March22013

Vahid Salem, Friday prayers in Tehran
Vahid SalemFriday prayers in Tehran

(Source: mizaaaj, via babagoogoosh-deactivated2013031)

photo iran 

February192013

kawrage:

In different Shiite areas, mourning for Moharam takes various forms. One of the traditional ways in Iran is ‘fourthly pulpits’, held every year in Lorestan province, especially in Khoram-Abad, a city 310 miles away from Tehran. In this ceremony on the ninth day of Moharam, the first and most important Shiite month, women from different classes gather barefoot - traditionally wearing black mourning clothes - with covered faces and go to 40 different pulpits called ‘saqa–khaneh’. They light a candle in silence to show their respects for Imam Husain, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad who was slain in battle during the month, while waiting for him to accept their wishes.

Ebrahim Noroozi,

February92013
loveforiran:

Iranian firefighters 

loveforiran:

Iranian firefighters 

(via theuncolonizedmind)

December172012
tarrifiq:

Woman Reading on Bus, 2006 (Sanaz Mazinani)

tarrifiq:

Woman Reading on Bus, 2006 (Sanaz Mazinani)

December52012

androphilia:

ask-iran:

Oh, there are quite a bit of languages spoken by my people! The ones I’ve shown here are just a part of my assortment of languages, with Farsi being the most widely spoken by a little more than half my population. All the languages spoken by my people are, of course, pleasant to the ear~

((I’m no linguist, so excuse me if I don’t have extensive information about Iran’s languages, since there is some discourse over the categorization of the languages spoken in Iran :’)

First off, yes, Persian or Farsi is what’s spoken by a majority of people in Iran, and itself has a variety of dialects and accents. The accent of a Persian speaking Isfahani is different than a Persian speaking Tehrani, which may be different than a Persian speaking Yazdi and so on. Persian has also been referred to as the ‘language of poetry’, and along with Farsi, Dari [spoken in Afghanistan], and Tajiki [spoken in Tajikistan] share similar traits as Persian.

Azeri is spoken most notably in the Ardabil province, and concentrated heavily in the city of Tabriz [located in another province near Ardabil]. Iranian Azeri may be different than what is spoken in Azerbaijan because Iranian Azeri has been influenced by Persian lexicon and other linguistic elements [and this is more apparent when discussions in Azeri turn more academic].

Kurdish is also spoken by Iranian Kurds [however, not all Kurds may identify as being ‘Iranian’ or ‘Syrian’ or ‘Iraqi’ Kurds, so be mindful] in Northern, Western, and Southern Iran and has a variety of dialects as well, as I’ve mentioned in the Kurdish panel.

Gilaki is a native language of Iran, spoken by the Gilaki people mostly concentrated in the Gilan province, and is considered to be similar to Mazandarani, a language spoken in the Mazandaran province.

Arabic is prevalent among Iranian Arabs living in Khuzestan and even further south near the Hormozgan province. Arabic is also taught in schools as the language of the Quran, though native Arabic speakers in Iran have their own dialect(s).

Balochi is spoken by the Balochi people, and Balochis exist in Iran, Pakistan, and even in Oman. They live in the area of what is now known as Balochi-Sistan, thought to Balochis, this is just referred to as Balochistan [and again, be mindful of Balochis’ identification, they have a distinct cultural identity and may not always adhere to nationalist labels like “Iranian” or “Pakistani” or “Omani”].

Other languages not listed: Bakhtiari [a native language of the nomadic Bakhtiari people, in the same language family as Persian], Lori [the language of the Lori people, also in the same language family as Persian], Mazandarani [mentioned above as the language of Mazandarani people, similar to Gilaki], Turkmeni [spoken by Turkomen], Qashqai [spoken by the nomadic Qashqai people of Iran], there are even small pockets of people speaking Pahsto, Hindi, and Somali as well!))

See also: Languages of Iran | Wikipedia

(via thecouscousqueen)

art iran 

September192012
mohandasgandhi:

womenwhokickass:

Maryam Molkara: Why she kicks ass
She runs the major transsexual campaign group in Iran, and frequently bails out trans persons who have been arrested.
In 1978, before the Iranian Revolution, she wrote to Ruhollah Khomeini, who was in exile, requesting religious guidance. He replied that she should follow the Islamic obligations of being a woman.  After the Revolution,  like all other transgender persons in Iran, she was harrassed, and made to wear men’s clothing, forced to take male hormones, and confined in a psychiatric hospital. She tried approaching Khomeini directly and was badly beaten up by his bodyguards before succeeding.
However he did give Fereydoon a religious authorization for SRS surgery, and has been taken to be a fatwa that covers other transgender persons as well. Subsequently Maryam struggled to organize transgender persons in Iran, and introduce medical standards. However she was not happy with procedures in Iran, and had surgery in Thailand in 2001. 

Because of Molkara, Iran has become a “global leader for sex changes”:

In contrast to almost everywhere else in the Muslim world, sex change operations are legal in Iran for anyone who can afford the minimum £2,000 cost and satisfy interviewers that they meet necessary psychological criteria. As a result, women who endured agonising childhood and adolescent experiences as boys, and - albeit in fewer numbers - young men who reached sexual maturity as girls, are easy to find in Tehran. Iran has even become a magnet for patients from eastern European and Arab countries seeking to change their genders.
[…]
This situation would have been unthinkable were it not for the bravery and persistence of Molkara, who embarked on a personal odyssey that brought persecution and abuse in her quest for Khomeini’s official blessing. Khomeini had pronounced on gender problems in a book written in 1963, when he indicated there was no religious proscription against corrective surgery. However, says Molkara, the statement applied only to hermaphrodites, defined as those bearing both male and female genital characteristics. It provided no remedy for those - such as Molkara - who physically belonged to one gender but were convinced that they were members of the opposite sex.

mohandasgandhi:

womenwhokickass:

Maryam Molkara: Why she kicks ass

  • She runs the major transsexual campaign group in Iran, and frequently bails out trans persons who have been arrested.
  • In 1978, before the Iranian Revolution, she wrote to Ruhollah Khomeini, who was in exile, requesting religious guidance. He replied that she should follow the Islamic obligations of being a woman.  After the Revolution,  like all other transgender persons in Iran, she was harrassed, and made to wear men’s clothing, forced to take male hormones, and confined in a psychiatric hospital. She tried approaching Khomeini directly and was badly beaten up by his bodyguards before succeeding.
  • However he did give Fereydoon a religious authorization for SRS surgery, and has been taken to be a fatwa that covers other transgender persons as well. Subsequently Maryam struggled to organize transgender persons in Iran, and introduce medical standards. However she was not happy with procedures in Iran, and had surgery in Thailand in 2001. 

Because of Molkara, Iran has become a “global leader for sex changes”:

In contrast to almost everywhere else in the Muslim world, sex change operations are legal in Iran for anyone who can afford the minimum £2,000 cost and satisfy interviewers that they meet necessary psychological criteria. As a result, women who endured agonising childhood and adolescent experiences as boys, and - albeit in fewer numbers - young men who reached sexual maturity as girls, are easy to find in Tehran. Iran has even become a magnet for patients from eastern European and Arab countries seeking to change their genders.

[…]

This situation would have been unthinkable were it not for the bravery and persistence of Molkara, who embarked on a personal odyssey that brought persecution and abuse in her quest for Khomeini’s official blessing. Khomeini had pronounced on gender problems in a book written in 1963, when he indicated there was no religious proscription against corrective surgery. However, says Molkara, the statement applied only to hermaphrodites, defined as those bearing both male and female genital characteristics. It provided no remedy for those - such as Molkara - who physically belonged to one gender but were convinced that they were members of the opposite sex.

(via azaadi)

iran 

August252012

androgynousblackgirl:

Shirin (2008) - Abbas Kiarostami

It took me a long time on this earth to understand that the joys of life are like the caress of a feather on the palm of your hand. Pleasurable at first, but a real torment if it endures.

(Source: masembe, via azaadi)

August232012
mizaaaj:

Iranian women perform Friday prayers in Tehran, Vahid Salem

mizaaaj:

Iranian women perform Friday prayers in Tehran, Vahid Salem

(via notesfromtheorient)

iran photo 

August72012
iradeh:

From a collection titled “Today’s Life and War” by Iranian photographer Gohar Dashti. 
Click on the photo to look at more.

iradeh:

From a collection titled “Today’s Life and War” by Iranian photographer Gohar Dashti. 

Click on the photo to look at more.

(via somerset-deactivated20120910)

July92012
iraninimage:

Photo by: Mehdi Monem / A Khoramshahr Road / May 2004

iraninimage:

Photo by: Mehdi Monem / A Khoramshahr Road / May 2004

(via azaadi)

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