Blogger “Kodan-e Ba Estedad” (Talented Moron) writes about the role of weeping in Iran’s domestic and foreign policy. He has put together a number of examples from Iran’s recent history.
For the last century in Iran’s history, weeping has had an important role in the country’s domestic and foreign policies. Whether it was due to our historic humiliation by foreign invaders, or domination of the Shi’ite and its mourning nature, should be left for the experts on the matter to decide.
It is said that Naser al-Din Shah Qajar went to Karbala and before entering the shrine of Imam Hussein, he said to his prime minister: Find me a person who delivers good sermons on the tragedy of Karbala so I can weep over it. In pursuance of his instructions, the prime minister went to find a few good ones. Whatever they recited, the shah did not weep!
The prime minister was afraid and told the clergy of Karbala that if the shah did not weep, things would go badly. They went and brought an unknown speaker. He was an old person, but one who was an expert and experienced. He told the prime minister, “I will make the shah weep.”
As soon as he approached the shah, he turned toward the grave of Imam Hussein and said: “Oh Hussein, when you had lost all companions and were stan…
