A eulogist got himself in trouble for saying in a televised interview Oct. 8, during the most sacred holidays in Iran, that Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, used to swear — and how the eulogist is only following Hussein’s example. The interview was recorded in Tehran’s Bazaar for a program called "Bedun-e Ta’arof" ("Bluntly").

Ashura is known to Shiite Muslims as the day Imam Hussein was killed during the battle of Karbala by Yazid, the Umayyad caliph, and is nationally mourned across Iran continuously for days. Eulogists hold a key role in the mourning rituals and are often the center of attention when they chant and tell stories about Karbala in mosques and private homes and at public gatherings.

This year, the comments of famous eulogist Hajj Mansour Arzi, who is close to the Principlist faction in Iran, stirred strong reactions from governmental officials as well as the hard-liners who usually back him up.

On Oct. 10, Ensaf News, a media outlet close to the Reformists, wrote, “[Even] Yazidis and [our] informed enemies have never interpreted the imam’s speech as an insult; but unexpectedly, these friends introduce their own imam as someone abusive.”