It’s a cross between a neighborhood gym, a wrestling club and a religious society. Down a narrow alley in a seedy residential area of Isfahan, the old Persian capital city five hours south of Tehran, you’ll find the Sephole Zurkhaneh, literally the "Iron House of Strength."
A handful of members, who range in age from teenagers to men in their 70s, perform ritual calisthenics for an hour every night. They come from all walks of life — a postman, a technical engineer, a jewelry maker, a driver. They are respected members of the community. The men show each other exquisite courtesy, deference and humility, all characteristics of traditional Persian chivalry.
A singer called a morshad beats the rhythm on a kettle drum while singing Shi'a religious chants and odes to ancient Persian heroes from the famous epic Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, by the poet Ferdowsi. The exercises use simulated weaponry like heavy wooden shields and iron bows.
The owner of the Sephole Zurkhaneh is Haji Abbas, a former Iranian national wrestling champion who has been in the sport for 62 years. He can still easily heft clubs weighing 30-40 kilograms (66-88 pounds). Some of the younger bodybuilders effortlessly juggle these clubs.
The origin of the exercises is shrouded in ancient traditions. Persians claim to have developed wrestling nearly 3,000 years ago. Herodotus, the Greek historian, brought accounts of the sport back to Greece.
One popular story says the zurkhaneh rituals started after the Arab conquest in the seventh century. Persians were forbidden to have weapons, so the exercises enabled them to stay in fighting shape and covertly keep up their military skills.
Later, after the Safavid dynasty converted Persia to the Shi’a branch of Islam in the 16th century, religious devotions crept in. Today, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the few remaining zurkhanehs are devoted to the great warrior Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad and the first Imam of the Shi’a religion.
The chants and songs are a mélange of nationalistic stories about Persian heroes, like Rustam, mixed with religious dirges to Shi'a martyrs, particularly Ali’s son Hussein, the third Imam, who was slaughtered with all his followers at Karbala in 683 A.D.
During one resting period, a young spectator stood up and sang a heartbreaking lament for the return of the 12th Imam.
Many of the Sephole members are also wrestlers who use the club to stay in shape and practice their values, both physical and moral. Wrestling remains one of the most popular sports in Iran. In 1998, a team of American wrestlers visited Tehran in what was billed as a potential diplomatic breakthrough, much like the "pingpong diplomacy" that helped lead to a restoration of relations with Maoist China.
Unfortunately, the political benefits of the exhibition matches fizzled, another in a series of missed opportunities for improved relations between Iran and the United States. Now, an Iranian wrestling team will be coming to the U.S. early next year in another attempt to break the ice.
