This short poem, attributed to Parvīn Iᶜtiṣāmī (d. 1941), appeared on social media during the Covid-19 pandemic, as Iran faced a dire shortage of vaccines. This shortage was aggravated by several problems, such as the back-breaking economic and political sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic, economic mismanagement, and corruption by the authorities. According to the BBC Persian news agency, the ambassador of Armenia responded to this crisis by telling the Hamshahri newspaper that starting on 15 June 2021, Iranians could travel to his country and get vaccinated if they stayed there for a period of ten days. Although the ambassador called this move a humanitarian initiative, some authorities in Iran tried to denigrate it by focusing on the economic benefits of these trips for Armenia. The poem circulated on various online platforms such as Instagram, WhatsApp, and Telegram following the news about vaccinations for Iranians in Armenia. These posts were shared and liked by many tens of thousands of people. Although the couplets are not really composed by Parvīn, attributing them to her shows her significant place in the living tradition of using poetry to voice the pain and suffering of Iranian people, and to protest against corruption by the religious and political authorities.

The central theme of this poem is religious controversy, as the moral virtues of Muslims and Christians are critically compared. A preacher asks his son how one can tell if somebody is a Muslim and is challenged by the answer he receives: a good Muslim is truthful, harmless and serves people. The only person who enjoys these traits is a Christian Armenian. The poem is also an explicit way of criticising the Islamic Republic of Iran that emphasises its Islamic character but in practice fails to protect the people against such a pandemic. About a century after Parvīn showed prowess in reviving debate poetry and using it as a safe space for self-expression, anonymous Iranian poets still relate to her innovations.