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Paradise
By Laleh Bakhtiar
author
When my Iranian father, Abol Ghassem, died at the age of 99 in 1971, he wanted to be buried in a city in Iran called Tus. Tus is in northwest Iran near a city called Mashhad. Tus is the place where the great national poet, Firdausi, is buried. Firdausi, whose name means "of Paradise," wrote the Shahnameh or Book of Kings. The hero of this great epic poem is called Rostam. The name Rostam means "I feel no pain."
My father recited the epic poetry of Firdausi all his life. Unfortunately, I was raised in America while he continued to live in Iran so I never experienced the poetry the way my father had felt it. I could not, then, understand his wish to be buried next to Firdausi as he was from an area near the city of Isfahan, an area where the Bakhtiari tribe resides.
I asked him why? He said, "I had a dream that my earth would mix with the earth of Firdowsi and a Rostam would be born to save Iran." I was surprised by the fact that he actually had a dream because he had never mentioned one before. I felt I had to carry out his wish, which I did.
When my American mother, Helen, from Weiser, Idaho, the land of the Magic Valley, died two years after my father, she had said she wanted to be buried next to my father, near Firdausi. Helen and Abol had been divorced for 30 years. Once again, surprised by such a momentous decision, I felt I had to carry out her wishes, as well.
Then I began to hear about Iranian-Americans who would go to visit Firdausi, the guide would tell them that there was an American woman buried behind the grave of Firdausi. He said he would take them there if they wanted to pray for her. Many have told me how they have gone there and prayed for Helen.
Recently I found out that the Bakhtiari tribe named a mountain, not after my father, but after my American mother in their tribal land near the city of Isfahan. As a public health nurse, she had saved many of the lives of their children. It is called Mount Helen and has been declared an environmentally protected area by the U.N.
When I think about what heaven means to me, I realize that it means "paradise." Strange, but the name of the poet, Firdausi, means "of paradise." Was my father's dream telling me that he had wanted to join with paradise and be part of the earthly clay of hero who would save Iran?
I waver between this understanding of heaven and what the Quran says, in particular, the verses that say that "God is the Light of the heavens and the earth" and that "all things return to God." Is it not that the word heaven in Persian is also called paradise? Did Firdausi's poetry not symbolize God as the Light?
Since I still vacillate, I have asked my children to bury me in Tus as well, just in case paradise is right here on earth.
Laleh Bakhtiar, Pd.D., is translator of "The Sublime Quran."
By Laleh Bakhtiar |
March 25, 2010; 1:42 PM ET
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Posted by: probashi | March 28, 2010 1:04 PM
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Hello Laleh,
This is a very beautiul story and I think one day Iran will save itself from it's militant religious rule.
Posted by: rannrann | March 28, 2010 10:02 AM
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Some observations:
Heaven(if it exists) is a Spirit State as per Aquinas and JPII i.e. no bodies to include glorified bodies allowed. That sure puts the kibosh on Easter!!
The simple preacher man's spirit/soul resides in Heaven (if it exists) with all the souls of deceased good people of any religion or of no religion therefore there will be no second coming.
As per Somerville, “Religion is our vehicle for the journey. Once arrived, it will be left at the door” i.e. there is no religion in Heaven (if it exists).
The Holy Roman "Empirers"/Popes/ Kings/Queens et al continued the money grab selling access to JC and heaven resulting in some of today's
richest organizations on the globe i.e. the Christian churches and related aristocracies
.
From Professor JD Crossan:
"Moreover, an atonement theology that says God sacrifices his own son in place of humans who needed to be punished for their sins might make some Christians love Jesus, but it is an obscene picture of God. It is almost heavenly child abuse, and may infect our imagination at more earthly levels as well. I do not want to express my faith through a theology that pictures God demanding blood sacrifices in order to be reconciled to us."
Islam's reliance on heavenly angels and "demons of the demented" for authenication is coming to a fast close. As it does, Mecca will no longer be a shrine to these fictional characters and will simply become a historical tourist attraction. Maybe Disney will construct another Disney World there featuring roller coaster-chariot rides to the fictional heavens, a water park at the Grand Mosque along with a Hall of Religious Embellished Characters featuring talking figures of Abraham, Jesus and Mohammed and his eleven wives.
Posted by: YEAL9 | March 26, 2010 12:05 PM
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From the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, the Persian poet, astrologer, mathematician:
"Why, all the Saint and Sages who discuss'd
Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust
Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn
Are scatter'd and their Mouths are stopt with Dust.
--Edward Fitzgerald translation of First Version 1859