SCP-3941

The Major Occultation

SCP-3941-1, shortly before initial containment.

Special Containment Procedures

SCP-3941-1 is currently located in a Secure Holding Facility in Site ██. Armed guards are to be posted outside SCP-3941-1, in case of an ORIA incursion in Site ██. Surveillance cameras are to be trained on SCP-3941-1 at all times, due to the possibility of entities emerging from SCP-3941-2. SCP-3941-3 has thus far prevented all attempts to install camera feeds within SCP-3941-2; it is recommended that alternate methods be employed.

Description

SCP-3941 refers to the following four items:

• SCP-3941-1 is a wooden door, believed to have been constructed during the 1980s from Lebanon Oak (Quercus libani) wood dated to the mid-10th century and inlaid with iron, as well as a wooden doorframe surrounding the door. SCP-3941-1 appears to be indestructible, although no serious attempts at its termination have been made. SCP-3941-1 was previously integrated into a wall in a small house in Karbala, Iraq, but did not open into the house itself. Instead, SCP-3941-1 allows access only to SCP-3941-2. SCP-3941-1's anomalous properties are inactive from the hours of 22:00 to 06:00 each day; according to SCP-3941-3, this is the time when he sleeps.

On nine known occasions, SCP-3941-1’s anomalous properties have been deactivated irregularly, for periods ranging between 1 hour and 12 weeks. These deactivations were all instigated by SCP-3941-3 due to actions performed by Foundation personnel.

• SCP-3941-2 is a small pocket dimension, believed to be about 50m³ in size. SCP-3941-2 takes the form of a small room, constructed from sandstone, and decorated in a style reminiscent of a modest house in 10th century Baghdad, albeit with items identified as reproductions from the 1970s and 1980s. Windows in the side of the room allow for the entry of light from an unknown source; the view from these windows appears to be of 10th century Baghdad as understood by historians and archaeologists in the early 1990s. The room contains one further door at the far end of the room, from which SCP-3941-4 enters and exits, and a cushion in the centre of the room, upon which SCP-3941-3 can ordinarily be found seated. As Foundation scans have determined the dimension’s size to be at 50m³, it is presently not known where this door leads to.

• SCP-3941-3 has the appearance of a male human in his early 30s; however, SCP-3941-3 does not appear to have aged since SCP-3941 was first discovered by the Foundation. SCP-3941-3 claims to be Muhammad al-Mahdi, the Twelfth Imam of the Ithna ‘Ashari and Alevi religions. Attempts to remove SCP-3941-3 from SCP-3941-2 have met with failure; furthermore, SCP-3941-3 appears to possess the ability to summarily eject any person from SCP-3941-2 at will, causing them to disappear and reappear directly outside SCP-3941-1. SCP-3941-3 is responsive and cooperative with Foundation questioning, but refuses to be removed from SCP-3941-2.

SCP 3941-3 is conversant in Persian, Iraqi Arabic, Classical Arabic, English and French. SCP-3941-3 will respond to its official designation, but will refuse to answer questions if the interviewer insinuates that he is not the Twelfth Imam, as he claims. He has shown a keen interest in theological debate, apparently being relatively well-versed in a variety of religious traditions beyond his own. SCP-3941-3 seems to enjoy speaking to Foundation personnel; he has spoken positively of conversations with Researcher F██████ on several occasions.

• SCP-3941-4 has the appearance of a male human in his mid-teens; as with SCP-3941-3, SCP-3941-4 does not appear to have aged since SCP-3941 was first discovered by the Foundation. SCP-3941-4 is referred to by SCP-3941-3 only as Mahmud. SCP-3941-3 has refused to provide details of SCP-3941-4’s past. SCP-3941-4 is apparently mute, and is non-responsive to questioning by Foundation personnel. SCP-3941-4 serves SCP-3941-3 meals two times a day, with the exception of days when a fast occurs according to Ithna ‘Ashari customs; the content of these meals seems to approximate several modern Iranian dishes. SCP-3941-4 also responds to irregular requests for food or drink from SCP-3941-3. As previously mentioned, SCP-3941-4 enters SCP-3941-2 from a door at the far side of the room. Attempts to remove SCP-3941-4 or to enter through the door from which he arrives have all met with failure, as Foundation agents are simply ejected from SCP-3941-2 by SCP-3941-3.

SCP-3941 was first discovered by the Foundation in 199█, following the development of a local millenarian cult in the suburb of █████████, Karbala, where SCP-3941-1 was located. The leader of this cult, ‘Abbas H████, claimed to have “found” the place of the Twelfth Imam’s occultation, claiming that he would soon “emerge as the Mahdi to restore the just kingdom” and herald an apocalypse. SCP-3941-3 has repeatedly stated that he does not plan to leave SCP-3941-2 at any point “in the next thousand years”, and that Mr. H████ was mistaken in his beliefs. The Foundation was able to secure the site and transport SCP-3941 to █████████████ before the Office for the Reclamation of Islamic Artifacts (ORIA) was able to reach the site, due to a political crisis precipitated in the latter organisation by the discovery of SCP-3941. Class-A amnestics were issued to all of those involved.

+Interview 3941-27

-Interview 3941-27

Interviewed: SCP-3941-3

Interviewer: Dr. F██████

Foreword: This interview was conducted 03/05/20██, within SCP-3941-2.

<Begin Log>

Dr. F██████: I have come to ask you a question, SCP-3941-3.

SCP-3941-3: Ah, hello, my daughter. It is good to see you again. Shall I ask Mahmud to bring us some tea?

Dr. F██████: No, thank you. I would like to ask you a question about one of your followers.

SCP-3941-3: A personal question, then. And here I thought you had come to enquire after my health! <laughs> How foolish of me. So, about whom do you wish to know?

Dr. F██████: A man by the name of Hassan Tehrani.

<At this, SCP-3941-3 visibly stiffens and frowns.>

Dr. F██████: He was an engineering student during the 1980s. Disappeared suddenly. I was wondering if you knew what happened to him. You do take a keen interest in your followers, after all.

SCP-3941-3: Yes… I know of this man. He was… a troubled person. He wanted a… restoration of sorts.

Dr. F██████: A restoration?

SCP-3941-3: He thought that the Imam could not exist. That he had died as a young child, or that he had never been born. He thought that, because of this, justice in the world was in abeyance. That there could be no apocalypse, because there was no Imam! Imagine that! The man was troubled indeed.

Dr. F██████: So… what did he wish to restore? Justice?

SCP-3941-3: Yes… or at least, he wished to restore what he had lost, what his cohorts had lost. He existed in the Islamic Republic, which claimed to represent Islam against the godless West. But everywhere he looked, the stain of the West existed in their hearts. He did not bear any particular hatred for the Christians, understand; it was just that he wanted something lost. He wanted to restore the smooth contours, you see.

Dr. F██████: The smooth contours?

SCP-3941-3: The lines that flowed, that had rhythm, that were naturally shaped… I do not know if I can make you understand. You are not from our world, you see. You do not understand what it is to lose your own identity, to have your sense of self turned into oblivion. For a thousand years, the people of the Persian-speaking world drew stunning miniatures, created beautiful calligraphy, carved geometric patterns into the most dazzling of mosques. The finely-weaved patterns of carpets, evoking the hunt and the glory of kingship…. the poetry of Ferdowsi and Hafez, those soft songs of heroes and monsters that were both true and untrue ….the swaying flowers imbued into white ceramics… there was sin too, of course, and wickedness, and cruelty, but these were human ills. They were their ills, the ills of their people.

Dr. F██████: I don’t understand…

SCP-3941-3: Of course not. You come from █████, yes? A country that helped shape the world we inhabit, that built empires over boundless oceans, that created the very concepts of life within which we live and breathe today. But Hassan Tehrani came from a country that was dying. Everywhere he looked, the presence of foreign ideas and foreign lives polluted all. The shapes of buildings reared up like blasphemous slabs of substance, defying the spirit and glorying in the material. His leaders had spent years extolling the virtues of the Sassanids and the Achaemenids, all so they could more slavishly accord themselves a place in a European cosmology. It was not a modernity that invigorated his people, it was a modernity that had been forced upon them, strangling them, turning them into deformed monstrosities! He wanted the old world, the world of blood and cruelty and righteousness!

<Here, SCP-3941-3 has begun to shout angrily.>

The world where they could create their own modernity, where they could reach the place they were meant to reach for the first time, without the curse of the farangi and their damned empires!

<SCP-3941-3 appears to calm himself, before sitting back down>

SCP-3941-3: My apologies, my dear. Please, come back. I got a little heated there, didn’t I?

Dr. F██████: Perhaps a little, yes. So, Mr. Tehrani wanted to restore his… the sense of pride belonging to his people?

SCP-3941-3: Yes. And he succeeded. He restored the Imam’s- he restored my position. He… gave his form over so I could once again take a physical body. He died, screaming, in the hands of those devils who had taught him the arcane arts, making his flesh my own. He gave me a home, he gave me a place to live, and he gave me a beautiful servant. Because of his sacrifice, justice can once again reign in this realm. We can reclaim our past, we can reclaim our ancient beauty, the old meanings now long-divorced from their subjects. And one day, I shall emerge from my occultation and once again live free.

Dr. F██████: I see. So… your body was once that of Mr. Tehrani?

SCP-3941-3: Yes. He exited his body, and my soul entered in. He is assured a place in Paradise for his pious actions.

Dr. F██████: So, presumably his dietary habits were tied to his bodily self, rather than to his, erm, "soul"?

SCP-3941-3: …I am not sure I understand your meaning, child.

Dr. F██████: The dishes are not, surely, those that the Imam would have eaten. They feature rice, which was brought into Iran by the Mongols, three centuries after the beginning of the Imam's occultation. They features spices that only came to Iran many years later, too. You can't have been familiar with them, so presumably the fact that you are inhabiting Mr. Tehrani's body means you've picked up some of his habits…

SCP-3941-3: I…

<SCP-3941-3 now seems visibly shaken>

Dr. F██████: It was just a question. I’m sorry if it upset you. Anyway, there are some more important matters I wish to ask you ab-

SCP-3941-3: I think you should go now.

At this point, Dr. F██████ was ejected from SCP-3941-2.

<End Log>" id="">Addendum 3941-1: On 30/04/20██, Researcher F███████ was notified of the university records of one Hassan Tehrani, born 17/08/196█. Mr. Tehrani was an Iranian engineering student at the University of Tehran during the mid-1980s, who also took several classes in Shi’ite theology. According to his former theology tutor, █████████ ████, Mr. Tehrani was profoundly dissatisfied with the doctrine of occultation; he apparently came to believe that the Imam was not present within the world, and that “justice and righteousness” was thus not present in the world either. On 21/03/198█, Mr. Tehrani was found missing from his apartment in █████, Tehran. Several surviving photographs of Mr. Tehrani exist; they appear to show a much younger SCP-3941-3.

The following interview was conducted shortly after this discovery:

+Interview 3941-27

-Interview 3941-27

Interviewed: SCP-3941-3

Interviewer: Dr. F██████

Foreword: This interview was conducted 03/05/20██, within SCP-3941-2.

<Begin Log>

Dr. F██████: I have come to ask you a question, SCP-3941-3.

SCP-3941-3: Ah, hello, my daughter. It is good to see you again. Shall I ask Mahmud to bring us some tea?

Dr. F██████: No, thank you. I would like to ask you a question about one of your followers.

SCP-3941-3: A personal question, then. And here I thought you had come to enquire after my health! <laughs> How foolish of me. So, about whom do you wish to know?

Dr. F██████: A man by the name of Hassan Tehrani.

<At this, SCP-3941-3 visibly stiffens and frowns.>

Dr. F██████: He was an engineering student during the 1980s. Disappeared suddenly. I was wondering if you knew what happened to him. You do take a keen interest in your followers, after all.

SCP-3941-3: Yes… I know of this man. He was… a troubled person. He wanted a… restoration of sorts.

Dr. F██████: A restoration?

SCP-3941-3: He thought that the Imam could not exist. That he had died as a young child, or that he had never been born. He thought that, because of this, justice in the world was in abeyance. That there could be no apocalypse, because there was no Imam! Imagine that! The man was troubled indeed.

Dr. F██████: So… what did he wish to restore? Justice?

SCP-3941-3: Yes… or at least, he wished to restore what he had lost, what his cohorts had lost. He existed in the Islamic Republic, which claimed to represent Islam against the godless West. But everywhere he looked, the stain of the West existed in their hearts. He did not bear any particular hatred for the Christians, understand; it was just that he wanted something lost. He wanted to restore the smooth contours, you see.

Dr. F██████: The smooth contours?

SCP-3941-3: The lines that flowed, that had rhythm, that were naturally shaped… I do not know if I can make you understand. You are not from our world, you see. You do not understand what it is to lose your own identity, to have your sense of self turned into oblivion. For a thousand years, the people of the Persian-speaking world drew stunning miniatures, created beautiful calligraphy, carved geometric patterns into the most dazzling of mosques. The finely-weaved patterns of carpets, evoking the hunt and the glory of kingship…. the poetry of Ferdowsi and Hafez, those soft songs of heroes and monsters that were both true and untrue ….the swaying flowers imbued into white ceramics… there was sin too, of course, and wickedness, and cruelty, but these were human ills. They were their ills, the ills of their people.

Dr. F██████: I don’t understand…

SCP-3941-3: Of course not. You come from █████, yes? A country that helped shape the world we inhabit, that built empires over boundless oceans, that created the very concepts of life within which we live and breathe today. But Hassan Tehrani came from a country that was dying. Everywhere he looked, the presence of foreign ideas and foreign lives polluted all. The shapes of buildings reared up like blasphemous slabs of substance, defying the spirit and glorying in the material. His leaders had spent years extolling the virtues of the Sassanids and the Achaemenids, all so they could more slavishly accord themselves a place in a European cosmology. It was not a modernity that invigorated his people, it was a modernity that had been forced upon them, strangling them, turning them into deformed monstrosities! He wanted the old world, the world of blood and cruelty and righteousness!

<Here, SCP-3941-3 has begun to shout angrily.>

The world where they could create their own modernity, where they could reach the place they were meant to reach for the first time, without the curse of the farangi and their damned empires!

<SCP-3941-3 appears to calm himself, before sitting back down>

SCP-3941-3: My apologies, my dear. Please, come back. I got a little heated there, didn’t I?

Dr. F██████: Perhaps a little, yes. So, Mr. Tehrani wanted to restore his… the sense of pride belonging to his people?

SCP-3941-3: Yes. And he succeeded. He restored the Imam’s- he restored my position. He… gave his form over so I could once again take a physical body. He died, screaming, in the hands of those devils who had taught him the arcane arts, making his flesh my own. He gave me a home, he gave me a place to live, and he gave me a beautiful servant. Because of his sacrifice, justice can once again reign in this realm. We can reclaim our past, we can reclaim our ancient beauty, the old meanings now long-divorced from their subjects. And one day, I shall emerge from my occultation and once again live free.

Dr. F██████: I see. So… your body was once that of Mr. Tehrani?

SCP-3941-3: Yes. He exited his body, and my soul entered in. He is assured a place in Paradise for his pious actions.

Dr. F██████: So, presumably his dietary habits were tied to his bodily self, rather than to his, erm, "soul"?

SCP-3941-3: …I am not sure I understand your meaning, child.

Dr. F██████: The dishes are not, surely, those that the Imam would have eaten. They feature rice, which was brought into Iran by the Mongols, three centuries after the beginning of the Imam's occultation. They features spices that only came to Iran many years later, too. You can't have been familiar with them, so presumably the fact that you are inhabiting Mr. Tehrani's body means you've picked up some of his habits…

SCP-3941-3: I…

<SCP-3941-3 now seems visibly shaken>

Dr. F██████: It was just a question. I’m sorry if it upset you. Anyway, there are some more important matters I wish to ask you ab-

SCP-3941-3: I think you should go now.

At this point, Dr. F██████ was ejected from SCP-3941-2.

<End Log>

Following this interview, SCP-3941-3 removed SCP-3941-1’s anomalous properties for a period of 157 days and 12 hours exactly. Upon the reactivation of SCP-3941-1, all components of SCP-3941 were found to be functioning as normal, with SCP-3941-3 acting in line with previous conduct; however, SCP-3941-3 will now expel all personnel and deactivate SCP-3941-1 for several hours if any personnel mention Hassan Tehrani, or question SCP-3941-3's identity as the Twelfth Imam.

SCP-3940 UNDEFINED