Why is it so easy to criticize or even damn what I don’t understand? I would like to think the cause is that I’ve been misled by someone other than myself. Maybe it was a news article in the paper or maybe it was a commentary I heard by a “reputable” anchor person on TV. Or maybe it was a special TV broadcast by the President of the United States calling Iran part of “the axis of evil.”
After reading The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: the Paradox of Modern Iran, I must confess to author Hoom
an Majd and the Iranian people that I was misled about Iran. I was swayed by the news media; but what really bothers me is, I did nothing to learn accurate facts about the people of Iran. Modern Iran (formerly Persia) is a composite of many complicated elements which I knew little or nothing about.
According to The Aytollah Begs to Differ, the all encompassing influence affecting the seventy million Iranian people is their firm belief in their Muslim religion. It is not a Sunday only faith. It is a daily religion whereby the vast Iranian population attempts to emulate the lives and thinking of their Ayatollahs. These men are high ranking clerics known for their scholarship in Islamic studies, philosophy, logic, ethics, and their interpretation of a just life according to the words of Allah.
Religion and prayer play an important role in everyday Iranian life. Shia Islamists including current President Ahmadinejad have long believed that a twelfth Imam or spiritual leader/prophet from the distant past (circa 974 C.E.) will appear at the end of days beside Jesus Christ who will follow him. This Imam is thought to be a Messiah: Imam Mahdi. 
At Jamkaran, a pilgrimage site about ninety-six miles southwest of Tehran in the city of Qom, each Tuesday visitors drop petitions in a well. They believe that the spirit of Imam Mahdi might favor their requests. Some pilgrims believe he mixes with them anonymously in human form.
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