Friday, September 26, 2014

Wedding Anniversary

Eeeekkkk I've just realised that it's been forever since I've blogged. 

It's a New academic year and we are back in Qum for more adventures. It's been a busy summer. Qum Baby met his great grandparents in Canada, a few weddings, lots of biryani and desserts and a trip to Mashhad for the wiladat of Imam Redha (yes it was packed, but a great experience!)

Today is the wedding anniversary of Imam Ali and Sayyidda Fatemah. I usually get a couple of emails about historical events which is great right now as I'm not in Hawza so it's very easy to lose track of dates and events. 

One of the emails gave a detailed description of the proposal and the wedding. It also outlined the things that were bought for the couple to start their married life. I've copied it from the original
Email:



- Two mattresses made of Egyptian canvas. (One stuffed with fiber and the other with sheep wool).
- A leather mat.
- A pillow made of skin, filled with palm tree fiber.
- A Khaibarion cloak.
- An animal skin for water.
- Some jugs and jars also for water.
- A pitcher painted with tar.
- A thin curtain made of wool.
- A shirt costing seven (7) dirhams.
- A veil costing four (4) dirhams.
- Black plush cloak.
- A bed embellished with ,ribbon.
- Four cushions made of skin imported from Ta ‘ef stuffed with a good smelling plant.
- A mat from Hajar.
- A hand-mill.
- A special copper container used for dyestuff
- A pestle for grinding coffee.
- A (water) skin.

A few things struck me about this. 
• how minimalist this list is. Every year, I go back home and bring back suitcases filled with ingredients and kitchen tools and toiletries. How much do I really need? I've seriously re-evaluated my list of things that I bring back from back home and am making more of an effort to buy things from here rather than rely on parcels from back home. 

•a coffee grinder? Not sure if they were drinking coffee back then! LOL I'm sure it was more for grinding the wheat than coffee.


A teacher of mine last year also told us that a large amount of money was also spent on perfume. She pointed out that Sayyida Fatemah smelt of jannah and there was no need for her to use perfume. But more likely that it was to highlight the importance of perfume and smelling good and cleanliness. It's said that the Holy Prophet used to spend more money on perfume than on food.

1 comment:

aliya. said...

Glad to read another blogpost Thank you for sharing!