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Iran: Difference between revisions
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[[File:iran_s10_8658.gif|frame]]
Iran is the 18th largest country of the world, currently holding about 72,000,000 people inside its 7,000,000 km perimeter. Iran has a vast variety of flora and fauna, much like a more compact version of the United States. Although Iran has a small Arab minority, mainly in the south and near the Iraq border, [[Berserk Button|Iranians are not Arab and they will be very insulted if you call them that]].
== General ==
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* Iran's official language is ''Persian'' or Farsi, and the official script is the Arabic alphabet with the addition of four letters to make up for sounds which Arabic lacks.
** Persian is not related to Arabic, despite the large number of loanwords. Persian is an Indo-European language, which makes it related to Hindi and most languages spoken in Europe, including English. Old Persian was rather similar to Sanskrit, though it evolved and picked up a fair amount of vocabulary from Arabic.
*** A good analogy for Farsi's linguistic situation is actually English: just as English is a Germanic language with substantial Romance (specifically French) vocabulary, Farsi is an Indo-European language (which Germanic and Romance languages are as well, by the way, albeit in separate sub-families both to Farsi and each other) with substantial Semitic (specifically Arabic) vocabulary. Just as French-derived words in English are more "high-class" or "technical" than the Germanic ones, the Arabic imports in Farsi generally deal with more sophisticated topics (for the reason why, see [
** Some Persian words that are cognates of English words include
*** baradar - brother
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* Despite this, Iran is not controlled by Sharia Law. Iran's judicial law is made-up on the spot. Iran's political system is supposed to be a mixture of "what's good and evil according to the subtext."
** This is mostly because ''Shari'a'' is chiefly a Sunni concept, and relies on an interpretation of the way the judiciary ought to work that fell out of fashion in Shi'a circles several centuries ago. Mainstream Shi'a jurisprudence is of the Usuli branch of the Ja'fari school, which grants (among other things) extensive power to judges to interpret and re-interpret Qur'anic law as they see fit in a process known as ''ijtihad''; ''ijtihad'' is seen in most Sunni circles as more or less impossible in modern times, and its revival and application to modern times is a very controversial issue among Sunni legal scholars.
* Currently, Iran's [[Arch Nemesis]] is the USA. The reason they have such a bitter feud is a long, complicated story, beginning with the United States and Britain overthrowing the elected government in 1953 and instating the authoritarian Shah. When the Islamic revolution came around, Iran took the American Embassy hostage for 444 days.
** Also, it should be noted they both have tried to patch it up but, because of the inability to appease all factions within and outside them both, they have mainly fallen through. See: Grand bargain.
* Currently Iran is under sanctions by the West, with at least a hundred people dying every year because of outdated airplanes, tears dropped because of low-speed Internet connections, and millions wasted from the lack the support of PayPal/Visa.
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== Human Rights and Politics ==
* Iran has the second-highest execution rate in the world, just behind China. Despite what this it sound like, capital punishment is only used on murderers, terrorists [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|and drug dealers]].
* Iran is controlled by an interesting conglomeration of a government. There is a Supreme Leader, a President, and the Majles, the Iranian parliament.
** Interestingly, the Jewish populace of Iran has a seat in parliament. (Iran hosts the second-largest population of Jews in the Middle East.)
** The Armenian populace has one as well. Iran has had a friendship with Armenia going back to ancient times, despite religious differences, though this strains Iran's relations with Azerbaijan as a result...which is strange, since more Azeris live in Iran than in Azerbaijan, and Tabriz, the capital of Azeri culture, is in Iran. Ayatollah Khamenei himself is Azeri on his father's side.
*** Iran's neutrality in the Nagorno-Karabakh War with Armenia was what really irked Azerbaijan. And [[Patriotic Fervor|Azeri nationalism being what it is]], some of the more extreme nationalists believe northern Iran rightfully belongs to Azerbaijan.
* Iran's major export, and best known, [[Oil Sheikdom|is oil]]. It also exports goods to the landlocked countries of Central Asia, such as foodstuffs. Iran also has its hand in electronic consumerism, but just enough for the domestic use.
** The Iranian economy is very interesting to economists, as it has robust GDP growth, but both inflation and unemployment are high--and having all three together is supposed to be impossible.<ref>As it turns out, when you factor out oil, Iran's economic growth rate is rather small--in other words, Iran is facing stagflation.</ref>
* Homosexuality was heavily persecuted during the beginning days of the Islamic Republic. Though still closeted due to social misrepresentations, homosexuals have a hang-out in Tehran, and aren't afraid of coming out to their families.
** Oddly, transsexuals are more accepted in some circles in Iran (even some of the more conservative/religious areas) than in the West, though this is not universal.
* The Cyrus Cylinder, issued by Cyrus the Great in the 6th century B.C., proclaims the benefits of Cyrus' rule, and has been called the first human rights charter in history. Despite being an ancient propaganda piece, [[Fair for Its Day|Cyrus was indeed known for his enlightened rule]]. Iranian reformers count Cyrus and the Cylinder among their sources of inspiration.
* Along with the Celts, ancient Iran was one of the most egalitarian societies with regards to gender. Women served as warriors, generals, and civil administrators. Today, [[No
== Culture ==
* Though Iranians do not like to say they imitate Western culture ''per se'', in reality the country is extremely multicultural and open to foreign influences.
** [
* Iranians have a rich background when it comes to science. You can check [[The Other Wiki]] for more information.
* Iranian cuisine is full of delicious dishes:
** Chelo-Kabab: Turkish kebab with rice cooked in the Iranian way. First rice is cooked with steam until it becomes soft and floppy like a marshmallow. Then it is dried and cooked again until it loses all the nutrients, but gains more flavour.
** Khoresh-Ghorme-Sabzi: Biff, an special mix of vegetables and beans with spices. Eaten with rice.
** Khoresh-Gheime: Biff, split pea with whatever you want, eaten with rice.
** Koofte: Meatball. In Turkish parts of Iran, they're made with rice and vegetables. They're also called "Koofte-Tabrizi".
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== Stereotypes ==
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Another good movie from this era is an adaption from a short story called "Gav" (cow). This story is about a simple, rural man who after his cow dies, goes crazy and thinks he's a cow.
After the revolution, films changed to fit the law. Also many children's movies with cute puppets were made during the 80s and 90s, because producing animation was too expensive and time-consuming.
Iranian cinema has become popular in Europe. Some notable post-revolution Iranian movies are:
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* '''Kamal-ol-molk''': Biography of the famous titular painter, Mohammad Ghaffari.
* '''Storks Dream Without D''': A surreal work from Hussein Yari.
* '''Puppet Thief''': Sci-fi children's work, [[Exactly What It Says
* '''School of Mice''': Puppet movie mouses who are escaping from a cat.
* '''Kolah-Ghermezi and Pesar-Khale''': Possibly the most famous children's movie, about some boy who [[Requiem for
* '''Pari''': A [[Mind Screw]] movie, but a well-done one.
* '''Dorna''': A live-action children's movie.
* '''Dog Massacre''': In early days of Shah's fall, a man has sent his wife to clean up his fraudulent history so he can start a new life in the new government.
* '''The Red''': About a very, very dysfunctional couple.
* '''Mom's Guests'''
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== Literature ==
Hafiz, Sa'adi, [[The Shahnameh
* Nezami Ganjavi: Wrote romantic poems. Most famous in the West for writing ''Layla and Majnun'', the classic love story of Persian literature.
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== The Iranian flag ==
[[File:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Useful Notes/The Middle East]]
[[Category:Iran]]
[[Category:Useful Notes/Asia]]
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