“My new faith had made me a target” – Leaving Iran for London
“I learned so much from God that I can no longer call myself A Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, A Buddhist, a Jew.” – Hafez
I grew up in Shiraz, Western Iran, it’s known as the city of culture and it’s the birthplace of the poet Hafez.
But I grew up and went to university in Tehran, another wonderful city. The universities there were full of different people with different ideas and beliefs. They saw things with new eyes and I began to see them too. I saw how our women were treated and described as half a man in the scriptures. It made me think of my aunt who was devastated when her husband took another wife, the age of his daughter.
I had a happy childhood with my family. My father had a good friend who I looked up to, he seemed very kind and respectable. He was a policeman in the army, so that’s what I wanted to be too. I never feared the police or authorities back then. I didn’t think I’d need to. Shiraz was idyllic for our family, I guess we wore the blinkers too tightly.
But I grew up and went to university in Tehran, another wonderful city. The universities there were full of different people with different ideas and beliefs. They saw things with new eyes and I began to see them too. I saw how our women were treated and described as half a man in the scriptures. It made me think of my aunt who was devastated when her husband took another wife, the age of his daughter.
I saw the inequalities that abound in Iran for women and it really upset me as I had believed in the Teachings of Islam all my life, but now I began to examine them closely. I met David at university and he guided me through the ideas on equality and oppression. He introduced me to the idea of Christianity. I grabbed this religion with both hands- it seemed like the answer to so much suffering, especially that of women. In the Bible, it says men and women are equal. I decided I would become a Christian. Although this was not an easy decision I didn’t think it would be so dangerous, I was a good student and I’d passed my degree in mechanical engineering. I contributed to Iran and obeyed its laws.
I carried on with my life and I got a job with a telecommunications firm and was doing well. But one day I heard the police outside, they were looking for me. In Iran, this is never a good thing. I had to hide and in three days I had left Iran. There was no time to do anything, I had heard stories by now of people being taken away by the police and being “disappeared”. My new faith had made me a target.
I gave money to the management team (smugglers) and in two weeks I was in France and then the U.K. I left Iran six months ago and am awaiting a decision on my asylum case. In this time I learnt English. My friend is amazed at how much I have learned in so short a time but I have really enjoyed learning. So now I want to be a teacher and make learning physics easy for children. That is my new dream.
To see my family again is another.
Inshallah.
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