Saturday, October 11, 2008

THE KHOJAS

You gotta love them. They have got some things right! Like the concept of the mother and baby room! Ok, so before you judge me and say things like “wait till she has kids” I’d like to defend myself and say, yes I don’t have kids and while I don’t have kids, I want to make the most of the time I spend in the Holy Shrine.

The other day, it just so happened that I ended up saying my congregational prayers between 2 mothers with young daughters. Girl 1 extended the hand of friendship by giving girl 2 a piece of her cake/toast. Girl 2 was a bit shy and refused to take it. After a few minutes, girl 2’s mother realises and gives her daughter a biscuit to exchange with girl 1. It takes girl 2 another few minutes to overcome her shyness and actually exchange the treats. All this is happening over me, so I end up with a lap full of crumbs. During the first prayer, girl 2 is constantly asking girl 1 to come and play with her in the loudest possible voice. Girl 1 by this point can’t be bothered to play, as her mum has given her toys to play with. Instead of concentrating on my prayers, I’m being made to watch 2 little girls have mini-strops.
Neither mother was remotely interested in keep their daughter quiet, but luckily, in the gap between the prayers, the girls saw an infant they could go and annoy, so they left me in peace for the rest of the prayers.

I’ve also noticed that the women’s section is very noisy (Mosques in Arab countries seem to have a certain serenity to them – why are Iranian ones like fish markets?) and it takes them at least 5 minutes to settle down after the start of a prayer! Women are all too happy to break connections in congregational prayers and constantly talk. The stewards of the mosque berate you for reciting prayers out loud (e.g. when you’re in a group of people and want to recite things together) but they say nothing to the people who talk during prayers or supplications.

All this really makes me appreciate the lengths the volunteers go to in Stanmore to keep the crowds quiet during lectures and prayers. And yes, you can message me and disagree, but I’m still going to say it - long live the mother and toddler room!!

HMMM....

Funnily enough, today I was told that my house was completely out of the way from all the major landmarks. I would just like to point out that my house is in Daur e Shahr, which is a 15minute walk from the Holy Shrine (5 mins by motorbike) and Dar al Zahra is a 10-15 minute walk too!

GETTING INTO SCHOOL

The application procedure here for getting into school is quite long-winded. I was fortunate enough to have a contact who kept pestering the clerical office to process my application as soon as possible. The form was some 6 page headache, which asked all sorts of questions like where my father got his degree from!

Luckily, my interview was arranged for a week later. On the phone, they told me not to bring a translator as there would be someone there to translate. I would advise anyone going through the application process to ignore this and take a translator. When I arrived, it took my half an hour to find the woman’s office as it had recently moved and everyone I asked kept directing me to the old office! So i got a grand tour of the university! Finally, I ended up in the Farsi department, where the head of Farsi called out to a fellow British student and told her to take me to Khanum Yusufi’s office. Not surprisingly, there was no translator available. So I had to wait over an hour for them to run around trying to find another student who didn’t have a class to translate. The pants thing was that the student who they found had been free the whole morning, so instead of sendin her over straight away, they told her to go over at 11, even though Khanum Yusufi was free. Five minutes before the translator arrived, another couple of students arrived, so I had to wait another half an hour.

As we sat down at Khanum Yusufi’s desk ready to start, the woman at the desk behind her said “Khanum Farzaneh ney aamad?” meaning “hasn’t Mrs Farzana arrived?” Had it not been my entrance interview, I would have turned around and slapped her. I had been there from 9.20 in the morning and it was now 11.45!!!

So, the interview starts. Khanum Yusufi was slightly more concerned about her new mp3 player than my interview and wanted the translator to translate the instructions for her! So they asked me the usual questions like:

*Why did you come to Iran?

*Why do you want to come to this school and not another school?

*What my parents do

*How I will cope with studies and housework

*Extra curricular activites (e.g. Teaching at Hujjat Workshop)

So those were the kinds of questions I was expecting. Then she went on....

*What are my opinions on Imam Mahdi? Is he coming or not? What do the people of England think about Imam Mahdi? (like I’m supposed to know ?)

*If I was president of a country (e.g. Tanzania), what would I do? (I was really not expecting this, so I hesitated while I thought of a sensible answer. The 2nd interviewer asked me if I was hesitating because I didn’t think a woman was capable of such a task!)

*What are the problems faced by Muslims in England? What are the solutions?

*She then asked me if i had heard a certain piece of news that had happened in the last couple of days. I hadn’t heard of it, so I told her that (A) I don’t have a TV and (B) even if i had a TV, the news is in Farsi, so I can’t understand it.

*She then asked me about political interests, to which I replied that I prefer to concentrate on personal development. You’re probably thinking that this is a cop-out, but I didn’t think it was any of her business!

*She asked me if I had any questions (not specifying if it was religious questions or questions about the university). Since I’ve spent most of my time here bored and at home, I asked her how long it would be before I can start! Khanum Yusufi then went on about her mp3 player for 5 mins before she came back to me and asked me that if I went to see a religious scholar, what would I ask them. The recycled some of the questions that the camp kids had asked the scholars when they were here 2 months ago!

*As she was completing the final bits of paperwork, she rejected my passport photos and told me to bring more. I’m still not sure why. Luckily, I had some with me (you need like a million passport photos here). The ones I had sent with the application had me wearing a printed scarf, while the ones I gave her had me in a black scarf! Someone told me afterwards that a friend of theirs had their application rejected as he was wearing a tie in his pictures!

So in short, if your applying to an Iranian university, be prepared for a long wait and take a translator with you! I’m told that my experience has been short and relatively pain-free (even though it didn’t feel like it!)

So, I’m due to start school tomorrow (Sat 11th Oct), but before they let me into the Farsi class, I have to read a page of Qur’an. (I guess to make sure that I haven’t lied on the form)

The next step is to figure out the bus service that will take me every day! I’m sure that will be another drama....

EID IN QUM

Most people think that spending the month of Ramadhan in a Muslim country is lively and exciting. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for Qum. Ramadhan here was quiet, apart from the few invitations we received, and the 3 iftars at Dar al Zahra (the World Federation office in Qum). Eid was like any other day. The only indication that it was a holiday was that the streets were empty and the shops were closed. Next year, I’m definitely spending Eid in London!

(BELATED) EID MUBARAK

Apologies for the long gap between blog entries. I’ve had problems logging onto blog from home. I’d like to wish you all a belated Eid Mubarak.

"Oh Allah! Bless Muhammad and his household.

Cause my faith to reach the most perfect faith, make my certainty the most excellent certainty, and take my intention to the best of intentions, and my works to the best of works" Dua Makarimul Akhlaq

May you and all the members of your family be blessed with the Divine Grace of Allah on the occasion of this glorious festival.

EID MUBARAK

with love, Qumgirl and The Husband