Kamangir (Archer)

Reader's Comments

1. frieda | November 25th, 2006 at 8:48 pm

   What is that glued to his head??

2. kamangir | November 25th, 2006 at 11:36 pm

   Freida,
   It’s a Mohr (piece of clay used by Shias for showing respect to Allah’s creatures).

3. sm | November 26th, 2006 at 6:24 pm

   This looks like a cult. Actually, most ‘religions’ can be considered cults, especially when manipulated, distorted and pushed to their limits; whether you worship God or the Devil. Very frightening.

4. frieda | November 26th, 2006 at 9:06 pm

   but why do they have to glued it on their forehead? this is kind of similar what Jews do when they pray…don’t you think?

5. Ali | November 27th, 2006 at 1:05 am

   I don’t think they glue anything to their forehead. Some info on Mohr:

   “The great scholar, Abu Ja’far Muhammad Bin Hasan Tusi, reports in his Misbahu’l-Mutahajjid that Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq kept a little soil from Imam Husain’s tomb in a yellow cloth which he opened at the time of prayers and performed his prostrations on it.

   Shias for a long time have kept this earth with them. Then, fearing it might be desecrated, they kneaded it into small tablets or pieces, which are now called mohr.”

6. kamangir | November 27th, 2006 at 12:30 pm

   Ali,
   Thanks for the details.

7. Ali | November 27th, 2006 at 7:12 pm

   “This looks like a cult. Actually, most ‘religions’ can be considered cults, especially when manipulated, distorted and pushed to their limits; whether you worship God or the Devil. Very frightening.”

   Why are most the comments on this blog, of which the primary topic is Islam/Iran, or rather the ridicule of, so bursting at the seems with ignorance about Islam?

   Educate yourself… Iqra`…

8. frieda | November 28th, 2006 at 12:48 am

   Ali,
   there are many things that Muslims do that they even don’t know about the origin. Some times it helps to ask stupid questions, because you get a window through the thinking methods of the old. Can you explain why Muslim pray the way they pray (motions and Yoga like activities)? Can’t they just pray sitting down and talking to God? Do we know why come Christians have to kneel down to pray?? or why the Jews pray by repetitive movements? nothing to do with ignorance, it has to do with opening up a subject that rarely gets discussed.

9. Amy | November 28th, 2006 at 8:20 am

   Hi Frieda,
   Excellent point. I know I’ve heard Christian children ask why we fold our hands or arms and bow our heads and close our eyes when we pray. Well, part of it, the head-bowing is respectful, the rest of it, it to keep from letting eyes wander and so that children don’t fiddle with their hands and play with stuff while they pray. Little stuff :) Sometimes there’s not really an explanation, but there can be questions, and that’s always good. Sometimes there are no good reasons, though.
   Amy

10. Ali | November 28th, 2006 at 9:20 am

    Yes, the matters of religion (at least in Islam) are all written down. But I’m sure you already knew this?

    http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/008.sbt.html

    One of the many books of the Sahih Bukhari, which is just one of several collections of ahadith, is the kitaab-us salaat (book of prayer) in which all the things Muhammad (pbuh) said or did regarding prayer are recorded. Any more questions Frieda?

11. kamangir | November 28th, 2006 at 2:34 pm

    Ali,
    The answer to the solution “what you this like that” is not “because it is told so”. The big question is, who cares what is written. I need answers which I can understand. I sure do not understand those books that you are referring to.
    Still, I am waiting for any meaningful complains about “The Problem With Islam Today” book.

12. Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » Iran:Friday Prayer | November 28th, 2006 at 6:17 pm

    [...] Kamangir has published very interesting photos about scenes from Friday prayers. Hamid Tehrani [...]

13. Ali | November 28th, 2006 at 7:19 pm

    “The big question is, who cares what is written. I need answers which I can understand. I sure do not understand those books that you are referring to.”

    Okay. Can you read English very well? Why can’t you understand these answers? I gave you the direct link to the book of prayer which includes all the hadith by the prophet. This is why Muslims pray that way, because we follow the prophet. What is so hard to understand about that?

14. sm | November 28th, 2006 at 9:03 pm

    I couldn’t find the reply field earlier in this section, so I posted the following in a later section under “The Problem with Islam Today”. I’ll re-post.

    Ali:

    About my earlier comment re: “religion and cults” & your reply to it:

    Firstly, I’m rather neutral towards Islam. Secondly, I lived in the Mideast long enough to know many things about it. Thirdly, I have read a few books (including the ones by Bernard Lewis) and do have Muslim friends. However, I’m not a theologian nor do I intend to become one.

    You said: “educate yourself”. I say: I am being educated by many Muslims (both Sunni and Shiite) – the power of observation.

    Now, I have a few questions for your since you seem and claim to know more than I and I take it that you are a practitioner of this faith?

    Do you deny that the Koran and Hadiths look to regulate every single aspect of one’s life including and for example, how a person should enter a toilet? Why is that?

    I know about Sharia Law - but, do you think it is appropriate (especially in the 21st century) to bury a woman half way in the ground and get a bunch of people (including children) to throw stones at her until she is, gradually, killed?

    Do you think it is justifiable to pull a knife and cut an innocent someone’s head off while taping the action and then broadcasting it for the world to see?

    Do you think that a nine year old girl is mature enough to be married off to a man, often, significantly older than her?

    Did the prophet Mohammad ever advocate that women shouldn’t drive (as the case in S.Arabia) and that they should walk around in a sack, e.g. a burqa? If he did, what was the logic or reasoning behind it? Note: I’m not simply talking about dressing conservatively.

    I realize that the prophet Mohammad has two phases in his life; the first phase in Mecca where he was “authoritarian and quietist” and second when he moved to Medina where he was “radical & activist”. Since then, do you deny that the history of Islam, to this date, has been, mostly, about wars, politics, violence, subjugation, death, and destruction?

    There are many other questions.

    Now, many Muslims I know disagree with and dispute the above. They say Islam is not a monolith. They also say Islam respects women; I wish that “respect” was more visible. They believe Islam is going through a crisis and must reform or go through some sort of renaissance similar to what Christianity went through long ago. Otherwise, the future looks grim.

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