Letter from Tehran/Caitriona Palmer: Confused about the latest Fatwa? Not sure what to do if your neighbours belong to an outlawed religious minority? Worried that you might have touched a non-Muslim yesterday and didn't wash properly afterwards? Anxious that the "infidel" Coca-Cola you drank last week could have contained alcohol?
Well, never fear, because thanks to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran 's supreme leader, your answers are now just a click away. Last week Khamenei joined a growing rank of Iranian clerics by launching his own website (www.khamenei.ir) that offers biographical and anecdotal information, speeches, religious decrees and fatwas.
The usually aloof supreme leader smiles benevolently in photographs as surfers click their way through the musings of Iran's most powerful mullah. In one section, worried members of the faithful can write in with their concerns and seek Khamenei's advice.
"We have Baahi neighbours," writes one, referring to Iran's largest religious minority that is routinely persecuted by the authorities. "Our neighbours are good people and we have excellent relations with them. What should we do?"
"These people are harem (forbidden, unlawful) and are the enemy of our religion and beliefs," replies Khamenei. "You should end your relationship with them".
Unusually chatty for Iran's infallible leader, Khamenei's website talks about his difficult childhood and offers anecdotes on life as the supreme leader. One anecdote tells how he has banned his pilots from speaking English to Iranian air traffic control towers.
"In any aeroplane I am flying in, that is forbidden", he says. "Why don't they speak Persian?"
Perhaps Khamenei has been playing close attention to the popular website of reformist Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi who writes a daily weblog about life as a leading cleric in Iran and receives over 15,000 online visitors a day.
On the site (www.webnevesht.com ) Abtahi jokes about his weight problem, makes fun of his rivals and posts photographs of Iranian and world leaders, taken with his mobile phone camera. One photo shows a leading conservative journalist picking his nose. Another shows the broken chair that collapsed under Abthai's portly frame while giving a live interview to Al-Jazeera television.
"To be fair, I should say that it was not only the chair's fault but also being overweight", writes Abtahi following the incident. "It's better that I say it before you do. Isn't it?"
Abtahi's frank and jovial attitude has made him an instant cyber hit, but he has drawn the wrath of conservative and reformists alike who criticise his blog as demeaning to the Islamic republic and his own religious rank. But Abtahi insists he's simply having fun.
"Some say I have ruined the religion, clergy and government; others believe that I am a deceiver who wants to idle people in order to keep this regime in power", Abtahi writes.
"Who should I swear to that I just like writing a weblog?"
But the prize for the most innovative clerical website surely belongs to mid-ranking cleric Jafar Savalanpour Ardabili, whose dating website (www.ardabili.com ) offers lonely hearts the chance to navigate Iran 's complicated restrictions on mingling with the opposite sex. In a country where kissing in public can land unmarried couples in hot water and where traditional matchmaking is still common, Ardabili's website offers young couples the chance to meet each other on the web, albeit under clerical supervision.
Prospective clients answer an online questionnaire that asks: "Would you like to marry a widow or widower?", or "Would it be ok if your partner wanted to further their education?"
Since launching the website six years ago, Ardabili has arranged over 1,000 unions with clients ranging in age from 16 to 82.
Ardabili is also an agony aunt for Iranians struggling to reconcile their sexual frustrations with Iran's strict religious code.
"How can one stay away from desire between the ages of 16 and 20?" writes a young Iranian man.
"Exercise is the best solution to this problem", replies Ardabili. "Along with studying and/or busying yourself with something ... if all else fails, permanent marriage is the only solution."
In a country where the internet has caught the imagination of a massive youth population, clerics seem anxious to 'get with it' by launching websites and entering cyberspace.
Caitriona Palmer, who has been reporting from Iran for The Irish Times on a part-time basis, is being forced to leave the country. She and her husband, Dan De Luce, who writes for The Guardian of London, went to Bam without official permission, to report on the effects of the recent earthquake. Subsequently, the authorities revoked Mr De Luce's residence visa and press accreditation. Despite appeals, including from The Irish Times, he has to leave for at least three months, and Ms Palmer with him. Ms Palmer, a Dubliner, has also reported for RTÉ.