaganda and tricks the Western Media in particular plays to confuse the average person. Before Ayatullah Makarem Shirazi, one day we went to the office place of Ayatullah Behjat. We had majlis over there and one of the best Ziyarat-e-Ashura I have ever heard and once again we were all in tears. (This is in fact the day Moulana Hamid also linked up with us on the trip). I have the video of the Ziyarat Ashura on my computer; hopefully I can upload it soon. Back in the hotel, the first few days the hotel was packed with hundreds of of scholars, who were in fact mostly Sunnis. Some of us boys started to have discussion with these scholars; they were there for a conference that was being held. After them, we had hundreds of orphan boys who came into the hotel and after a few days they stayed there they left and we had a few hundred orphan girls. Our hotel was beautiful, especially at night time when the fountain used to be turned on with lights. We used to play soccer at night time while some played basketball. The boys used to do wrestling as well and it was a lot of fun - don't ever wrestle with Moulana Hamza, as he literally took everyone down, even the guys that were bigger than him in size and everything.
In the haram of Imam Ridha (as) we went to this museum as well, which had a lot of original historic items and paintings, carpets and we went to this one area that had original Qur'an that were written by the Imams (as) and also other famous personalities. The boys were joking around saying if we can ask the guard to let us go through the Qur'an to check if there is any Surah Wilayah written in it - you know, the usual propaganda against the Shias. One of the days the manager was asking that he needs about three or four boys who can go to the haram early in the morning (before Fajr) with everyone's passports so we can get the entry stamp to be able to go and eat at the dastarkhaan of Imam Ridha (as). I didn't go, but the few boys went and came back without a stamp as they went a bit late and the lines are apparently huge and only the first few certain people can get it. So they went the next day and Alhamdolillah they were able to get the stamps. For those who went on the trip, if you open up your passports and go to the page where you have your Visa, you'll notice a stamp and that means that you've eaten from there - as you are only allowed to do so once per year. Near the last days of our stay in Mashad, we got the opportunity to do amaal on Shab-e-Mairaj inside the haram of Imam Ridha (as), before Fajr prayers. The amaal were led by Moulana Hamza as we followed.
I believe as the days went by, we started to get this sense of sadness because we were realizing that we'll be leaving Mashad in a few days. As the last day approached and we knew that this would be the last ziyarat, as usual we went to do ziyarat and did our Zuhr/Asr namaz. I wasn't feeling anything unusual at that point, until I saw everyone reading the Alvida Ziyarat. I borrowed the book which had the ziyarat in it, walked towards the middle where the water used to be, looking towards the dome and main gate and started reciting the ziyarat. Once again tears started to come out before I had even begun reciting the ziyarat. Just the fact that I realized that this was going to be the last ziyarat of the Imam (as) - for this trip anyways, after reciting the ziyarat I started to ask as many duas as I could and also the dua to allow me to come for ziyarah one more time (InshAllah). Slowly we made our way to the exit but we were all walking very slowly, looking back at the haram each time and crying our eyes out. We stopped at the gate which took us outside of that main courtyard and we stood there and just simply cried. That's all I remember from there and a brother had to comfort me and take me out as I saw most of the boys were already gone. I didn't want to leave at all. As I came on the bus, I saw everyone was in tears just like me. There were no masaaib being recited or nohas or anything like that, yet each one of us was in tears and literally crying as if a close family member had passed away in front of our eyes. As we were all crying on the bus, Moulana Hamza started to recite Dua al-Faraj and the whole bus just started crying even more. This was the final ziyarah in Mashad and it is something I will never forget and I pray that Allah (swt) gives me and everyone an opportunity to go for ziyarah - one more time, InshAllah.
That evening, we started to pack up our suitcases and were getting ready to leave for the airport - to fly back to Tehran and the drive to Qum. The boys loaded the suitcases one more time onto the bus, one bus wasn’t enough so we got a second one and put half of the suitcases onto the second bus. The girls all went on the first bus alongside most of the boys. We couldn’t fit all the boys on that bus so some of us came onto the second bus. On our way to the airport on the bus I did a few noha and salaam and besides that when ever the two buses would cross each other on the roads the boys from both the buses did long and loud Naray-e-Haideris. When we reached the airport we unloaded the suitcases again and went to the airport and prayed Maghrib/Isha. After the flight to Tehran, we grabbed the suitcases one more time and loaded them onto another bus. It was a big and comfortable bus and as it was late in the night the lights were turned off for the trip from Tehran to Qum (about a 2 hour drive). I noticed everyone fell asleep, but me being the restless boy that I am, didn't sleep at all. It was very late at night and by the time we reached Qum it was almost Fajr time. At that time we realized that that was Masjid-e-Jamkaran and we were literally a few minutes walk away from it.
As we reached our hotel in Qum, we unloaded the suitcases again and we carried them to our rooms. We prayed Fajr and hit the beds. The next day we went to the ziyarah to the haram of Bibi Masooma Qum (sa). We did our first ziyarah together with the Moulana, outside in the courtyard. After that when we went inside, it was fairly easy to go up to the zarih and easily touch it - in fact I even managed to grab a picture of her grave inside. In Qum we followed the same general schedule - with the classes and group discussions. It was here in Qum where Moulana Usama also joined us (Moulana Hamid didn't come to Qum with us) and then it was a lecture split of one hour each by Moulana Hamza and Moulana Usama. Moulana Usama was speaking primarily on Islamic Spirituality which also went into depth on certain topics. In Qum, there were bazaar right outside the vicinity of the haram of Bibi Masooma Qum (sa) and that was perhaps where a lot of us did most of our shopping, because it was very convenient and beside the haram. There was Ansariyan book store where we bought many books. It had been well over 10 days into the trip and most of the boys were feeling the absence of the computer and internet from their lives. It took us about an hour to find an internet cafe - even though it was right there, we just kept going the wrong directions. We finally checked our e-mails after so long. The boys also used to go to the food restaurants and eat together. I liked this one store where we used to buy burger and fries from.
Besides the grave of Bibi Masooma Qum (sa), in the vicinity of the haram, there were also graves of Ayatullah Burujurdi, Shaheed Mutahari and in fact there is a whole list of scholars who are buried there. Outside the haram we visited the library of Ayatullah Marashi Najafi which also had his grave within. One of the days in Qum, we went out to this park a few hours before sun set and stayed their till Maghrib/Isha and even had dinner there. The boys had a good time there, we even played some soccer in this small place we found.
The great thing about the Qum hotel was the fact that we were a walking distance away from Masjid-e-Jamkaran. I didn't go there on the first morning or every morning, however I was able to go a couple of times and it was great. It was also in Qum where we spent the 3 back-to-back days of Wiladat, of Imam Hussain (as), Hazrat Abbas (as) and Imam Zain ul-Abideen (as). The first Jashan was on Imam Hussain (as) and Moulana Hamza gave a short speech and we also had qaseedas that night and it was great because you could see Masjid Jamkaran all lit up from the window. The next day on Wiladat of Hazrat Abbas (as) we had the same sort of routine, Moulana Usama gave a speech, we had qaseeda and Moulana Hamza then recited Dua Tawassul as it was a Tuesday night.
We met Ayatullah Lari and Ayatullah Araki in Qum as well. Ayatullah Lari is known for his books and his library and he gave a small talk to us and also allowed us take any two books from his library. Ayatullah Araki knows English and he also gave us a small talk and we prayed Maghrib/Isha at his house. Besides these two Ayatullahs, we also visited the house of Imam Khomeini in Qum. Another place we went in Qum was the Ibadatgah of Bibi Masooma Qum (sa), where she used to worship. Back in the haram of Bibi Masooma Qum (sa), during night time when we used to go there for ziyarah and Maghrib/Isha, we used to do matamdari outside in the courtyard and we had many people staring at us alongside many Pakistani men who would even join us.
Two other places we went in Qum were swimming and the boys went to Hawzah Imam Khomeini. The hawzah was very professionally built, it had a fairly big auditorium, also had computer labs and a decent library. The hawzah also had a gym and some boys started to work out for the heck of it and do boxing. Soon it was time for Zuhr/Asr salah and we prayed in the prayer hall. On the side they had abas on the hanger that some of us even tried on. After prayers we went out to eat in this restaurant and had the usual rice with chullo kebab.
Once we all went as a group before sunset to Masjid Jamkaran and did the amaal for the mosque over there. After the prayers, there was a recitation of Dua al-Faraj inside the masjid and once again everyone in the masjid had started to cry. As I made my way out after the dua, the mosque looked beautiful (as it was still decorated because of the wiladat). After that once again, our last days in Qum were coming close. It was a Thursday which was going to be our last ziyarat at the haram of Bibi Masooma Qum (sa). We prayed Maghrib/Isha there and after that I had heard perhaps one of the most mind-blowing Dua Kumail I have ever heard in my life. The whole hall was weeping on the dua and I loved how they used to mix masaaib with the duas, the reciter did the same in the Dua Kumail. After the dua, we went into the courtyard, we had a small majlis by Moulana Hamza with masaaib followed by matamdari. I read a noha first, followed by another brother and we ended it off with us three reciting another noha together. I made this sound like the last ziyarah because it was the last ziyarat for me as I wasn't able to go the next afternoon as I was not feeling well at all. The group prayed Jummah behind Ayatullah Amini I believe - which I unfortunately missed, but he did lead Maghrib/Isha and I was able to pray those behind him. However after the group came back we were ready to depart once again, but not to Tehran. We are off to this isolated place called Visf, in the middle of no where, which was another 2 hours drive from Qum.
We were going there for two days, just to relax for a bit. As we reached there, all we saw were huge mountains around us and we were in the middle of them. That first night, I was still not feeling well but for some reason I wanted to be one of the first one to climb the major big mountain which had a flag at the very top of it. It was night time after namaz and me, Moulana Hamza and 2 other friend started to climb it. We thought we would beat Moulana to the top very easily but in fact, the mountain was very difficult to climb, especially at night time where you couldn't see much and it had a lot of rocks and cactus - alongside that it was very steep as well. I was 2nd place until we reached a point where my 'not feeling well' kicked in and I started to feel very weak and I was only half-way up the mountain and short on breath as well. I sat down for a while and just stared at the stars - there were literally thousands upon thousand stars we could see from the mountain and even a few shooting stars here and there. But after a while I decided to just come back down the mountain. All the other boys went up after me but I didn't want to risk it that night. The next day the boys woke up and made their own breakfast as we had access to a kitchen in each of our rooms. We made Pakistani chai for once and made omelette as well. After breakfast, the boys decided to climb the mountain again, this time it was day time so it was a bit easier and I was able to climb it easily as well as I was feeling much better and refreshed. We used to take breaks as we climbed up and I would look down and see the other boys climbing up as well. So we reached to the top and another friend was first to reach to the top where the flag was. We stayed up there for a good hour or two, we took a lot of pictures from up there down towards where our rooms were and then did qaseedas and ended up with Dua Tawasul.
After that we had a class and then later on in the day we had a BBQ which Moulana Hamza took care of. That night, once again we and Moulana Hamza as well once again, went up the mountain. We were taking pictures from the top once again - this time in the night. At the top we once again read a couple of qaseedas followed by a few salaams. After that Moulana Hamza recited Ziyarat-e-Ashura on top of that mountain and it was beautiful as we could see the moon in between the peaks of a few mountain tops and also the clear night sky with starts twinkling. Those 2 nights in Visf were great and the next day once again we made breakfast again in our room - this time I took care of the chai and another friend took care of the omelette. We (most of the boys) woke up very late and were eating breakfast very late as well and we ended up missing both the two classes they had on that day. After noon prayers and lunch, we once again started to pack up for our drive to our last destination - Tehran. I don't think I need to mention this again, but yes the boys loaded all the suitcases onto the truck one more time. After that, we loaded the bus and we were on our way to Tehran - which was about 3-4 hours drive I believe. We stopped in the middle of our way, where we could just buy snacks or use the washroom and then were back on our way to Tehran.
On our way to Tehran, we could see the trend change as we started to notice a lot of women that weren't perhaps observing the hijab that we had seen in Mashad or Qum. After we went past the Tehran check point we saw how different of a city it was. After a long drive, we finally reached our destination in Tehran, a hotel inside this very narrow road. We got our keys in that hotel and there were about three boys to each room. I was on the 2nd floor with a boy named Bilal - he was the youngest boy on the trip, around 15 - and he was simply the most coolest and amazing kid I've ever met in my life, for someone who is of his age. Anyways, the truck with our suitcases came and we had to unload the suitcases again in this hotel. The rest of the boys and girls were on the higher floors. That night we just rested as we were too tired to do much. It was in Tehran and in this hotel however where we had the lectures on the history of the Islamic Revolution and also on Wilayat-e-Faqih, where were followed by group discussions later on in the night after dinner.
In Tehran we visited the house of Ayatullah Khomeni and spent some time there. There was an art gallery there as well which had many photos of Ayatullah Khomeni. It also had items that belonged to him such as letters and writings. After that we drove to the Shah's Palace and that is where we prayed Zuhar/Asr. We checked out the many different rooms in his palace. It was a contrast that we were being shown between the simple room of Imam Khomeini in comparison with the massive palace the Shah used to live in. After the palace we went to a restaurant to eat. This restaurant was called SFC (Super "Istaar" Fried Chicken) and we would be seeing the burgers from this restaurant for almost the rest of our stay in Tehran - and I must say all the boys loved it and couldn't get enough of it. It was like any other fast food restaurant, the burgers were nice - some girls were complaining that they were too big and even one was hard to finish, but boys were going for doubles - must have been all the hard work we used to do carrying suitcases
.
We also went to Behesht-e-Zehra where thousands of martyrs are buried. They also had a memorial around the graves for those who were martyred in Hajj. It was perhaps around these days where once we were in our hotel and we were informed that pack your suitcases, we are leaving the place and give us all your cameras and phones - because we are moving to a new location and there are no cameras and phones allowed there. For a while we got a bit curious and worried as to what's going on. We didn't know why we were moving out (I think the boys were just thinking about having to move the suitcases one more time) and why so much security. Anyways, it wasn't anything big. The hotel we were staying in was charging a lot and we got a new place that was much cheaper. It was on top of a very high mountain. It was a long drive up the mountain as it was very high. That night, after we ate dinner in the hotel (SFC once again) we once again loaded the suitcases onto the bus and made our way up to that place (which had residence sort of similar to Visf) up the mountain and you could literally see all of Tehran from the top. For those of you who are from Pakistan from the Islamabad region, I can say that it was a lot like going up to Peer-Sohawa. I grabbed one picture with my phone while going up on one of the days. After we moved there, we unloaded the suitcases from the small truck that made about four up and down trips with the suitcases.
That was some what of an experience. We also visited the graves of two Imamzadahs, one by the name of Imamzadah Abdul Azeem and it was here where we prayed Zuhr and Asr. We read his ziyarah as well. There is a narration which is in regards to visiting the grave of Shah Abdul Azim. The narrator mentions that one of the people of the city of Ray had gone to meet Imam al-Hadi (as) and said, "I had gone to visit Imam al-Hadi and the Imam asked me, 'From where are you coming?' I replied, 'From visiting the grave of Imam al-Husain.' The Imam replied, 'However, you should definitely know that if you had visited the grave of 'Abd al-'Azim which is near you then verily it would have been as if you had visited al-Husain ibn 'Ali." ~ From Thawab al- A'mal wa 'Iqab al-A'mal by Shaykh as-Saduq. Besides him we also visited the grave of Imamzadah Saleh and we read his ziyarah as well. In the courtyard of the shrine of Shah Abdul Azim, we did matamdari as well and recited one noha to give pursa.
Fortunately during the time we were there, Tehran was hosting the International Mahdaviyat Conference. The conference had many big name people speaking, like Ayatullah Kashani and others, yes the *name that can not be mentioned* spoke as well and later on almost all the boys were able to shake his hands as well. After the first half of the conference there was a break for coffee and snacks. After that I just went on the internet computers which were reserved only for journalists. They tried to remove me but I spoke to them for about ten minutes telling them I am a ShiaChat Admin, showing them the logo and what not and that I run the forum, which is why I need to use the internet so they were like, "Veb Journalist?" and I'm just like yes yes, something like that. They finally let me sit on it in peace. After the second half of the conference we had Zuhr/Asr and then we had lunch. I think it was rice. We then made our way back to the hotel.
In the place where we were now staying in on the mountain, there was another mountain which had graves on top of those martyrs who they could not figure out the names of - their identity. The boys were able to climb this mountain quite easily (as it had a pathway) and was nothing compared to the Visf mountain (which was actual climbing rather than walking up a steep path). It took us almost the same amount of time to climb it as the mountain at Visf and by the time we reached up it was time for Maghrib. In between Maghrib and Isha, Moulana was telling a story about war and those that would go and pick up the martyrs from the battlefield. He told a story where he said that there were a group of people who were looking for martyrs and they couldn't find anyone. At that time they said let's do tawassul do the Panjtan (the 5 members of Ahlul Bayt). They did so and when they started looking again they found a body and luckily also found his ID. They found a second person and then a third and a fourth body. All of these bodies had identities. When the found a fifth body they could not find his identification. They tried hard to find it and kept digging. After a while they stopped and one of the man told them that it is no use. We did tawassul and we found the IDs of the other four but we made one of our waseela Bibi Fatima (sa) and there is no exact place known for her grave and no identification and us not being able to find this man's identification may be linked to it. Just that statement at the moment brought tears to my eyes. We prayed and right after that we asked Moulana Hamza to recite Ziyarat-e-Ashura. It was amazing and totally out of this world and once again we were all crying our eyes out. After the ziyarah, we went to the graves of the martyrs who were buried there and read Fatiha for them. We did matamdari after that as well on the mountain, unfortunately none of this is recorded as we didn't have our cameras and phones in this area. The reason why we didn't have them was because this area had some high profile buildings and they did not want images to get leaked out which would display their positions and surroundings.
The last place we visited in Iran was the Shah's torture prison. This was an eye-opener for all of us, as we saw the various devices and methods of torture that used to take place in there. One device was like a small cage in which you couldn't sit or stand properly and there was a heater underneath you which would burn your feet and you would be trapped in there. Another device was for electrocution purposes. They had solitary confinement rooms and they had a room which displayed pictures of all the prisoners that were in this jail, women and males alike. It was here where I figured out that Ayatullah Khamaeni (alongside many other big name scholars) had also been in this prison and had been tortured equally as bad as the other prisoners. The man who was giving us the tour of the place, he had his picture up as well as he was once a prisoner in these cells. Outside of the main prison area yet still inside the building, we went and prayed Zuhr/Asr. After prayers we went where we were now used to going to. Yes, SFC again, where we munched on burgers and fries with drinks.
It was now pretty much the end of the trip. We had a farewell assembly, where 3 brothers and 3 sisters were to give a speech about their experiences on the trip. I was one of the boys who did a speech. After the assembly, the night came on which we were to all pack our suitcases and get ready for departure. However once packed, we got the opportunity to do the amaal of 15 Shaban that night which started off with a few qaseeda, a short speech and then the prescribed amaal. We also prayed Namaz-e-Ayaat that night (we prayed it once at Qum as well) due to a Lunar eclipse which was visible in the very clear sky at night. It really felt at this point that these were the last sort of amaal we are doing in Iran and we couldn't help but cry at the recitation of the duas being recited by Moulana Hamza. After the amaal we were handed our certificates on behalf of the trip. One thing I should add is that, during this whole month, we - the boys - did play a lot of soccer, just in case I made my post sound like it was all about academics and not sports were being played. We had a place to play in the Mashad guesthouse, in the Qum guesthouse as well as this hotel on the mountain where we were staying and we played a lot of it. Usually after the group discussions or when we didn't have any group discussions. During the day, one of our close friends on the trip left early (the same one who had arrived a day early as well).
Anyways, the time finally came when we had to depart. Once again we loaded up the suitcases - we knew this would be the last time, so all the boys without hesitation helped out. Everyone from the trip had come to drop us to the airport, including the Moulanas. We drove to Tehran airport which was about a 2 hour drive from that mountain top. We unloaded the suitcases and we prayed Fajr at the airport as well - the same place where we prayed when we first landed in Tehran. After we prayed Fajr, we had to make our way to the departure zone. This was the moment where we had to physically say Khuda Hafiz to the Moulanas, gave them farewell hugs and then had to walk ahead. It took us a long time to check in our baggages, because there were a lot of us and a lot of passports and suitcases to deal with. We were pretty much the last ones to board the plane as well, me and three other boys were the last ones from the group to board the plane. The plane finally took off and we were on our way to Tehran. It was a day journey and the skies were clear at one part and I was able to grab a picture of the ground beneath us. We finally landed in Heathrow and some of us made our way to the Non-UK Passport desk while the rest of the group went to the UK Passport holders desk. It was fairly easy coming out, they didn't ask us too many questions as they saw we were from a group and I was in transit anyways. We came out very quickly, then we just had to wait for our suitcases to come. The boys were very nice enough once again to help the sisters get their suitcases from the ramp (even though we were told that everyone grabs their own suitcase this time). One of the brothers who had been on the trip a few times before told us that now would be the time to say farewell to each other, because once you go out you have family members waiting and will be leaving for their homes. I didn't want to leave anyone, my favourite person on the trip - the young boy I was talking about earlier - Bilal, started to cry as he hugged us. That's when I once again realized how awesome this boy is.
The rest is history, we all came out and met with our family members who were awaiting us all very anxiously - they hadn't seen us for a month. Though I felt as if the journey is over for the residents of UK, but I still had another 7 and half hours to travel to Toronto. I stayed in London for only 2 days and Alhamdolillah reached my destination safely, without any hassle at the airport (luckily the man didn't flip through my passport and notice my Iran visa).
I know it has been a long read - if you've actually read it all the way and are reading this part then I have to say big up yourself and recite a loud Salawat for yourself, but just some final words: the trip was a month long trip, so one can imagine staying with a dozen boys alongside two-three Moulanas in one room for so many days, trying to getting along with each other, people of different backgrounds and personalities; how much of a close relationship we all built with each other. I have no complaints about Al-Asr, it was an amazing trip. Unfortunately Moulana Sabzawari wasn't with us for the most part of the trip, as he left for Iraq only after a few days in Mashad and may Allah (swt) accept his ziyarah in Iraq and also bring further success in the work for which he went to Iraq. I feel as if there is still so much to say, I rushed through the ending paragraphs of Qum and Tehran but I hope I gave out the general essence of how amazing the trip was. We had a lot of stories which took place while we were on our breaks or during sports, on the mountains, in our rooms but I guess it's not really necessary as readers won't even understand half the things since you have to be there to understand some of the stories. But my point is that the boys overall had a lot of fun and enjoyed the trip overall.
In conclusion, not only was I able to build up my faith, make such a close and spiritual connection with Allah (swt) and the Ahlul Bayt (as) and manage to get it much stronger, but also able to learn many valuable lessons from the trip. Seeing a country on a ground-zero level was a much better experience then sitting here and for the most part just reading news regarding a country through Western media outlets. For sure the country did have it's negatives and positives but I don't understand why the negatives need to be exploited in such a way in which we demeanor the country and the Islamic Revolution. Which other country is perfect? Our own homes are not perfect. Perhaps even all the people weren't as nice or friendly either and to an extent even have a superiority complex, but that is something once again which you will see in certain people in every nation. Overall I felt great as Iran felt like home, home that the Shias specifically can look up to today and in fact even all other Muslims can look up to as a role model (and many do). I got a better understanding of the Revolution itself and from the classes we had I learned a lot as well in terms of Aqaid - since we went in so much depth, one can only imagine the depths they must teach in the hawzah when one enrolls in for so many years. It surely made me consider going to Hawzah in Qum and InshAllah hopefully I will be able to do so one day in the near future. Okay, I think I am finally done now.
Allahumma Salay Alaa Muhammad Wa Aalay Muhammad, Wa Ajil Farajahum. I pray that Allah (swt) accepts all of our ziyarahs and duas.
O Allah! Forgive me my such sins as would affront my continency O Allah! Forgive me my such sins as would bring down calamity.
O Allah! Forgive me my such sins as would change divine favours (into disfavours).
O Allah! Forgive me my such sins as would hinder my supplication.
O Allah! Forgive me such sins as bring down misfortunes (or afflictions).
O Allah! Forgive my such sins as would suppress hope.
O Allah! Forgive every sin that I have committed and every error that I have erred.
O Allah! I endeavour to draw myself nigh to Thee through Thy invocation And I pray to Thee to intercede on my behalf And I entreat Thee by Thy benevolence to draw me nearer to Thee And grant me that I should be grateful to Thee and inspire me to remember and to invoke Thee O Allah! ~ Excerpt from Dua Kumayl
Wassalam.
I just want to give everyone who is about to read this a heads up: I am about to tell my experiences of my recent trip in Iran with the Al-Asr group and will go into details for a lot memories that I can recall. I'm not asking anyone to read it, I primarily wrote it up for my self, it might get boring for some to read which is why I am giving the heads up already. In my post you will see some words that are underlined or perhaps in a different colour (depending on which forum I am posting it on) and that's because those are click-able links, as I have made the post some what interactive. If you do read it, I hope you enjoy it InshAllah.
I don’t know where exactly to begin as there seems to be multiple starting points but I guess I can say I can start off from ShiaChat.com the forum. In March of 2006 I came across the 14th Annual Al Asr thread but didn’t pay much attention to it. Later on I realized that some of my friends in Toronto that have been to Iran had gone through this group and were speaking much good of it and so were the many members on ShiaChat who went with the group. I decided that it was perhaps a group that I would want to go with and decided that I would plan to go the next year in 2007. Once again the 15th Annual Al-Asr thread was made and I had plans of coming but due to some issues at university with my courses I was unable to make it that summer. I was a bit upset as well but everything happens for a reason and I realized it on this trip. That school year I had sorted out my credits from before so I don’t have to take summer courses again to stay up to task with my degree as I had experienced during first year of university and had made it my full intention to go with this trip. One good friend from the forum that I’ve now known for more than 4 years was also one of the managers on the trip. I was always in close contact with him and getting more information regarding the trip from him so I was well prepared for it from at least a year in advance. As 2008 approached and after the Ayam-e-Aza went by, the 16th Annual thread on ShiaChat was made once again and they had started the registration process for the trip. I signed up and then what every person on the trip had to go through I went through it as well, waiting for the visa to come and then paying for the ticket. I and the other non-UK residents had to pay for our ticket to London separate. I didn’t have any money and I didn’t want to ask my parents this time either as my mom travels often as well and she had just recently been to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia (where my dad lives) and I knew that the budget wasn’t enough for me to ask them for tons of money. I started looking for a job right after my final exam in April and I found a job which was from 4 PM till 1 AM in an in-bound call center for RBC (Royal Bank of Canada). It was actually a very respectable job but a bit tiring due to the shift however it was paying well and I was working full time. Finally I had made enough to pay for the tickets and I did so and it felt great paying from my own pocket. In the mean while I had also informed my cousin in London about the trip and that I’m going and that it would be a great idea if she can come too (it could be one in a life time opportunity anyways). Anyhow I finally got my visa after a month and I was all set now. I traveled to London around July 10th. A lot of people were asking me about my experience in London but I’m not sure why that was the case considering I’ve been to London many times in the past, in fact I’ve been going there almost regularly since 1995/6; so the place is nothing new to me. Anyhow, that week in London went by quick, went to the orientation as well and finally that Sunday of July 19th came and we were all at Heathrow airport.
My Khala (aunt) and my cousins came to drop me at the airport. I met my friend (Ayaz) at the airport – he was the only guy I knew at that time, off ShiaChat – another friend of mine (Hadi) who I also knew off ShiaChat for a few years had already gone to Iran a day before us. However I was well aware that there were a few sisters off ShiaChat on the trip and also a few other guys who were coming but I wasn’t that close with them (before the trip anyways). Anyhow, we checked in our suitcases at the airport and went for Zuhar/Asar prayers and then finally said good bye to our family members and went to the gates. On our way to the planes another boy came up to me and asked me if I’m Ali Imran and I said yes and he told me his name (Aon) and he was also someone who I had spoken to before on ShiaChat. Oh yes how can I forgot, they got dogs to sniff all of our bags (hand luggage) before we boarded the plane! How bias! Okay cutting the long Heathrow security check and long walk to the gate short: we boarded the plane, Iran Air.
At this point I don’t recall too much and I can’t remember the faces of anyone, who was who and what their names were. On the plane I was sitting beside Aon and in our row we had this very nice uncle (Uncle Zahoor) and Moulana Sabzawari. On the journey I was speaking with Aon the whole time and then also with Moulana Sabzawari and uncle Zahoor for a while. At that time they had informed me that the group doesn’t know yet but our flight from Tehran to Mashad, they could not find an earlier flight so we will be staying in Tehran for quite a while (a good 10-12 hours I believe it was). Finally we landed in Tehran – at this point I still wasn’t having free conversations with many of the boys and was still trying to get used to each other’s personalities. When the plane landed in Tehran, I couldn’t believe I was actually in Iran. We were at Imam Khomeini international airport and it was a very decent airport. While checking out all the individuals who had an American passport got questioned a bit longer than the rest of us. I had a Canadian passport and they asked me a couple of questions and asked why my dad is in Saudi Arabia and what do I do in Canada. It was funny, when ever they would ask where you are from they didn't expect you to say Canada or America, rather they wanted to know where you are really from. As in if you are Pakistani or Indian. Any ways, we came out and this was the time when the boys were about to realize what they were going to deal with for the rest of the month. Suitcases. Yes that's right, the boys had to carry around not only their own suitcases but also the suitcases of every female (who were twice the amount of the brothers in numbers) on the trip. By the way, just a side note: I didn't mind carrying their suitcases around at all and I don't think any of the guys were bothered either. I know for a fact I learned some valuable lessons on patience, hard work and brotherhood just by dealing with the suitcases.
Once we had gathered all the suitcases we came out and I first of all went to Moulana Hamza and said salams to him and gave him salams from certain people in Toronto (as he had been reciting in Toronto for this past Muharram). Also met Brother Mohsin (manager) for the first time and then our friend Hadi who was there before us with another brother Abu Talib (that was not his real name, but we still used to call him that). Abu Talib had been to my mosque in Toronto many times and he was in fact related to some of my close friends here in Toronto, so we clicked on very well right from the start. At this point I must add, I still wasn't talking freely with any of the other guys, as in, we weren't really having conversations or anything - I wasn't feeling left out or anything but just that everything was happening so fast and I was a bit tired as well. We prayed Fajr at the Tehran airport. I believe some time around then, the rest of the group figured out that we will be in Tehran for a few hours as our flight to Mashad was later on in the day. After Fajr, we took the suitcases and started loading them onto the small truck. After that we boarded the bus as we were off to the grave of Ayatullah Khomieni just a while drive away from the airport. At this time on the bus, I started to look around at all the brothers and started to see what they look like and even started to make small conversations with the few who were around me.
We finally reached Ayatullah Khomeni's grave and we started taking pictures as soon as we came out the bus. We came and we sat on this grass area and we were waiting for breakfast - we got pasta I believe - I liked it. All the boys finally started to open up a bit and started cracking jokes (what all South Asian boys do best). There was this old man who came and was screaming "Naan-e-Shireen, Naan-e-Shireen, Naan-e-Shireen" - Sweet Bread, it's like Sheermal and for some reason the boys just started laughing and that was perhaps the first phrase we learned in Iran and would use it as jokes through out the trip. After eating some of the boys became restless as we didn't know why we were all sitting outside and not going inside to see the grave of Ayatullah Khomeni. So some of us boys went ourselves and recited Fatiha and of course took pictures. Then we went to this area in the middle where there was a big pillar just to rest and sit down. They guards inside wouldn't let us sleep and one of the boys kept sleeping and the guard would come and wake him up. Soon time some of the brothers took this folder out and I was just looking at them at that time and then I asked what were they. I saw they were all Noha and Qaseeda writeups. They started reading nohas quietly inside and then I told them I recite as well in Toronto. We started to decide what we will recite on the upcoming Shahadat and Wiladat dates (we didn't really stick to the plan as we kept reading different nohas as the days progressed). They asked me to recite something at that time so I just read a qaseeda. Then the whole time we were practicing different noha and qaseedas. The day passed by and the boys were getting a bit irritated - because boys will be boys at the end of the day. So we tried to look for a soccer ball (football as the Brits call it) and then one of the boys went to some next place (God knows where he went) but he came back with a ball in his hand as he had bought it from some place. We started playing for a while there and then a while later we boarded the bus again and made our way to the Tehran local airport to our flight to Mashad.
Cutting the long story short – story of pulling out the suitcases from the bus and loading them back on to the trolleys and checking them in and going to the gate area and praying Zuhar and Asar – we boarded this plane (Iran Air) which was to go Mashad. We flew to Mashad and once again after dealing with the suitcases and loading them onto the buses (this time it was two different buses) we were on our way to the hotel in Mashad. Once we reached the hotel, we unloaded the suitcases again and put them in the entrance for the sisters to carry their own to their rooms and the boys took their own to our rooms. Finally we were in our rooms. All the boys and Moulana Hamza were in one room (and I mean all the boys). The managers were in the room beside ours. By now I had managed to learn almost every boys name and we were all having proper conversations by now (I guess we thought we might as well, since we are going to be spending the whole month together). That day in Mashad we didn't do anything as we were all tired and just rested through the day - we had dinner and namaz and went to sleep.
The next morning we had an introduction assembly where we all briefly introduced ourselves and why we chose to come on Al Asr. After that we were given a briefing on the ethics of Ziyarat and also about some rules and regulations of the trip itself. Soon after the assembly we all got ready for what we had all been waiting for; the ziyarat of Imam Ridha (as). We boarded the bus and brother Ayaz asked me to recite a salaam (Main Khaak-e-Karbala Hun') and I felt lost myself as I couldn't believe I was reciting something in such a holy place. It has always been a dream for me to be able to recite something in Medina, Karbala, Najaf and Mashad and now one part of the dream was finally coming true. Finally the bus took a turn onto a road and we laid our eyes for the first time on the shrine of Imam Ridha (as). We read a loud salawat which followed by almost complete silence from everyone on the bus. It was as if we were in a different dimension and before we knew it our eyes had become watery and tears started to roll down. I don't know why I was crying at that point and I still can't figure out why. Was it due to the fact I was so happy to be granted the opportunity to be able to do the ziyarah of the Imam or was it over the fact I kept repeating the sentence Assalam-u-Allaika Ya Ghareeb al-Ghuraba in my mind over and over again - perhaps it was a mixture of both. We proceeded towards the entrance and my legs were trembling. In the background I could hear the echoes of someone reading masaaib which made me cry even more. As we finally made our way to the actual zarih inside we did our first Ziyarah beside Moulana Sabzawari. After ziyarah, the first time almost all the guys went and tried to at least touch the zarih it self and I believe almost all of them did - it's not easy at all I must say as it is jam packed. After that I went to the side of the zarih and tried to pray 2 rakah and behind me was Moulana Sabzawari. After praying he told me to look towards the zarih and he took a picture of me with his digital camera - it was such a memorable moment for me. After the ziyarah we had time to sit and recite the Qur'an or just read other duas and ziyarat while there was still time for Zuhar/Asar. After the salah we used to meet at this meeting point and then would make our way back out of the haram and onto the bus back to our hotel.
The usual schedule after that used to be breakfast in the morning and we would be out after breakfast and would come back from outside after praying Zuhar and Asr. Then we would eat lunch and get some time to rest followed by two back-to-back classes. After class we used to get more rest time (and when I say time for rest I’m speaking a good few hours and we could easily relax and do a lot of other things) and by then it would be time for Maghrib and Isha. After that we would go for dinner followed by a group discussion at night and then we were told to hit the beds (however most of us used to sleep very little and very late at night). This was the general schedule, obviously there were few days where we didn’t have classes and times where we were out a bit longer than usual or nights where we didn’t have group discussions and had Dua Kumail/Tawassul on the respective days alongside the various Jashans and Majaalis as well.
One of the days, we traveled to Nishapur. At first when we came out of the bus there were a lot of people who were there with horses and you could ride the horses (obviously had to pay them as well). I jumped on a horse pretty much as soon as we got off the bus and wow that was some fun stuff. The man let the horse go on it's own and it even ran fast for a bit and I thought I would fall but thank god I didn't because that would have been very embarrassing. Anyways, after that in Nishapur we visited graves of some famous people, like Umar Khayyam - his grave was under this magnificent piece of architecture (a poet and a mathematician), Farid ud-Deen Attar (a herbalist) and Kamal al-Mulk (a painter). After them, we went to a grave of an Imamzada (Mohammad Mahroq). He was one of the offspring of Hazrat Musa Kazim (as). I can't remember if we did all this on the same day but regardless I'll mention the next two places in Nishapur as well. We went to the qadamgah of Imam Ridha (as) where the footprints of Imam Ridha (as) were. Beside it, there was a well of Imam Ridha (as). The boys decided to give pursa to Bibi Fatima (sa) and we did matamdari right outside the qadamgah. When ever we did matam outside we used to get a lot of people staring at us and recording us, perhaps fascinated by the way we did our matam. After that (once again I can't remember if all this was on the same day or not but we also visited the grave of Bibi Shatita. You can read more about her about 3/4 of the way down here - just search (CTRL+F) Shatita. Any ways, in Nishapur after doing all these things (which I now have doubts as to whether we did all these things on the same day or not because I remember doing wudhu at the grave of the Imamzadah for Salah) we went to this guest house where we had lunch and prayed Zuhar and Asr. After prayers, we went to eat and then we were free to do what ever. Some guys went to rest and slept under this shed area, while some of us went and met up with some Irani kids and had conversations with them and played some soccer as well. After resting there for the day we made our way back to the hotel in Mashad.
Let me speak a bit about our classes that started off in Mashad. Moulana Hamza was giving lectures on Aqaid and Ahkaam. The Aqaid lectures were amazing because this was the first time I was learning about the very own Usool-e-Deen that we think we know all about, however Moulana was playing the devil's advocate at times throwing questions at us that made us ponder over various things. The first few lectures were all on Tawheed and these lectures may I add, were based on pure rational reasons rather then using the Qur'an and Hadeeth. For some it was too much to handle, some who were a bit young and couldn't grasp the material, they were welcome to join Moulana Hamid who was speaking on tafseer. These lectures on Aqaid would continue till the end of our stay in Qum, where we went from Tawheed, Adalat, Qayamat, Nabuwat and Imamat. Followed by the Aqaid lectures we also had sessions on Ahkaam where we got a lot of fiqh rulings clarified and were free to ask questions. During the nights in our group discussions, once again we were free to ask any question and start discussion. I must say however, I asked the first question in the very first group discussion since everyone was just silent and staring at each other. I won't go over the details of what was discussed in these lectures and group discussions because that would be too much to explain and get into.
Going back to the haram of Imam Ridha (as), we visited the graves of Sheikh Bahaiee and Sheikh Hur al-Ameli. Outside of the haram, we went to Bazaar-e-Ridha (as) a few times where we could go shopping; most people bought rings from here. Soon the day of the Shahadat of Imam Musa Kazim (as) approached. That day we went to the haram during the day and as usual made our way to the ziyarah. This time I had done the ziyarah and by now most of us guys figured out that it's really not about struggling and trying to get to 'touch' the zarih, so after ziyarah I left and went to this hall where the Imam leads the prayers and where they usually hold majlis and lectures. I knew that they must be doing something there and I was right. In a totally packed hall, they were having the Masaaib of Imam Musa Kazim (as). I obviously could not understand everything that they were saying but even the few words that were similar to Urdu and just the way they recited the Masaaib were enough to make anyone cry and what's more than knowing that you are still in the haram of Imam Ridha (as) while the masaaib of his father are being recited. One of the days we did a noha inside the vicinity of the haram of Imam Ridha (as). After Zuhar/Asr that day we went back to the meeting spot and made our way back to the hotel. I believe it was either a Tuesday or a Thursday night so before Maghrib/Isha we had a majlis. After namaz and dinner we had a dua (Kumail or Tawassul - can't recall) and we had matam right after that. It was probably the first time the boys were about to do proper matam after a majlis and we weren't really organized as we were all still getting used to each other. We read three proper nohas but after that we didn't really end off properly and it was very disheartening but nevertheless it was a learning experience for all of us. On a Friday we went for Ziyarah again, but this time near the evening time and we read Dua Simat and the sun set was beautiful. After the Dua and Ziyarat we did Maghrib and Isha and came back to the hotel.
In Mashad we also went and met Ayatullah Makarem Shirazi and he gave us a lecture on the media and how we should be well aware of the propaganda and tricks the Western Media in particular plays to confuse the average person. Before Ayatullah Makarem Shirazi, one day we went to the office place of Ayatullah Behjat. We had majlis over there and one of the best Ziyarat-e-Ashura I have ever heard and once again we were all in tears. (This is in fact the day Moulana Hamid also linked up with us on the trip). I have the video of the Ziyarat Ashura on my computer; hopefully I can upload it soon. Back in the hotel, the first few days the hotel was packed with hundreds of of scholars, who were in fact mostly Sunnis. Some of us boys started to have discussion with these scholars; they were there for a conference that was being held. After them, we had hundreds of orphan boys who came into the hotel and after a few days they stayed there they left and we had a few hundred orphan girls. Our hotel was beautiful, especially at night time when the fountain used to be turned on with lights. We used to play soccer at night time while some played basketball. The boys used to do wrestling as well and it was a lot of fun - don't ever wrestle with Moulana Hamza, as he literally took everyone down, even the guys that were bigger than him in size and everything.
In the haram of Imam Ridha (as) we went to this museum as well, which had a lot of original historic items and paintings, carpets and we went to this one area that had original Qur'an that were written by the Imams (as) and also other famous personalities. The boys were joking around saying if we can ask the guard to let us go through the Qur'an to check if there is any Surah Wilayah written in it - you know, the usual propaganda against the Shias. One of the days the manager was asking that he needs about three or four boys who can go to the haram early in the morning (before Fajr) with everyone's passports so we can get the entry stamp to be able to go and eat at the dastarkhaan of Imam Ridha (as). I didn't go, but the few boys went and came back without a stamp as they went a bit late and the lines are apparently huge and only the first few certain people can get it. So they went the next day and Alhamdolillah they were able to get the stamps. For those who went on the trip, if you open up your passports and go to the page where you have your Visa, you'll notice a stamp and that means that you've eaten from there - as you are only allowed to do so once per year. Near the last days of our stay in Mashad, we got the opportunity to do amaal on Shab-e-Mairaj inside the haram of Imam Ridha (as), before Fajr prayers. The amaal were led by Moulana Hamza as we followed.
I believe as the days went by, we started to get this sense of sadness because we were realizing that we'll be leaving Mashad in a few days. As the last day approached and we knew that this would be the last ziyarat, as usual we went to do ziyarat and did our Zuhr/Asr namaz. I wasn't feeling anything unusual at that point, until I saw everyone reading the Alvida Ziyarat. I borrowed the book which had the ziyarat in it, walked towards the middle where the water used to be, looking towards the dome and main gate and started reciting the ziyarat. Once again tears started to come out before I had even begun reciting the ziyarat. Just the fact that I realized that this was going to be the last ziyarat of the Imam (as) - for this trip anyways, after reciting the ziyarat I started to ask as many duas as I could and also the dua to allow me to come for ziyarah one more time (InshAllah). Slowly we made our way to the exit but we were all walking very slowly, looking back at the haram each time and crying our eyes out. We stopped at the gate which took us outside of that main courtyard and we stood there and just simply cried. That's all I remember from there and a brother had to comfort me and take me out as I saw most of the boys were already gone. I didn't want to leave at all. As I came on the bus, I saw everyone was in tears just like me. There were no masaaib being recited or nohas or anything like that, yet each one of us was in tears and literally crying as if a close family member had passed away in front of our eyes. As we were all crying on the bus, Moulana Hamza started to recite Dua al-Faraj and the whole bus just started crying even more. This was the final ziyarah in Mashad and it is something I will never forget and I pray that Allah (swt) gives me and everyone an opportunity to go for ziyarah - one more time, InshAllah.
That evening, we started to pack up our suitcases and were getting ready to leave for the airport - to fly back to Tehran and the drive to Qum. The boys loaded the suitcases one more time onto the bus, one bus wasn’t enough so we got a second one and put half of the suitcases onto the second bus. The girls all went on the first bus alongside most of the boys. We couldn’t fit all the boys on that bus so some of us came onto the second bus. On our way to the airport on the bus I did a few noha and salaam and besides that when ever the two buses would cross each other on the roads the boys from both the buses did long and loud Naray-e-Haideris. When we reached the airport we unloaded the suitcases again and went to the airport and prayed Maghrib/Isha. After the flight to Tehran, we grabbed the suitcases one more time and loaded them onto another bus. It was a big and comfortable bus and as it was late in the night the lights were turned off for the trip from Tehran to Qum (about a 2 hour drive). I noticed everyone fell asleep, but me being the restless boy that I am, didn't sleep at all. It was very late at night and by the time we reached Qum it was almost Fajr time. At that time we realized that that was Masjid-e-Jamkaran and we were literally a few minutes walk away from it.
As we reached our hotel in Qum, we unloaded the suitcases again and we carried them to our rooms. We prayed Fajr and hit the beds. The next day we went to the ziyarah to the haram of Bibi Masooma Qum (sa). We did our first ziyarah together with the Moulana, outside in the courtyard. After that when we went inside, it was fairly easy to go up to the zarih and easily touch it - in fact I even managed to grab a picture of her grave inside. In Qum we followed the same general schedule - with the classes and group discussions. It was here in Qum where Moulana Usama also joined us (Moulana Hamid didn't come to Qum with us) and then it was a lecture split of one hour each by Moulana Hamza and Moulana Usama. Moulana Usama was speaking primarily on Islamic Spirituality which also went into depth on certain topics. In Qum, there were bazaar right outside the vicinity of the haram of Bibi Masooma Qum (sa) and that was perhaps where a lot of us did most of our shopping, because it was very convenient and beside the haram. There was Ansariyan book store where we bought many books. It had been well over 10 days into the trip and most of the boys were feeling the absence of the computer and internet from their lives. It took us about an hour to find an internet cafe - even though it was right there, we just kept going the wrong directions. We finally checked our e-mails after so long. The boys also used to go to the food restaurants and eat together. I liked this one store where we used to buy burger and fries from.
Besides the grave of Bibi Masooma Qum (sa), in the vicinity of the haram, there were also graves of Ayatullah Burujurdi, Shaheed Mutahari and in fact there is a whole list of scholars who are buried there. Outside the haram we visited the library of Ayatullah Marashi Najafi which also had his grave within. One of the days in Qum, we went out to this park a few hours before sun set and stayed their till Maghrib/Isha and even had dinner there. The boys had a good time there, we even played some soccer in this small place we found.
The great thing about the Qum hotel was the fact that we were a walking distance away from Masjid-e-Jamkaran. I didn't go there on the first morning or every morning, however I was able to go a couple of times and it was great. It was also in Qum where we spent the 3 back-to-back days of Wiladat, of Imam Hussain (as), Hazrat Abbas (as) and Imam Zain ul-Abideen (as). The first Jashan was on Imam Hussain (as) and Moulana Hamza gave a short speech and we also had qaseedas that night and it was great because you could see Masjid Jamkaran all lit up from the window. The next day on Wiladat of Hazrat Abbas (as) we had the same sort of routine, Moulana Usama gave a speech, we had qaseeda and Moulana Hamza then recited Dua Tawassul as it was a Tuesday night.
We met Ayatullah Lari and Ayatullah Araki in Qum as well. Ayatullah Lari is known for his books and his library and he gave a small talk to us and also allowed us take any two books from his library. Ayatullah Araki knows English and he also gave us a small talk and we prayed Maghrib/Isha at his house. Besides these two Ayatullahs, we also visited the house of Imam Khomeini in Qum. Another place we went in Qum was the Ibadatgah of Bibi Masooma Qum (sa), where she used to worship. Back in the haram of Bibi Masooma Qum (sa), during night time when we used to go there for ziyarah and Maghrib/Isha, we used to do matamdari outside in the courtyard and we had many people staring at us alongside many Pakistani men who would even join us.
Two other places we went in Qum were swimming and the boys went to Hawzah Imam Khomeini. The hawzah was very professionally built, it had a fairly big auditorium, also had computer labs and a decent library. The hawzah also had a gym and some boys started to work out for the heck of it and do boxing. Soon it was time for Zuhr/Asr salah and we prayed in the prayer hall. On the side they had abas on the hanger that some of us even tried on. After prayers we went out to eat in this restaurant and had the usual rice with chullo kebab.
Once we all went as a group before sunset to Masjid Jamkaran and did the amaal for the mosque over there. After the prayers, there was a recitation of Dua al-Faraj inside the masjid and once again everyone in the masjid had started to cry. As I made my way out after the dua, the mosque looked beautiful (as it was still decorated because of the wiladat). After that once again, our last days in Qum were coming close. It was a Thursday which was going to be our last ziyarat at the haram of Bibi Masooma Qum (sa). We prayed Maghrib/Isha there and after that I had heard perhaps one of the most mind-blowing Dua Kumail I have ever heard in my life. The whole hall was weeping on the dua and I loved how they used to mix masaaib with the duas, the reciter did the same in the Dua Kumail. After the dua, we went into the courtyard, we had a small majlis by Moulana Hamza with masaaib followed by matamdari. I read a noha first, followed by another brother and we ended it off with us three reciting another noha together. I made this sound like the last ziyarah because it was the last ziyarat for me as I wasn't able to go the next afternoon as I was not feeling well at all. The group prayed Jummah behind Ayatullah Amini I believe - which I unfortunately missed, but he did lead Maghrib/Isha and I was able to pray those behind him. However after the group came back we were ready to depart once again, but not to Tehran. We are off to this isolated place called Visf, in the middle of no where, which was another 2 hours drive from Qum.
We were going there for two days, just to relax for a bit. As we reached there, all we saw were huge mountains around us and we were in the middle of them. That first night, I was still not feeling well but for some reason I wanted to be one of the first one to climb the major big mountain which had a flag at the very top of it. It was night time after namaz and me, Moulana Hamza and 2 other friend started to climb it. We thought we would beat Moulana to the top very easily but in fact, the mountain was very difficult to climb, especially at night time where you couldn't see much and it had a lot of rocks and cactus - alongside that it was very steep as well. I was 2nd place until we reached a point where my 'not feeling well' kicked in and I started to feel very weak and I was only half-way up the mountain and short on breath as well. I sat down for a while and just stared at the stars - there were literally thousands upon thousand stars we could see from the mountain and even a few shooting stars here and there. But after a while I decided to just come back down the mountain. All the other boys went up after me but I didn't want to risk it that night. The next day the boys woke up and made their own breakfast as we had access to a kitchen in each of our rooms. We made Pakistani chai for once and made omelette as well. After breakfast, the boys decided to climb the mountain again, this time it was day time so it was a bit easier and I was able to climb it easily as well as I was feeling much better and refreshed. We used to take breaks as we climbed up and I would look down and see the other boys climbing up as well. So we reached to the top and another friend was first to reach to the top where the flag was. We stayed up there for a good hour or two, we took a lot of pictures from up there down towards where our rooms were and then did qaseedas and ended up with Dua Tawasul.
After that we had a class and then later on in the day we had a BBQ which Moulana Hamza took care of. That night, once again we and Moulana Hamza as well once again, went up the mountain. We were taking pictures from the top once again - this time in the night. At the top we once again read a couple of qaseedas followed by a few salaams. After that Moulana Hamza recited Ziyarat-e-Ashura on top of that mountain and it was beautiful as we could see the moon in between the peaks of a few mountain tops and also the clear night sky with starts twinkling. Those 2 nights in Visf were great and the next day once again we made breakfast again in our room - this time I took care of the chai and another friend took care of the omelette. We (most of the boys) woke up very late and were eating breakfast very late as well and we ended up missing both the two classes they had on that day. After noon prayers and lunch, we once again started to pack up for our drive to our last destination - Tehran. I don't think I need to mention this again, but yes the boys loaded all the suitcases onto the truck one more time. After that, we loaded the bus and we were on our way to Tehran - which was about 3-4 hours drive I believe. We stopped in the middle of our way, where we could just buy snacks or use the washroom and then were back on our way to Tehran.
On our way to Tehran, we could see the trend change as we started to notice a lot of women that weren't perhaps observing the hijab that we had seen in Mashad or Qum. After we went past the Tehran check point we saw how different of a city it was. After a long drive, we finally reached our destination in Tehran, a hotel inside this very narrow road. We got our keys in that hotel and there were about three boys to each room. I was on the 2nd floor with a boy named Bilal - he was the youngest boy on the trip, around 15 - and he was simply the most coolest and amazing kid I've ever met in my life, for someone who is of his age. Anyways, the truck with our suitcases came and we had to unload the suitcases again in this hotel. The rest of the boys and girls were on the higher floors. That night we just rested as we were too tired to do much. It was in Tehran and in this hotel however where we had the lectures on the history of the Islamic Revolution and also on Wilayat-e-Faqih, where were followed by group discussions later on in the night after dinner.
In Tehran we visited the house of Ayatullah Khomeni and spent some time there. There was an art gallery there as well which had many photos of Ayatullah Khomeni. It also had items that belonged to him such as letters and writings. After that we drove to the Shah's Palace and that is where we prayed Zuhar/Asr. We checked out the many different rooms in his palace. It was a contrast that we were being shown between the simple room of Imam Khomeini in comparison with the massive palace the Shah used to live in. After the palace we went to a restaurant to eat. This restaurant was called SFC (Super "Istaar" Fried Chicken) and we would be seeing the burgers from this restaurant for almost the rest of our stay in Tehran - and I must say all the boys loved it and couldn't get enough of it. It was like any other fast food restaurant, the burgers were nice - some girls were complaining that they were too big and even one was hard to finish, but boys were going for doubles - must have been all the hard work we used to do carrying suitcases
.We also went to Behesht-e-Zehra where thousands of martyrs are buried. They also had a memorial around the graves for those who were martyred in Hajj. It was perhaps around these days where once we were in our hotel and we were informed that pack your suitcases, we are leaving the place and give us all your cameras and phones - because we are moving to a new location and there are no cameras and phones allowed there. For a while we got a bit curious and worried as to what's going on. We didn't know why we were moving out (I think the boys were just thinking about having to move the suitcases one more time) and why so much security. Anyways, it wasn't anything big. The hotel we were staying in was charging a lot and we got a new place that was much cheaper. It was on top of a very high mountain. It was a long drive up the mountain as it was very high. That night, after we ate dinner in the hotel (SFC once again) we once again loaded the suitcases onto the bus and made our way up to that place (which had residence sort of similar to Visf) up the mountain and you could literally see all of Tehran from the top. For those of you who are from Pakistan from the Islamabad region, I can say that it was a lot like going up to Peer-Sohawa. I grabbed one picture with my phone while going up on one of the days. After we moved there, we unloaded the suitcases from the small truck that made about four up and down trips with the suitcases.
That was some what of an experience. We also visited the graves of two Imamzadahs, one by the name of Imamzadah Abdul Azeem and it was here where we prayed Zuhr and Asr. We read his ziyarah as well. There is a narration which is in regards to visiting the grave of Shah Abdul Azim. The narrator mentions that one of the people of the city of Ray had gone to meet Imam al-Hadi (as) and said, "I had gone to visit Imam al-Hadi and the Imam asked me, 'From where are you coming?' I replied, 'From visiting the grave of Imam al-Husain.' The Imam replied, 'However, you should definitely know that if you had visited the grave of 'Abd al-'Azim which is near you then verily it would have been as if you had visited al-Husain ibn 'Ali." ~ From Thawab al- A'mal wa 'Iqab al-A'mal by Shaykh as-Saduq. Besides him we also visited the grave of Imamzadah Saleh and we read his ziyarah as well. In the courtyard of the shrine of Shah Abdul Azim, we did matamdari as well and recited one noha to give pursa.
Fortunately during the time we were there, Tehran was hosting the International Mahdaviyat Conference. The conference had many big name people speaking, like Ayatullah Kashani and others, yes the *name that can not be mentioned* spoke as well and later on almost all the boys were able to shake his hands as well. After the first half of the conference there was a break for coffee and snacks. After that I just went on the internet computers which were reserved only for journalists. They tried to remove me but I spoke to them for about ten minutes telling them I am a ShiaChat Admin, showing them the logo and what not and that I run the forum, which is why I need to use the internet so they were like, "Veb Journalist?" and I'm just like yes yes, something like that. They finally let me sit on it in peace. After the second half of the conference we had Zuhr/Asr and then we had lunch. I think it was rice. We then made our way back to the hotel.
In the place where we were now staying in on the mountain, there was another mountain which had graves on top of those martyrs who they could not figure out the names of - their identity. The boys were able to climb this mountain quite easily (as it had a pathway) and was nothing compared to the Visf mountain (which was actual climbing rather than walking up a steep path). It took us almost the same amount of time to climb it as the mountain at Visf and by the time we reached up it was time for Maghrib. In between Maghrib and Isha, Moulana was telling a story about war and those that would go and pick up the martyrs from the battlefield. He told a story where he said that there were a group of people who were looking for martyrs and they couldn't find anyone. At that time they said let's do tawassul do the Panjtan (the 5 members of Ahlul Bayt). They did so and when they started looking again they found a body and luckily also found his ID. They found a second person and then a third and a fourth body. All of these bodies had identities. When the found a fifth body they could not find his identification. They tried hard to find it and kept digging. After a while they stopped and one of the man told them that it is no use. We did tawassul and we found the IDs of the other four but we made one of our waseela Bibi Fatima (sa) and there is no exact place known for her grave and no identification and us not being able to find this man's identification may be linked to it. Just that statement at the moment brought tears to my eyes. We prayed and right after that we asked Moulana Hamza to recite Ziyarat-e-Ashura. It was amazing and totally out of this world and once again we were all crying our eyes out. After the ziyarah, we went to the graves of the martyrs who were buried there and read Fatiha for them. We did matamdari after that as well on the mountain, unfortunately none of this is recorded as we didn't have our cameras and phones in this area. The reason why we didn't have them was because this area had some high profile buildings and they did not want images to get leaked out which would display their positions and surroundings.
The last place we visited in Iran was the Shah's torture prison. This was an eye-opener for all of us, as we saw the various devices and methods of torture that used to take place in there. One device was like a small cage in which you couldn't sit or stand properly and there was a heater underneath you which would burn your feet and you would be trapped in there. Another device was for electrocution purposes. They had solitary confinement rooms and they had a room which displayed pictures of all the prisoners that were in this jail, women and males alike. It was here where I figured out that Ayatullah Khamaeni (alongside many other big name scholars) had also been in this prison and had been tortured equally as bad as the other prisoners. The man who was giving us the tour of the place, he had his picture up as well as he was once a prisoner in these cells. Outside of the main prison area yet still inside the building, we went and prayed Zuhr/Asr. After prayers we went where we were now used to going to. Yes, SFC again, where we munched on burgers and fries with drinks.
It was now pretty much the end of the trip. We had a farewell assembly, where 3 brothers and 3 sisters were to give a speech about their experiences on the trip. I was one of the boys who did a speech. After the assembly, the night came on which we were to all pack our suitcases and get ready for departure. However once packed, we got the opportunity to do the amaal of 15 Shaban that night which started off with a few qaseeda, a short speech and then the prescribed amaal. We also prayed Namaz-e-Ayaat that night (we prayed it once at Qum as well) due to a Lunar eclipse which was visible in the very clear sky at night. It really felt at this point that these were the last sort of amaal we are doing in Iran and we couldn't help but cry at the recitation of the duas being recited by Moulana Hamza. After the amaal we were handed our certificates on behalf of the trip. One thing I should add is that, during this whole month, we - the boys - did play a lot of soccer, just in case I made my post sound like it was all about academics and not sports were being played. We had a place to play in the Mashad guesthouse, in the Qum guesthouse as well as this hotel on the mountain where we were staying and we played a lot of it. Usually after the group discussions or when we didn't have any group discussions. During the day, one of our close friends on the trip left early (the same one who had arrived a day early as well).
Anyways, the time finally came when we had to depart. Once again we loaded up the suitcases - we knew this would be the last time, so all the boys without hesitation helped out. Everyone from the trip had come to drop us to the airport, including the Moulanas. We drove to Tehran airport which was about a 2 hour drive from that mountain top. We unloaded the suitcases and we prayed Fajr at the airport as well - the same place where we prayed when we first landed in Tehran. After we prayed Fajr, we had to make our way to the departure zone. This was the moment where we had to physically say Khuda Hafiz to the Moulanas, gave them farewell hugs and then had to walk ahead. It took us a long time to check in our baggages, because there were a lot of us and a lot of passports and suitcases to deal with. We were pretty much the last ones to board the plane as well, me and three other boys were the last ones from the group to board the plane. The plane finally took off and we were on our way to Tehran. It was a day journey and the skies were clear at one part and I was able to grab a picture of the ground beneath us. We finally landed in Heathrow and some of us made our way to the Non-UK Passport desk while the rest of the group went to the UK Passport holders desk. It was fairly easy coming out, they didn't ask us too many questions as they saw we were from a group and I was in transit anyways. We came out very quickly, then we just had to wait for our suitcases to come. The boys were very nice enough once again to help the sisters get their suitcases from the ramp (even though we were told that everyone grabs their own suitcase this time). One of the brothers who had been on the trip a few times before told us that now would be the time to say farewell to each other, because once you go out you have family members waiting and will be leaving for their homes. I didn't want to leave anyone, my favourite person on the trip - the young boy I was talking about earlier - Bilal, started to cry as he hugged us. That's when I once again realized how awesome this boy is.
The rest is history, we all came out and met with our family members who were awaiting us all very anxiously - they hadn't seen us for a month. Though I felt as if the journey is over for the residents of UK, but I still had another 7 and half hours to travel to Toronto. I stayed in London for only 2 days and Alhamdolillah reached my destination safely, without any hassle at the airport (luckily the man didn't flip through my passport and notice my Iran visa).
I know it has been a long read - if you've actually read it all the way and are reading this part then I have to say big up yourself and recite a loud Salawat for yourself, but just some final words: the trip was a month long trip, so one can imagine staying with a dozen boys alongside two-three Moulanas in one room for so many days, trying to getting along with each other, people of different backgrounds and personalities; how much of a close relationship we all built with each other. I have no complaints about Al-Asr, it was an amazing trip. Unfortunately Moulana Sabzawari wasn't with us for the most part of the trip, as he left for Iraq only after a few days in Mashad and may Allah (swt) accept his ziyarah in Iraq and also bring further success in the work for which he went to Iraq. I feel as if there is still so much to say, I rushed through the ending paragraphs of Qum and Tehran but I hope I gave out the general essence of how amazing the trip was. We had a lot of stories which took place while we were on our breaks or during sports, on the mountains, in our rooms but I guess it's not really necessary as readers won't even understand half the things since you have to be there to understand some of the stories. But my point is that the boys overall had a lot of fun and enjoyed the trip overall.
In conclusion, not only was I able to build up my faith, make such a close and spiritual connection with Allah (swt) and the Ahlul Bayt (as) and manage to get it much stronger, but also able to learn many valuable lessons from the trip. Seeing a country on a ground-zero level was a much better experience then sitting here and for the most part just reading news regarding a country through Western media outlets. For sure the country did have it's negatives and positives but I don't understand why the negatives need to be exploited in such a way in which we demeanor the country and the Islamic Revolution. Which other country is perfect? Our own homes are not perfect. Perhaps even all the people weren't as nice or friendly either and to an extent even have a superiority complex, but that is something once again which you will see in certain people in every nation. Overall I felt great as Iran felt like home, home that the Shias specifically can look up to today and in fact even all other Muslims can look up to as a role model (and many do). I got a better understanding of the Revolution itself and from the classes we had I learned a lot as well in terms of Aqaid - since we went in so much depth, one can only imagine the depths they must teach in the hawzah when one enrolls in for so many years. It surely made me consider going to Hawzah in Qum and InshAllah hopefully I will be able to do so one day in the near future. Okay, I think I am finally done now.
Allahumma Salay Alaa Muhammad Wa Aalay Muhammad, Wa Ajil Farajahum. I pray that Allah (swt) accepts all of our ziyarahs and duas.
O Allah! Forgive me my such sins as would affront my continency O Allah! Forgive me my such sins as would bring down calamity.
O Allah! Forgive me my such sins as would change divine favours (into disfavours).
O Allah! Forgive me my such sins as would hinder my supplication.
O Allah! Forgive me such sins as bring down misfortunes (or afflictions).
O Allah! Forgive my such sins as would suppress hope.
O Allah! Forgive every sin that I have committed and every error that I have erred.
O Allah! I endeavour to draw myself nigh to Thee through Thy invocation And I pray to Thee to intercede on my behalf And I entreat Thee by Thy benevolence to draw me nearer to Thee And grant me that I should be grateful to Thee and inspire me to remember and to invoke Thee O Allah! ~ Excerpt from Dua Kumayl
Wassalam.
posted by Syed Naqvi at
5:36 PM
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