Kamangir (Archer)

An Iranian looking at Iran as a foreigner…

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Iranian Lovers

By Kamangir • Oct 14th, 2007 • Category: Human Rights, Iran, Islam, Islamic Republic

people_in_laleh_park.jpg

Although, the formal code of conduct prohibits hanging out for non-married couples, parks in Tehran are always the scene of young couples strolling while holding hands, which is a sin according to Sharia. The pictures is taken in Laleh Park, Tehran. Source: Tehran 24.

Posted by Kamangir
Author's email address: arash@kamangir.net | All posts by Kamangir
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11 Responses »

  1. hello ARCHER , it is an honor to have your blog in my blogroll..take look at my blog…at least it has a tidy clean arrangment! lol

    Kamangir: Hi Elvis. Thanks for adding my link to your blog. I added yours too.

  2. Mahram
    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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    Part of a series on
    Islamic Jurisprudence
    – a discipline of Islamic studies
    Fields

    * Economic
    * Political
    * Marital
    * Criminal
    * Etiquette
    o As-Salamu Alaykum
    o Insha’Allah
    o Clothing
    o Sex Segregation
    + Mahram
    + Ghayr mahram
    + Hijab
    + Niqāb
    o Family Relations
    o Funeral
    o Honorifics
    * Theological
    * Hygiene
    * Military

    This box: view • talk • edit

    In Islamic sharia legal terminology, a mahram (Arabic محرم, also transliterated mahrim or maharem) is an unmarriageable kin with whom sexual intercourse would be considered incestuous, a punishable taboo. Current usage of the term covers a wider range of people and mostly deals with the dress code practice of hijab.

    The plural form of the word in the Arabic language is maharim with long second vowel (Arabic محارم, also transliterated maharem). Sometimes the word is capitalized but there isn’t a general consensus that the word should be capitalized like Muslim. (The Arabic alphabet of course has no upper-case vs. lower-case distinction.)

    Note that being mahram is a reciprocal condition. When A is mahram to B, B is definitely mahram to A.

    [edit] Who is mahram?

    Anyone whom a Muslim is not allowed to marry is mahram, if they are of the opposite sex and have reached puberty.

    A woman’s opposite-sex mahrams fall into four categories (three categories in the strict-sense definition that does not count one’s spouse). Note that mahrams for a man can be derived in a similar manner.

    1. permanent or blood mahrams with whom you become mahram by a blood relationship:
    1. father, grandfather, great-grandfather and so on;
    2. brother;
    3. son, grandson, great-grandson;
    4. uncle, parents’ uncle, grandparents’ uncle and so on;
    5. nephew, grandnephew, great-grandnephew and so on;
    2. in-law mahrams with whom you become mahram by marrying someone:
    1. father-in-law;
    2. son-in-law;
    3. step-father (mother’s husband) if their marriage is consummated;
    4. step-son (husband’s son) if her marriage is consummated;
    3. radha’ or milk-suckling mahrams with whom you become mahram because of being nursed by a woman. When a woman acts as a wetnurse (that is, she breast feeds an infant that is not her own child) for a certain amount of time under certain conditions, she becomes the child’s radha mother and all said about blood mahrams applies here, like radha father/mother, radha sister/brother, radha aunt/uncle and so on. In English these can be referred to as milk brother, milk-mother, etc. (See also breastfeeding fatwa.)

  3. Dear Archer, I have been reading your posts after your retirement! There is a noticeable change toward being more analytical. This is great. Also i loved that macro/microcosmic view you unconsciously applied to some ordinary events; depicted in the post about ‘fuzzy logic’ and that post in your persian blog named ‘God’.
    I know you don’t like my attitude, being a bit snoopy! This is the problem with me! When i see someone talented, i cannot ignore him/her. i want to share the points i think may help. It’s up to him/her to choose. I think West could develop because of this sharing and tolerance of criticism. Our culture lacks this . That’s the reason why team-working is absent here!

    Aha! The point i wanted to share this time: in your commentaries an analysis, never humiliate anyone, don’t call them bad names even if they deserve it. This would overshadow all the good points you want to share and lessens the value of your work.

    I’ll be more than happy if you let me know about your impression. Snoopy or friend?!

    By the way, there was an error in my address, i corrected it, thanks to Sotoodeh’s alertness and care.

    Have a nice day!

  4. Sorry for being a chatterbox!

  5. Oh hell. It seems that MiM prefers giving us lecture on sharia instead of just enjoying a photo of the people who are enjoying themselves in the joyful Iranian park.

  6. I’m sorry but I’ve never ever witnessed a group of people so fearful and ignorant of Islam! If my comments bother you, please do not read them, however if you wish to cease being ignorant please study them. Iran is Islamic, and thus Islam will always be a topic of relevant discussion. Islam ZINDABAD!

  7. Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Iran

    Has the usual wikipedia biases you’d expect but all in all a worthy article.

  8. Islamicization in Iran
    Imam Square, the biggest historic square in the world, in Isfahan was the symbolic center of the Safavid Empire. The square is surrounded by the walls of Imam mosque in the south, Lotfollah mosque in the east, and the Ali Qapu Palace in the west. The Imam mosque was built by Shah Abbas I at the beginning of the 17th century. The square was designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO
    Imam Square, the biggest historic square in the world, in Isfahan was the symbolic center of the Safavid Empire. The square is surrounded by the walls of Imam mosque in the south, Lotfollah mosque in the east, and the Ali Qapu Palace in the west. The Imam mosque was built by Shah Abbas I at the beginning of the 17th century. The square was designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO

    Before the conquest, the Persians had been mainly Zoroastrian, however, there were also large and thriving Christian and Jewish communities. However, there was a slow but steady movement of the population toward Islam. The nobility and city-dwellers were the first to convert, most likely to preserve the economic and social status and advantages; Islam spread more slowly among the peasantry and the dihqans, or landed gentry. By the late 10th century, the majority of Persians had become Muslim, at least nominally. Most Persian Muslims were Sunni Muslims. Though Iran is known today as a stronghold of the Shi’a Muslim faith, it did not become so until much later around the 15th century. The Iranian Muslims projected many of their own Persian moral and ethical values that predates Islam into the religion, while recognizing Islam as their religion and the prophet’s son in law, Ali as an enduring symbol of justice.

    According to Bernard Lewis:

    “Iran was indeed Islamized, but it was not Arabized. Persians remained Persians. And after an interval of silence, Iran reemerged as a separate, different and distinctive element within Islam, eventually adding a new element even to Islam itself. Culturally, politically, and most remarkable of all even religiously, the Iranian contribution to this new Islamic civilization is of immense importance. The work of Iranians can be seen in every field of cultural endeavor, including Arabic poetry, to which poets of Iranian origin composing their poems in Arabic made a very significant contribution. In a sense, Iranian Islam is a second advent of Islam itself, a new Islam sometimes referred to as Islam-i Ajam. It was this Persian Islam, rather than the original Arab Islam, that was brought to new areas and new peoples: to the Turks, first in Central Asia and then in the Middle East in the country which came to be called Turkey, and of course to India. The Ottoman Turks brought a form of Iranian civilization to the walls of Vienna…[2]“

  9. Fearful and ignorant? MiM, are we talking about us or you here?

    Interesting articles, by the way. Read the Islam in Iran one before. Your arrogant opinions regarding our education bother me, though, as is your means to “educate” us. Random unrelated articles can be quite annoying, you know, no matter how they may be “connected in general”.

  10. Fearful and ignorant; of course we are…

    …And Temple Mount has no connection to the Jews and Solomon, no Jewish Temples ever existed there, and it is solely a Muslim holy site because their “prophet” took a magical flight to it one night, hitched his flying horse to a wall there, and inspected heaven with an angel.

    Rolling my eyes.

  11. MiM

    You are an Indian Muslim.
    Why do you suppose that you know better Iran than anybody else? That you know better Iran than many Iranians including iranian author of this blog?.
    In my view that’s hubris and pride, and hubris usually goes before……………… .downfall ;-)

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