The following was written by an Iranian national, Sayyid Amir Bassam, who migrated away from his own country and lived in both Australia and New Zealand before migrating back to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Is the West the paradise that we are truly seeking?

This is a piece that is written by someone who has lived in the West for 21 years, in two countries - Australia and New Zealand - and 21 years in Iran. Whatever is written here comes from real-life personal experience.

I won’t keep you waiting and will give you the conclusion from the outset. If you are looking for this world only [the Dunya], do not wait any longer - you should go to the West now. However, if you are concerned about your faith and are looking for what is best for your hereafter, then definitely be patient and stay in Iran.

That is not to say that in the West there is no religion, nor does it mean that in Iran, there are no luxuries of this world. But there is no shadow of a doubt that life is much more colourful in the West than it is in the East.

The truth is, while living in the West, one may feel that there is no God. Over there, there is no sound of the Call to Prayer, or writings [reminding us of God] on the wall, or any narrations, or Mosques, or the Supplication of Kumail, or Friday Prayers, or ceremonies of religious events, or the sight of two enlightened and spiritual faces…. None of these are present - and if they are, they are very minimal and much duller and more limited than what is available in Iran.

When you walk the streets of Iran during the holy month of Ramadhan, you know that most of the people passing by are fasting. You can almost feel that the doors and walls and streets, and even the birds, are fasting. The working hours of shops and banks and companies have all been adjusted accordingly. In fact, the dynamics of life have completely changed. Fasting, and that spiritual feeling which comes along with it, is everywhere you look and in abundance.

But in non-Islamic countries, on the other hand, and especially in the West, with all its beauty, majesty, orderliness and goodness, there is no such sense of spirituality. In fact it is so void of spirituality that one might think God has migrated and left that area altogether!

In the West you are distant from this air of spirituality, and any sight or sound related to faith or religion. At the same time, you are bombarded by multimedia full of unethical content – and eventually such content becomes completely normalised. Faithful and pious families come

together and watch inappropriate programs while being unaware of the calamity that is befalling their families and infallible children.

In such societies, the promotion of homosexuality is widespread – and is even taught to children in school. That is, children must learn that it is very possible and not unusual to have families with two fathers or two mothers.

Scanty clothing is the norm on the streets, and indecent images are prevalent on walls, billboards and buses. Lewd songs come in huge waves and are nasty and explicit but are broadcasted everywhere - even in recreation centres where one might want to go with children to simply spend some time exercising!

Festivals where people parade completely in the nude occur on an annual basis in the city centre and the event is broadcast unedited on the news channel that families watch together in the evenings.

Indecent and obscene advertising is present on television, national and local newspapers, magazines sold at petrol stations, and in restaurants and leisure centres such as bowling alleys.

The merciless attack comes from any and every direction. It comes fast and furious.

All these issues and challenges in the West make it a very difficult place for the soul of the human being - and most importantly, the soul of the child. These phenomena overwhelm and replace the children’s Islamic teachings and ethics.

From one whose father built the first Shia Mosque in New Zealand, and who has seen thousands of Shia families firsthand, I can say from experience that the upbringing of pious and faithful children in such countries is far from possible and difficult to imagine. Even the greatest efforts of parents will result in - at most - an average Muslim who prays and fasts! One should in fact celebrate if they do not go astray. And to raise a child to reach high levels of Islamic attributes and morals in such an environment is simply too difficult to comprehend.

These effects are of course not restricted to children – and also apply to adults. If one is to reach an ideology, they must be immersed within the conditions of that ideology. Just as it is very unlikely for a Lionel Messi to emerge from the stadiums of New Zealand, it is also highly unlikely for the Nejabats, Behjats, and Tabatabeis to emerge from the society of New Zealand.

The Western environment, without one even realizing, drags one away from religious, spiritual and gnostic elevation. This happens in the same way that the height of your child increases unnoticeably to yourself, while those on the outside can see it clearly.

Those on the outside notice as the chador changes to a manteau, and the manto, shortening day after day, changes to a blouse that also shrinks over time. They can see that year after year, mosque attendance dwindles and the recitation of the Supplication of Kumail on the nights of Friday wanes over time.

They observe that Friday congregation prayers pass by unattended. They hear from cars the sounds of rap music playing for the children instead of the Holy Qur’an. They account that one recitation of the Holy Qur’an might take ten years to complete. And they notice eventually that all religious activities are either attended half-heartedly or stopped all together.

In the West, it goes without saying that you are less-exposed to spiritual and religious people, while at the same time the pressures of society are constantly diluting the colour of your faith and religion. After some years, you realise yourself how much less of a role religion plays in your life, how you have regressed, and how you have come to speak less of God, religion, the Prophet and the Purified Household, peace be upon them.

You come to realise that all of your efforts are being put into recreation, recreation, and recreation. And sometimes, recreation and work… going to coffee shops, restaurants, shopping centres, parks, cinemas, city centres, visiting others, buying the latest technology, and other similar activities, have become all that your life is about.

Alongside all this, you have the contentment that you are a Muslim, you are praying and attending Mosque, and everything is just fine, and there is no acute problem in your life. You completely adapt and assimilate, staying in that environment for decades on end and perhaps for the rest of your life. You might even end up being buried in the local Islamic Cemetery.

You may leave behind your inheritors [children] on this patch of land [in the west] who do not even have what little of religion you learned from your grandparents and country of origin. They have grown up to be completely part of the Western culture and thinking and have a very faint sense of religion, afterlife, God, Prophets, and the concepts of martyrdom and resistance.

Practically, you have a serious and precarious responsibility to yourself, your spouse and your children. In your obscured vision, you think you have fulfilled this responsibility - yet you are unaware and have turned a blind eye to reality. With the help of two tricks from Satan’s deputy, “open-mindedness” and “self-justification”, you have become completely satisfied with the position you are in.

And with regards to the issue that the West is a better place because the people lie less, are less likely to be two-faced, slander less, accept bribery less, etc… Yes, I too accept this. The West has some aspects that are better than ours, but they also have their own reasons as to why they are like this. It requires its own research in sociology and history, but what is apparent is that we are not born dishonest and arrogant nor are they born honest and angelic. These positive and negative moral attributes are not inherited in the blood of either.

There is no guarantee in reaching prosperity and wisdom simply by living in Iran, unless one also chooses the right friends and families to spend time with, in the right city, in the right area, with good neighbours, in the right schools, with the right teachers… and distances oneself - to a certain degree - from the parts of society that are not appropriate.

In Tehran, the capital of Iran, there are two types of places: There are places where praying is laughed upon and fasting is ridiculed, and if you enter a restaurant with a chador they will look at you suspiciously. Those living in these places are less conscience of God and religion. But there are also places that are very good, clean, healthy and religious. These places are not few in number either.

In any case, where Satan is able to manipulate, people without religion or God will also be around. In that there is no doubt.

So in Iran too, one must move forward with attention, effort, hardship, intellect, counsel, and devotion - with open eyes, and with friends and families and recreations that are of a suitable and healthy nature. Entering Iran will not automatically result in spiritual elevations and religious heights, and children will not suddenly transform into good and pious people.

Of course, there can be no perfect society until such time that the Imam, may his return be hastened, reappears. So we are not looking for a utopia, nor do we say that the society in Iran is ideal - but at least the greater number of Muslims, Shias and true believers within the society puts it apparently morally ahead of Western society.

And the “apparent” of society is not something to be belittled. It should not be considered to be insignificant. One takes form firstly with the outward apparent. What is seen and heard by an individual has an unbelievable effect on them. So even though the apparent is not sufficient, it is necessary, and has a great effect on one’s soul and future.

In any case, the world is like a scale that should have its parameters compared. For those believers who are not looking for worldly comforts, the best place is one that has more spirituality and more believers. This will allow them to reach their ultimate goal of getting closer to Allah (SwT) before their departure.

Where that place is, is open for discussion. From my personal experience, it is where there are more Muslims, more Shias, and more true believers. It is where there are more people who fast, more martyrs, more Behjats, Nejabats, and Tabatabeis. It is where there are more people who go for “Arbaeen”, and more gatherings for Imam Husayn, peace be upon him. The quality of the believers that I have known in Iran, I have not come across anywhere else in the world. The true believers that I have met in the West are so few that you can count them on your fingers - and even those have had their foundation formed back home in their Islamic countries, and then migrated out.

In conclusion, I hope that the Muslims, Shias, and true believers who have migrated out of their Islamic countries with good intentions and positive goals, return to their countries after achieving their goals so that they can serve their own country and people, and minimise the spiritual and moral damage done to themselves, their spouses and their children.