Shia religion

As we progress through Iran, where the vast majority of the population follow the Shia sect of Islam, we are learning a bit more about the differences between that and Sunniism, which we were more familiar with in our region of the world.

I had previously been led to believe that Shites were extremists and intolerant. There have been no sign of any aggressive or unfriendly gestures from the many Iranians we came across. In fact they were all friendly and "Welcome to Iran" was a common greeting by total strangers in the streets.

I need to clarify further what I posted a few days ago about the depiction of life forms in wall decorations etc. We have a very good local guide (plus an equally impressive lecturer from UK) who explained that Shia tolerates such depictions and indeed we saw many examples of that. In fact, Sunnis are more intolerant of that and for their structures, calligraphy dominates the decorations. There are Shia shrines to prominent people, which would not be allowed in strict Sunni countries, such as Saudi Arabia.

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As for dress code, Kay apologised profusely one evening when she did not have  her scarf on when some workers were in our room; they were equally profuse in reassuring her that it did not matter.  Dress codes are of course stricter within some religious (very few) buildings, such as the shrine of the brothers of the 8th apostle.