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Day 13 - Friday 1 August 2008 |
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The groups visit Tehran and visit Imam Khomeini's grave, Juma prayers, and the haram of Shah Abdul Azim.
Madinah quotes:
Praying Juma Namaz at Tehran University and praying Namaaz-e-Ayat has been discussed by Syed Uzair Ahmed of Regina, Saskatchewan:
" ... we were treated as special guests of the Islamic Republic and in a congregation of two million people, were seated in the third row! ... We were whisked inside through the VIP entrance, and after numerous security clearances and searches seated in a reserved section just behind the dignitaries ... Since a partial solar eclipse was to happen on Friday, Namaz-e-Ayat had become wajib for us and after lunch, we headed to a beautiful park nearby. It seemed appropriate that we should offer this prayer under the open sky and in a natural setting, and it helped us achieve a sense of tranquillity and oneness with our surroundings."
Rizwan Kermali of Hyderi, UK, tells us about our trip to the Prison of those tortured before the revolution and the visit to Shah Abdul Azim:
"We then spent the final part of our day at the shrine of Shah Abdul Azim Al Hassani. We performed the Ziyarat of these prominent figures in three groups, as there was such a lot of rush ... After prayers, we headed back to the coach for our trip back to Qum, physically exhausted, spiritually revived and not to mention hungry too!
"The day itself was also a mix of extreme emotions. The guard of honour was a source of pride and humbleness at the same time as the soldiers saluted us in the shrine of Imam Khomeini. The graveyards were a spring of sadness, where we witnessed the bravery of the people who drew inspiration from Imam Hussain's plight and died fighting for their country. The prisons only scarred our faces with horror as we realised that animals like Shimr and Hurmullah aren't reserved just for history books. In the end, the message that we had drilled into our heads was summed up by a patch of graffiti on one of the prison walls that simply stated: Freedom is not Free." |
