Welcome to the last post of Iran, my favourite country to date.
At the bottom of this post, I shall explain the two older guys in the photo below that appear everywhere in Iran…
We rolled out of Esfahak at 8am after a nice omelette-cheese-tomato-cucumber rolled up in lavash brekkie to traverse 520km across more desert to Mashhan. More ridges coming out of Esfahak, which eventually widened. The plateau was alive and well fluctuating around 1200m elevation. Our first pee break came late at 2.5hrs after departure. Most gas stations have toilets but they look like they have been abandoned years ago !!! They smell even worse !!! Back to the desert and its ever-changing shaped ridges. Still no vegetation and the occasional town where there must be underground water. Iran is truly desolate but it has its little oases along the way. In another hour we had the ridges up close and personal with fascinating shapes and looming over us. Allow the images below to summarise 520km of landscape…
Mashhad turned up at around 430pm and looked very organised and clean. More tree-lined boulevards but not as shady as Isfahan. My usual arrival routine kicked into gear. Dump gear in hotel and head off to supermarket to stock up – this one was just around the corner and no more mum and dad operation – this place was big like with hot food to boot !!! Once again, had to get a guest to hot spot me to be able to post my blog – an Iranian from Canada visiting relatives here. The day ended with a great hot dinner (hotel staff kind enough to heat it up for me) and a great movie. Early sleep to prep for early run in my last Iranian city – Mashad.
Mashhad (Pop 3,416,000, Elev 995m) is the second-most-populous city in Iran, located about 900 kilometres (560 miles) from Tehran and only 105km from the Afghanistan border. The city was founded in 818AD governed by different ethnic groups over the course of its history. Mashhad was one of many villages that were all part of the ancient Silk Road. Mashhad means "place of martyrdom" in reference to the Imam Reza shrine, where the eighth Shia Imam, Ali al-Rida (Reza for short) was killed and is buried. The Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid is also buried within the same shrine. The shrine is an important place of pilgrimage, visited by 27 million each year in what is often described as "the holiest city in Iran" and is considered Iran’s Spiritual Capital. Mashhad became the hometown of some of the most significant literary figures and artists of modern Iran.
My 630am run through one very long Mashhad Boulevarde was easy and enjoyable. Traffic was well behaved and the skies clear and cool. This did not last long. By the time we set off for our mini-bus city tour at 9am it was 28C and rising fast. We only visited two attractions but “only” does not apply for the first one – The Imam Reza Holy Shrine. Wow – what a place. We spent 3hrs here and it is the reason we came to Mashhad.
The Imam Reza shrine is an Islamic shrine containing the remains of Ali al-Rida, who is regarded as the eighth Imam in Shia Islam. Also contained within the complex are the Goharshad Mosque, a museum, a library, four seminaries, a cemetery, the Razavi University of Islamic Sciences, and other buildings. This is because this complex covers a titanic 598,657 m2 (6,443,890 sq ft) making the largest Islamic religious site in area globally !!! It is also the 2nd largest globally in terms of the capacity of people it can fit inside it. The shrine itself, which contains the body of Imam Reza and is covered by a huge gold-plated dome occupies almost half the area of the complex at 267,079 square metres (2,874,810 sq ft). This place has been described as "the heart of the Shia Iran" with humble beginnings as a single tomb for Imam Reza’s dad. Once Imam Reza was placed with his dad and drew many pilgrims because of his holy reputation a dome sprang up in the 9th Century AD. Since then, many additions have been made over several centuries leading to heavy investment by the government since 2000 to accommodate the millions of pilgrims who visit every year and make it a major tourist attraction for non-Muslims.
Ali al-Rida or Imam Reza (766 – 818) was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (who died 629AD). He was known for his piety, learning and his many books on everyday life. He was so prominent in life that he reluctantly accepted a political position which was allegedly opposed and allegedly lead to his poisoning. This one event elevated him to martyr status and led to a rising pilgrimage which hit record numbers when miracles were reported at his tomb. Here is where I learned something surprising about the Muslim faith which was explained to us by a learner Imam in a private audience with us in the complex: the Muslim faithful to do not worship Imams such as Reza but ask them to “intercede” with Allah to help them with their lives – the same as Christians with Saints !!!
This complex was a real challenge to film and photograph at ground level due to the large crowds and speed of our visit due to the large area we needed to cover. I wish I had more time on the gorund given I could not fly my drone. We visited a museum and were allowed inside one of the many prayer halls surrounding the shrine. This place reminded me of my solo visit of the Holy Shrine in Shiraz only it was 10 time bigger !!! The Imam Reza Holy Shrine has been the most impressive single attraction to date for me.
Our second and last visit was to the tomb of King Nadir Shah (1688 – 1747) inside the Naderi Garden. This King was significant in Persian history having secured much territory over several successful battles but was murdered by his own troops due to his paranoid and drastic behaviour (probably dementia). Our mini-bus pulled in at the hotel at 3pm and it was time for the mega-supermarket for a local hot dish and to spend the rest of our Rials before our entrance into Turkmenistan the next day. No need for you to spend anything to enjoy the best attraction to date…
THE TWO AYATOLLAHS
The following picture is everywhere in Iran from huge street posters to frames hanging above most shops, schools and public places. Who are they ?
In a nutshell, the guy on the right is Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini and was the first Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran that he founded in 1979 after the so-called Iranian Revolution that ended Royalty in Iran.
The guy on the left is Ali Hosseini Khamenei who is the second and current Supreme Leader taking over from Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini after his death in 1989.
Here are some additional details on these two leaders.
Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (1900 - 1989) was born in Khomeyn and his father was murdered when Khomeini was two years old. He began studying the Quran and Arabic from a young age assisted by his relatives. Khomeini became a high-ranking cleric and author of more than 40 books. Khomeini was Time magazine's Man of the Year in 1979 for his international influence and in the next decade was described as the "virtual face of Shia Islam in Western popular culture", where he was known for his support of the hostage takers during the Iran hostage crisis, his fatwa calling for the murder of British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie for Rushdie's description of Islamic prophet Muhammad in his novel The Satanic Verses (which Khomeini considered blasphemous), pursuing the overthrow of Saddam Hussein the Iran–Iraq War and for referring to the United States as the "Great Satan" and Israel as the "Little Satan". His state funeral was attended by up to 10 million people, or one fifth of Iran's population, one of the largest funerals and human gatherings in history. In Iran, he is legally considered "inviolable" - insulting him is punishable with imprisonment. His gold-domed tomb in Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra cemetery has become a shrine for his adherents.
Ali Hosseini Khamenei (Born 1939) has been Supreme Leader since 1989 at only age 50. According to his official website, Khamenei was arrested six times before being exiled for three years during the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In 1981, after the Iranian revolution and the overthrow of the shah, he was the target of an attempted assassination that paralysed his right arm. Khamenei was one of Iran's leaders during the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s, and developed close ties with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which he controls, and whose commanders are elected and dismissed by him. The Revolutionary Guards have been deployed to suppress opposition to the Islamic Republic of Iran. As supreme leader, Khamenei is the most powerful political authority in the Islamic Republic of Iran. He is the head of state of Iran, the commander-in-chief of its armed forces, and can issue decrees and make the final decisions on the main policies of the government in economy, the environment, foreign policy, and national planning in Iran. As supreme leader, Khamenei has either direct or indirect control over the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government, as well as the military and media. Despite all of this and the many protests since, Khamenei issued a fatwa in 2003 forbidding the production, stockpiling and use of all kinds of weapons of mass destruction.
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