The mourning ceremonies of Muharram are age-old traditions among Shiite Muslims around the world, especially those in Iran. The rituals commemorate the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Hussein ibn Ali and his companions in the seventh-century Battle of Karbala. In recent years, however, the ceremonies have prompted concern among Iranian clerics and religious intellectuals over what they consider to be deviations from core principle. 

In Iran and other Shiite-majority countries, the first 10 days of the Islamic lunar month of Muharram are marked with a mourning procession (“dasteh”), going to prayer halls and performing the rituals of “sineh-zani” (beating one’s chest with the hand) and “zanjir-zani” (flagellating ones back with small chains). In the past, the chest beating and flagellating were confined to mosques and prayer halls and took place solely on the ninth and 10th days of Muharram, known as Tasu’a and Ashura. These two days saw groups of mourners dressed in black marching in the streets, and as they did so, they chanted eulogies and flagellated themselves in unison, to display their devotion to Hussein. These days, however, these processions are sometimes organized differently.

Self-selected groups or “heyat” (religious associations) are now taking to the streets any time they like during the first 10 days of Muharram. In the past, these rituals also involved eulogies of Shiite figures as well as historical and philosophical narratives about Ashura and Hussein’s uprising against the Umayyad caliph Yazid. Over time, however, such remembrance has become less prominent. The declining historical and philosophical aspects of Muharram are not new, but rather part of an ongoing trend that has been a source of concern for clerics and religious intellectuals for quite some time.

The past decade has seen eulogists (“madahan”) grow in prominence in regard to Muharram traditions. Prior to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s two terms in office (2005-13), eulogists only dealt with religious matters related to Muharram and Ashura. Being a eulogist was not considered an independent profession; it did not pay a self-sustaining wage. In fact, only those who had exceptional voices recited eulogies in mosques and prayer halls during Muharram, and they did so while retaining full-time occupations.