A Religious Ritual in Iran Becomes a New Form of Protest

A Religious Ritual in Iran Becomes a New Form of Protest

New York Times

Photographs by Arash Khamooshi

Aug. 13, 2023,

The large crowd of men congregated at the center of a mosque in the central city of Yazd, clad in black and beating their chests rhythmically in unison. They were commemorating Ashura, Shia Islam’s most sacred ritual, showcased annually with great fanfare in Iran as a testament to the Shiite theocracy’s power and strength.

But this year Ashura looked different. The mourners who gathered in Yazd last month and in many other cities across Iran diverged unexpectedly from the script to target the clerical rulers of Iran, turning religious ballads into protest songs about the suffering of Iranians.

“For a city in ruins, for all of us held hostage, for the grieving mothers, for the tears of the marginalized,” the men sang, according to videos. “We are mourning thousands of innocent lives, we are ashamed of this raging fire. Oh rain, oh storm, come. They have set fire to our tent.”

In Kermanshah, a Kurdish city in western Iran, a religious vocalist known as a maddah stood on the street, microphone in hand, singing about officials “stealing and devouring” resources away from desolate people.

And in Dezful, a small conservative city in the southwest, a similar vocalist delivered a scathing sermon against the government as the crowd marched in a ritual procession.

“Oh, my country, do you know why I’m grieving? Their only concern is hijab. They don’t see the blood, the poverty. They are stealing the public’s money,” serenaded the vocalist, Ibrahim Nassrollahi. “Fathers are ashamed, mothers are suffering. I wish they would see our poverty.”

Instead of the traditional chant that describes an ancient tale of grief, the crowd shouted back: “Iran, Iran, Iran!”

Read more on the original:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/13/world/middleeast/ashura-iran-protests.html