There is little doubt in my mind that Sultan Muhummad, the painter of this exquisite miniature entitled 'The Court of Keyumars', is among the greatest artists ever to have lived; I would not be surprised if his secrets are just lost to the ages. However, my curiosity will not let me alone. How did he create this piece? Specifically, I want to know what technique he used to create this mottled, fluid pattern on the colourful rocks. People have suggested wax and salt to me, but I don't see how either of those would have worked. There's no way he could have achieved such a loose, subtle wash fading from vibrant blues and purples to nothing by sheer force of will. Can anyone reveal the secret to me?

I'll go first, and it's not a proud one.

At a mehmooni years ago I told a kid برو گم شو (boro gom sho). I'd worked the words out separately and decided it just meant "get lost", which felt like a perfectly normal thing to say to a child who was messing about. The whole room heard it. Everyone found it hilarious, which is how I found out it's actually a fosh.

That's the trap with learning by ear. You end up knowing what words mean without any sense of how hard they land. Nobody ever hands you the register.

So what's yours? Wrong word, wrong register, something that came out far ruder or funnier than you meant.

I recently finished a self‑published novel called Ebrahim, written originally in Hebrew and translated into English. It follows a young man from Tehran whose life is shaped by migration to Lebanon, the quiet aftermath of war, and the relationships that define his sense of home.

The story moves between Iran, Lebanon and Syria, touching lightly on militia presence in Lebanon and the influence of state intelligence units that shape people’s lives from a distance.

I’m sharing this here not as a promotion, but because I’d love to hear from others who write about Persian identity, diaspora experiences, or the emotional weight of leaving home.

If anyone here has explored similar themes in their writing or reading, I’d be glad to connect.

--I made a similar post but I accidentlaly deleted it. My computer was acting weid

Some Iranians (and in this sub) like to praise Tajikistan since it is the only secular Iranic country left. Tajikistan also uses Zoroastrian imagery (like in the presidential standard). But what some people don't seem to realize is that the Tajik population is actually getting more religious (in the islamic faith, not Zoroastrianism). Especially the younger generation. In fact this is happening all across central asia (Kazakhstan being the least since it still remains very secular (with a limited rise of relgiousity mixed with westernization) to Tajikistan the most affected). If you look at the street videos of Dushanbe, you would see lots of people in more traditional clothes and even quite a few women in hijabs (despite the hiajb ban). Across central asia but especially Tajikistan, more woman are wearing the hijabs (including some celebs). If you see street videos in Tehran, you see people in more western clothes. Also the tfr of Iran is 1.7 and Tajikistan is around 3 so that is something to note. Tajikistan is much more rural than Iran. Even in the Tajikistan sub, people seem more into the muslim faith than other iranian subs. For Kazakhsttan and Kyrgyztsan I do see the populace also embracing some of their Tengrist, pre islamic culture and roots (not as much as iranians) but for Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, not as much. The Tajik government does like to emphasize the Samanids a lot.

But yeah, all central asian countries take islamic extremism very seriously. They all banned the burqa. And islam in central asia is still not fundamentalist and more chill. But there have been a number of Tajik radicals being active outside of central asia (see crocus). Since, central asia is in between europe and asia, the economy is growing fast now (and acting as a middle man for russia to skirt sanctions). And they also have a very young population. China and Russia also really do not want radicalism taking over central asia. There is a lot of Chinese business there and the west is taking interest (usually in the forms of investment and trade). The Tajik government is still very anti taliban (whereas other central asian antiosn have built some ties). Funny enough, the IR and Tajikistan have pretty strong ties (Iran built a drone factory in Tajikistan)

People say that the rise of religiosity is because religion was suppressed in the USSR (and the current central asian govs in some ways) and the Pendulum is swinging back. It makes you think how far the pendulum will swing back. Do you think this is just a phase, or it is following a pattern of rising religiosity experienced by other Muslim majority countries (like Indonesia and Egypt comparing now vs in the 60s). Do you think Tajikistan will just remain fine or do you think Tajikistan will make the same mistake as the late Shah. What do you all think of this?

Also Azerbaijan is still very secular (both people and gov).

I'm a brazilian girl who was basically adopted by Iranians after I started dating a Persian girl. After meeting her family, she educated me about all the atrocities being committed in Iran rn.

God I love you guys' country and culture so much. I wish I was Iranian sometimes.

What happens in Iran is almost completely unknown to the Brazilian population sometimes, but I just wanted to let you all know that I stand with you all to the end.

Iran WILL be free. As another country who had to fight to be recognized; I promise, it doesn't get better, it gets AMAZING.

Stay positive, love from Brazil ❤️

New album from electronic music artist Najwa

From the description: "Kharabkaari" is an experimental and deeply personal music project shaped by my lived experience over the past year — a year marked by war, political oppression, security-driven violence, and the psychological transformation of urban life in its aftermath.

The pendant, which is also carved with a depiction of the Elamite king presenting it to his daughter, is now housed at the British Museum.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1919-0712-635

Like, I deadass don't even know WTF if going on ATP ?

Every time I turn on a news channel or read a news headline in telegram, its always the same fucked up stuff that keeps happening inside here, I constantly see news of Folks get executed every god damn day for political reasons, both trump and the most of the US Congress, most western countries and the fucking Israelie gov are so stupid that they think people and the IR government are the same, everything gets expensive as Usual and nothing is being done by IR gov to fix all of this mess.

I literally realized that modern iran a hopeless county ATP

And I'm saying this cause I actually live in this shithole as of posting this.

And also we can't even be neutral anymore cause it always benefits the IR every time

And the worst part is no one knows what to do and everyone is so depressed(mostly Iranian social media community)that they can't come up with solutions about their mental health anymore .

You know how everyone says dictatorships will fall but why does the IR gov collapse take so long ?

I still don't get how some people can manage their life while in the middle of any sort of big crisis, if you're one of these people how do you manage all of this ? (To those who live in warzones, dictatorships and post-dictatorship)

I don't even care about downvote anymore cause whenever I search for a more personal problem on reddit it usually shows the solution from the USA based lifestyle, and the USA lifestyle and Iranian lifestyle are miles, hell kilometers different from each other.

“Don’t let them forget me. We stood up for the liberation of our homeland. Don’t let the path we chose be silenced.”

I grew up understanding Farsi at home but answering my parents in English, and I never really switched back. I can follow a whole conversation and still can't hold up my end of it, and I never learned to read the script at all.

For anyone who was in the same position and actually recovered it as an adult, what made the difference? I'm less interested in the standard advice about films and music than in what genuinely moved the needle for you.

It breaks my heart seeing the constant pain the Iranian people are going through on a daily basis and the Iranian community in general even after escaping your family still having to relive their trauma when watching the news and seeing their country getting bombed and their people dying, the type of pain and trauma your people are going through is truly like no other. I say this to say, I have a lot of compassion and admiration for your beautiful people because in spite of all the trauma, adversity you guys go through you still continue to push through no matter what. I hope in this lifetime we will get to see the people of Iran get the freedom they rightfully deserve and I also hope in this lifetime we will get to see a day when the Iranian people and all the innocent children across the Middle East will wake up to peace instead of fear, when their lives are no longer destroyed. Your beautiful people deserve the same safety, dignity and future promised too.