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Since the start of Muharram – the first month of the Islamic calendar – last week, black cloth has been decorated in many streets and neighborhoods in Tehran and other Iranian cities as a sign of mourning.
Wednesday and Thursday are known as Tasua and Ashura, which are declared holidays in Iran every year by the rulers of mourning more than 1,300 years ago for Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and the third of the 12 Shia Muslim imams.
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For the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ashura is a political issue.
The government presents itself as a continuation of Hussein, the A “martyr” leader.who chose to die together with his fighters and relatives during the riots instead of bowing down to what he considered to be the unjust rule of the Umayyad caliphs of the time.
In the same way, the executioners of the Tehran-backed, and especially Shia, “axis of resistance” – such as the Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah – are believed by the supporters to have achieved the highest honor in death.
Khamenei, who has been in power for almost 37 years, is now called “seyyed ol-shohada” or the most respected martyr, by state media and other followers, which is a title closely associated with Imam Hussein.
More than four months after his death at the beginning of the war with the United States and Israel in the city of Tehran on February 28, Khamenei should be buried in the second week of July, the month of Muharram. After six days of events in several cities, Khamenei will be buried in the Shia shrine of Imam Reza in the northeast of Mashhad.
For weeks after Khamenei’s burial, Iranian cities are expected to be shrouded in black.
The events of Ashura
Mosques, squares and streets across Iran are now filled with countless black-clad Ashura tents and stations decorated with pro-government messages, some displaying images of officials killed during the war. They sing loud religious songs and sing all the time during the day, especially at night, and sometimes they distribute tea and drinks.
Tehran’s Enghelab (Revolution) Square and other major areas are closed at night to accommodate major government events.
Ashura funeral processions also pass through some areas carrying “alamu” or rituals related to Karbala, the Iraqi city where Imam Hussein was killed. Most are run by government-affiliated groups and government agencies, which they own they are taken from the streets every night since the beginning of the war. Some are protected by the police and some armed forces.
In some open spaces and mourning gathering places called tekkiyehs, there are rituals of singing and beating the chest in unison, along with “zanjir-zani” or rubbing of the shoulders and back with light chains and other instruments. Elegies and funerals in Persian and Arabic, blasting from loudspeakers, are sometimes mixed with live drums or chants among the crowds on the streets, which are illuminated by dark red lights.
Food stalls have also been set up in mosques or on the streets, distributing subsidized or subsidized food.
Religious traditions
But not all Ashura rituals are linked to the state, as Iranians mark the occasion with religious traditions passed down through the generations, or to honor loved ones who have recently died.
“My family made ash-e reshteh on the night of Ashura, and we took it to our neighbors’ doors as a way of showing respect and remembering our grandfather, who passed away,” a young woman living in western Tehran told Al Jazeera, referring to the type of Iranian soup that is traditionally made during this time and several other foods.
This year, several Iranian families used their Muharram and Ashura gatherings as a way to remember their loved ones. He was killed during the nationwide protests in January.
Footage broadcast on social media this week from several cities, including Isfahan and Amol, showed the mothers and other relatives of the slain protesters in tears as they carried pictures to remember their loved ones during the Muharram festival.
Thousands of people were killed, especially on the night of January 8 and 9 in the internet and a complete shutdown.
For government officials and their ardent supporters, this year’s funeral events provide another opportunity to confront foreign countries and their plans in Iran, as the country engages in negotiations with Washington after signing a deal. memorandum of understanding last week ended the four-month US-Israel war on Iran.
State radio aired interviews with street activists, who said they did not trust the United States.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, who agreed to the talks with the US and earlier this week said he was concerned about further protests between them. increasing public dissatisfactionused the day of Ashura to convey a message of national unity and resistance to wartime.
“Any message, word, or action that destroys unity and harmony benefits the enemy, even if the opposition shown is justified,” he said, speaking on Wednesday night at the mausoleum of former Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979.
