City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death, and the Search for Truth in Tehran

aragh sagee Home-brewed vodka, usually made of raisins. The name is a pun –
aragh means vodka as well as sweat, sag is dog, so it is ‘dog’s sweat vodka’


Ashura Anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hossein


ayatollah Means ‘the sign of god’ and is the highest rank given to Shia clerics. To become an ayatollah, a cleric usually has to have gained a following and be considered an expert in religious, ethical, philosophical and legal matters by his peers. Ayatollahs do not exist in Sunni Islam. The next rank down is ‘hojjatoleslam’


azan Call to prayer


bah-bah Yum-yum


Basij Paramilitary volunteer group


basiji A member of the Basij


chador Literally means ‘tent’. An open black cloak that covers the head and the entire body. Historians believe the chador was introduced not long before the eighteenth century. Reza Shah Pahlavi banned the chador and all hejab in 1936, in an effort to modernize Iran. The police would forcibly remove veils worn in the streets. This policy outraged clerics and many ordinary Iranians who felt that being in public without the chador or hejab was tantamount to being naked. The ban lasted for four years until Reza Shah’s son, Mohammad Reza Shah, came to power and women were once again allowed to cover up. Shortly after the revolution in 1979, the hejab was made compulsory


chadori A woman who wears a chador. Also used as a value judgement, to suggest someone religious and/or working-class
chaharshanbeh souri A fire festival celebrated on the last Tuesday night of the year; the name translates as the eve of red Wednesday. Bonfires are lit in the hope that fire and light will bring health and happiness