From Qom, To Mashhad, to the agony in Dubai! #Trip2015

HUBBA HUBBA HDFHCDWJKF ITS FREEZING HERE IN IRAN!

Our days in Iran just kept getting better as we started the day of 8th december by going on a hardly 30 minute road trip to Masjid-e-Jamkaran. We were told that we would leave at sharp 9 AM, and as always, the kafla leader's word were just blekh. We left our hotel at around 10:30 AM and it wasnt as cold as it was a day back (It snowed, mann).

 Masjid-e-Jamkaran, in Qom, is located in probably the most majestic landscape in all of iran cause SNOWY MOUNTAINSSS OMGGG! This is probably the reason that when we got off the bus at Jamkaran, We nearly froze to death. Them winds kept blowing all over us STRAIGHT from the snowy mountain.

However, snow was not the only thing I noticed outside Masjid-e-Jamkaran. The views from all the directions were so overwhelming; I think I was trippin' a little. 

There was no snow outside the Masjid. But it was indeed wet from the melted snow. But as soon as we entered the premises of the Masjid, WE WERE ECSTATIC! There was snow EVERYWHERE! AND PEOPLE WERE SLIPPING EVERYWHERE!!!! The sight was funny, yet alarming, cause the one who laughs at the fallen are always the ones who falls next :p Being very very cautious, we moved on further inside to take refuge at a warm place.

 

Masjid-e-Jamkaran is so beautiful from outside, i think my insides started to roll from a serious inferiority complex. I mean, HOW CAN A PLACE BE SO BEAUTIFUL!???

Because of the snow in the HUGE yard, and snow and water taking over the whole yard, the management there made a path for a people to walk with carpets. Of course, the carpet was all wet because of the water and snow, but the volunteers there kept draining the carpet with wipers. Yes, the wet carpet doesn't sound very appealing, but when you think of people slipping on the wet marble, wet carpet sound more of a favourable bet. :p

Said it before, and I'll say it again; THIS PLACE IS SO BEAUTIFUL FROM OUTSIDE OMGGG!

But because The masjid was so supah amazing and supah cold from outside, It was as pretty and WARM from the inside. AND IT WASNT OVERCROWDED!!! SCOOOOREEE!!!!! YAAS NAMAZ IN PEACEEEE WITHOUT ANY DHAKKAY AND MUKKAYY!!

But because Me being ME is always cold, despite the huge heaters everywhere, I chose a spot directly where the warmth of the sun crept in. Roshan-daan at its best.

After we were done praying Zuhr, It was time to leave and so, we had to leave the warmth of the inside of the Masjid and proceed again in the freezing cold snowy and wet outside. On the way out, I saw multiple people falling on the ice :p When people try to help other people who are falling, the tend to fall themselves and the chain continues. I had to push my laugh back when the uncle from the karwaan fell and his wife fell trying to save him. But felt really really bad cause he was very old and she was just trying to help. And I almost slipped. That was probably a warning sign for me to have empathy for others.

Because I was half paralyzed from the cold, I saw a dude giving out Kahwas and so, I ran towards it because HOW CAN YOU NOT RUN TOWARDS SOMETHING THATS WAS PROBABLY GOING TO SAVE YOUR LIFE. AND HANDS. Most importantly Hands!

Immediately after the tea, we left Jamkaran and hoped to see the beautiful place again (and hopefully in a warm weather). We prayed Maghrib and Isha In Bibi Masooma-e-Qom eleyhsalam's shrine and attended a Pakistani Majlis in one of the dorms of the Shrine. The Majlis was in pure Punjabi and I don't know Punjabi like my mother does. After the Majlis, We had to leave because it was just getting colder by the passing minute. And We had to leave Qom for Mashhad at around 11 AM!

But because the time we were given by the Kafla leader was never th actual time, and we were punctual as hell, we had to wait till around 2 PM to get a red signal to leave the hotel. And even after we left the hotel, we had to wait outside the hotel for another hour because the pickup bus that was supposed to take us to the bus depot wasn't on time. When we were waiting outside in the cold, I was approached by a very sweet and very pretty Pakistani lady who was with her very cute daughter who was about my age. They both were quite tensed and needed a seat to get to Mashhad early as the lady's daughter had a flight after two days. Because I knew we always had some vacant seats in our bus, i was like Yes why not sure. When she asked the men of our Kafla, being the ignorant selfish people that they were, some of them straight out said no. She was now more tensed. So I straight out approached the Kafla leader and told him that they need our help and they will go with us no matter what. And so, they came with us,. It was a pleasant journey with them honestly.

Before leaving, I took a trip with a little guy from my kafla and my dad to a garden that was frozen and nonetheless, looked so serine and beautiful. There i saw the first cat in my whole Iran trip. The cat was pure Persian (duh, Iran is Persia). And it was so fat and fabulous. When I saw it and moved just my hand to my camera, the cat in pure horror ran away. That was when i realized, Cats are repulsed by me. Okay. Set hay. No problem. Khair in the garden, I saw pomegranate trees and Watermelon shoots with snow around it.

When our Pickup came, instead of taking us to the bus depot, it took us to the homeplace of one of the descendant of the 4th Imam, Imam ZainulAbideen eleyhsalam; Imam zaada Jamal-udddin eleyhsalam. And we had to wait outside the Aastana for about an hour till the bus came. It was cold there. But not as cold as mashhad was going to be.

Taj Mahal whaaat? Lol jk but this was too beautiful to be left unappreciated. Iran's heritage is so well preserved, it make me cry.

Till the bus that was supposed to take us from Qom to mashhad was on its way to pick us up from the road we were stranded on, i noticed how i was very very very cold and other people werent. Then I noticed my shoes and was like dayyum this is why im so cold! But them ketos are comfortable af and maybe thats why i wore them WAYYY TOO MUCH. Notice the halat pls.

We took of from Qom around 5 and on the way to Mashhad, stopped at 8 PM at certain shrines.

Amongst the shrines, thst were located under one roof, we first saw the shrine of Shah Abdul Azeem eleysalam, who is the desendant of the 2nd Imam, Imam Hassan Mujtaba eleyhsalam. And was also the one of the Ashaab of four Imams; Imam Ali Raza eleyhsalam, Imam Moosa Kazim eleyhsalam, Imam Mohammad Taqqi eleyhsalam and Imam Ali Naqqi eleyhsalam.

Then we saw the shrine of Hazrat Hamza eleysalam who is also the descendant of 7th Imam, Imam Moosa Kazim eleysalam

And then we saw the shrine of Hazrat Tahir eleyhsalam, who is also the descendant of the 4th Imam, Imam Zainulabideen eleyhsalam. The number of direct descendants of all the Imams in Iran and Iraq is pretty high since most of the families of all the Imam's resided in these regions.There were plenty of descendants residing in Saudi Arabia too but the aal-e-Saud, a.k.a wahabi sector of saudi arab made sure these places were never found and totally destroyed them from the core. And the Irani and Iraqi's made sure none of these great blood lines were forgotten. This is probably why here in Iran and Iraq, the blood lines of pure SYEDS are respected at utmost, (syeds are a caste of shias that are direct descendants of Hazrat Ali eleyhsalam and Hazrat Syeda Fatima eleysalam; The daughter of the last messenger of God, Hazrat Mohammad Mustafa ﷺ  . You cant be a Syed. Either you're Born a Syed, or you're just not. And Alhamdulilah i feel previledged to be born in succh a beautiful and pure family background :3

After we were done with prayers we got out to proceed towards our bus and froze half way through and were hungryyyyy. Luckily, the hotel that was inside the shrine were giving out free dinners and hence we stuffed ourselves up. Then again, a mighty long road trip was waiting for us. When i got back to the bus, instead of sitting on the seat, i sat on the floor because:
1. Backache
2. Too damn sleepy and no actual position to sleep
3. I needed some space.

And so, i sat the entire time till Fajr on the floor of the moving bus and because i was on the floor, my body froze and i got a very scary fever. At around 5 Am, my dad gave me a new seat to sit in and my mom gave me more warm clothes to get some heat and tab jakay i got some sleep and i felt much better. I woke up the next morning when our bus stopped at Nishapur. Nishapur is a little heaven on Earth. But because we were sleeping throughout the way, waking up in the extreme cold and so early was a bit too much. But i had to pee sososososoooo bad (RETURN OF THE BLADDER GUISE, THE BLADDER IS BACKKKKK) tabhi i had to improvise on my sleep and get up my butt and go up the hill to reach the centre point of Nishapur. AND I REGRET NOTHING! Ooper se im glad i did!

We walked all the way in the freezing cold with our new friends (The family we met earlier) and joked around how this one specific tree we saw look exactly like that one cursed tree from Harry Potter series

All up the way we had a good time and when we reached the actual place, we were pretty relieved and kinda sorta scared cause *wuzu bhe tou karna haiii is thand mae OMGGGGG*

NishaPur is the place where the 8th Imam, Imam Ali Raza eleyhsalam came to and the mountain he stood on turned very sof t and hence his footprints got embosed in the ground. That part of the ground was later extracted from the ground by the locals and preserved for future generations to see.

NishaPur is filled with Huge beautiful snow covered Pine trees and The pine cones in them Trees looks vvvvv pretty from down below.

There was also a water spring near the Qadam gah of Imam Ali Raza eleyhsalam. It is said that Imam wanted to pray namaz and there was no water around him to do wuzu and hense when Imam eleyhsalam prayed to Allah and swayed his hand across the mountain, a spring was formed and has been active till this day! And let me tell you, the water from this chashma is so meetha, its insaneeeee!

After loading myself with the water, i went out to seek my bus. And captured very very cute stuff on the way.

After an hour drive from Nishapur, we finally reached Mashhad and boy was it amazing OR WHAT!!!

All along the way we saw such beautiful monuments. Iran has really developed a lot in the past decade. Hats off to my other homeland (my roots are from Iran).

During the way towards our hotel, we came across the procession that was going on on the death anniversary of the 2nd Imam, Hazrat Imam Hassan Mujtaba eleyhsalam.

Since we were all tired, and esp. Mee, I took a day off to rest them bones and went to the Roza of Imam Ali Raza eleyhsalam the next day! And boy oh boy, was it different or what!

The inside

the main door

one of the entrance 

the burial place

Our days ended with this irani dish of chillu kabab and frozen salad. THIS IS THE ONLY THING I COULD EAT IN IRAN TBH AND I MISS IT SO MUCH!

Days passed by and we made sure we had a brilliant time there and I will truly miss each and every memory I made on this trip. And now that this #Trip2015 is almost over, I regret that I spent a lot of time resting and getting lazy. But the truth is, being a zair comes with a lot of hardship and all them zairs' truly deserve all the rest in this world.

Today, it's 14 December and as im typing voraciously on my laptop on Dubai airport, I just remembered Im going to Karachi alone (Mom and Dad and sis staying in dubai with other sis) and back in karachi, we are out of water. Lel. Ghar jakay khareedna parega paani. OH OH AND WHAT WILL I DO IN THIS 7 HOUR STAY AT TERMINAL 2??? YAAR MAE TOU BEHOSH HORAI HUN BOREDOM SE! chalo khair hai. I'll figure something out.

Till I find something to eat here and something other than the free wifi to occuppy myself, this is me, signing off.

Digitally Yours'
Wurduh Jaffri.
Dubai, 14 Decemeber 2015.