Welcome to Iran
Baer, Barbara L
THE LAST WORD WELCOME TO IRAN Barbara L. Baer The other passengers on our Iran Air flight from Tehran to the southern desert city of Kerman were pilgrims returning from Kerbala and Najaf, sacred...
...In 661, Muhammad's son-in-law and heir, AH, was slaughtered outside Najaf by the forces of an opposing Sunni caliph...
...As we stood together, they told me about Najaf and Kerbala (which they pronounced Herbola), and about the schism that split Islam between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in the seventh century...
...I bowed to the mother and the aunt, hugged the girls goodbye, and repeated my thanks...
...You will honor our home," they said...
...If I were to make the same trip today, I'm afraid people in Kerman might lower their eyes at the approach of an American visitor...
...I was the last of his charges to be rescued...
...I would probably lower mine too...
...Simultaneously, families and friends surged forward to meet them, overwhelming the terminal guards and forcing apart the metal restraining barriers...
...In 680, his son, Imam Hussein, was martyred at Kerbala, and Sunnis took primary control of Islam...
...In the front were the men, clad in white...
...Kerman is an oasis city of four hundred thousand, home to Iran's famous rug makers and a center of pistachio production...
...Their perspiring bodies pressed in on me from all sides, and I breathed in a mixture of sweat, desert heat, and the dense fragrance of Iranian roses, which the pilgrims all seemed to be carrying...
...The two young women had the wide, expressive dark eyes I'd been admiring in Iran, eyes that made me think only Iranian and Italian women could look so beautiful in headscarves...
...Though I was entirely covered from my headscarf down, they knew immediately I was a foreigner in trouble...
...Our mother believes she will go to heaven now because she has touched Ali's tomb and stood before the mausoleum of Imam Hussein," said one sister...
...All around its tree-lined streets lies a dry scrub plain, which, I thought, must resemble Najaf, as the girls had described it...
...They were an attractive family, and obviously devoted to one another...
...The sisters decided they would wait with me while their father went for his car...
...I climbed on a chair...
...If only we could conduct diplomacy face-to-face, I thought, we might avoid the need to fight...
...In the frenzy, the members of our group were separated...
...Everyone in our family saved money to send them, because as Shi-ites, it is their duty to complete their haj to Kerbala and Najaf before they die," the other added...
...The frantic energy in the terminal seemed to be subsiding, but I could still not locate my group...
...The daughters readily translated the mother's account, never hesitating to include an American in their emotional reunion...
...THE LAST WORD WELCOME TO IRAN Barbara L. Baer The other passengers on our Iran Air flight from Tehran to the southern desert city of Kerman were pilgrims returning from Kerbala and Najaf, sacred Shiite cities in neighboring Iraq...
...I knew some of the history, but what I hadn't understood was the immediacy that such ancient battles and rights of succession still hold for Muslims...
...I felt fortunate that I had traveled to Iran before the war, and that I knew what Kerbala and Najaf meant to Iranian Muslims...
...These remarks seemed to represent the sentiment of an entire people...
...It was October 2002 and, despite talk of impending war, Saddam Hussein was continuing to allow pilgrims to enter Iraq...
...I am honored," I answered, "but I must find my companions...
...Our tour-five Americans (two men, three women) and our guide, Salim-sat in the back of the plane, surrounded by women in black chadors...
...As our plane slowed on the tarmac, we saw other flights disgorging returning pilgrims...
...Even with the threat of war in the air, on the streets of Kerman and in its bazaars our small group was greeted by men and women of all ages: "We love America," and "America people good...
...I still couldn't establish a foothold and felt I was just about to be pulled under, when two young women braced their arms together and pulled me toward a bank of windows...
...Our guide, Salim, ran to me with relief...
...Since I stand just over five feet, even on my toes I couldn't see above the black-clothed women and the men...
...A half-dozen planes were descending behind us, and throngs of people were already rushing in streams of black and white toward the terminal...
...I'd read of people being trampled at holy sites, but had never thought of anyone drowning from the scent of roses...
...They invited me to share the meal awaiting the returned pilgrims...
...As we spoke, I finally spotted my group, straggling through the dissipating crowd...
...The two older women were returning from pilgrimage and embraced the two girls, kissing their eyes and foreheads...
...With the outbreak of war the following spring, Kerbala and Najaf became household names in the United States, referred to on the evening news as "holy cities" which the military was being "careful to preserve...
...I was still catching my breath when their father led their mother and their aunt through the crowd...
...They stroked my hand and asked in English if I was all right...
Vol. 130 • October 2003 • No. 18
