Ayatollah Khomeiny

Today we are able to have a look at a picture of a situation not many of us have been allowed to see.
The reason for this is that it is forbidden to make pictures in that place.
Strictly forbidden.
Before to enter, all cameras have to be given to a guard.

The question may arise what exactly we see in this picture.
It is the last resting place of Ayatollah Khomeiny who was born in 1902 and died in 1989.

On January 16, 1979, the ruling monarch of Iran, the Shah, was toppled by an Islamic Revolution and Ayatollah Khomeiny became a few weeks later the new dictator.

Imam Roekhollah Moesawi Khomeiny was a man who had specific ideas about society. His ideas how people should live were coming from a strict interpretation of the Koran.

In 1979, the year he came to power, Time Magazine elected him as the Man of the Year.
This appraisal and respect he lost quickly when he authorised the hostage taking of 50 Americans of the US Embassy in Tehran who were kept for an unprecedented 444 days.

His extreme ideas created a huge following among Shiites in the different Arab countries even till today.

After his death a mausoleum of huge proportions has been created not far from the capital Tehran. It is still not finished and construction is continuing.

Khomeiny’s mausoleum is a place of pilgrimage. Many devote Muslims come there to pay their respects and pray. Of course men enter through one door and women through another. And around the actual resting place men and women are also separated.

It is a rather weird way in which his remains are exhibited. The strong green light refers to the colour of Islam. His son next to him, they seem to be lost in that space.

Worshippers throw money inside the chamber where Khomeiny rests, hoping it will do them well.

How come we are able to see a picture of his mausoleum when it is strictly forbidden to make photographs?
Do we ask a cook of a restaurant how he makes the soup?

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For the loyal and fervent blog readers the following information.
Tomorrow will be a more than 10 hours plane trip to Tokyo, Japan.
It looks no new blog can therefore be published tomorrow.
But in two days duty will continue, this time reporting from the land of the sushis.