The Martyrs of Karbala: Shi'i Symbols and Rituals in Modern Iran

Preface

Preface This book explores the significant transformation of Iranian Shiªi rituals and symbols of Moharram, which center on the seventhcentury Battle of Karbala. Patterns of change are traced from the mid nineteenth century to the close of the twentieth century, in an effort to demonstrate the diverse ways in which the processes of modernization have affected the broader society, political dynamics, and religious culture of Iran. It is hoped that by looking at the popular religious rituals of Moharram it is possible to shed light on how selected aspects of popular culture, politics, and society have either changed or resisted change in relation to the broader transformations brought on by state-led modernization and international influence. This study argues that the modern Iranian state was unable fully to control, transform, or marginalize these rituals and symbols. Rather, Moharram symbols and rituals evolved both in response to state-initiated changes and independently of state actions. Often other forces of change were more important factors than the modernization trends led by the state. Historical studies of developing countries like Iran have generally been concerned with issues primarily related to the “modernity” debate. This debate focuses attention on such topics as imperialism, the development of nation-states, economic modernization, efforts by governments to promote their own legitimacy, and the spread of modern ideologies like nationalism, democracy, and secularism. These issues are generally analyzed either within the context of colonial and postcolonial relationships between Western imperialist states and developing countries or within the context of state-centered politics. As a result of the economic, political, and cultural influences brought on by modern international forces, the governments of these countries have implemented modernization programs that inevitably incorporate at least some Western ideas, institutions, and values. This process of modernization has led to very rapid, and at times traumatic, change ix in the societies and cultures of developing countries. Historians who analyze the modern history of these societies are often interested in better understanding the process of rapid change underway in developing countries during the modern era. The first task of the historian is to find evidence with which to analyze changes in the society under study. Because of the scarcity of certain types of primary resources available to historians of Iran, many have been forced to deal with this problem by studying modernization programs supported both by the state and by the modernizing elites. This is done partly because the state and the ruling elites provided a great deal of evidence upon which to draw. It is a simple historical fact that the state and the educated elites have left far more detailed records than have farmers, butchers, children, laborers, and women. It therefore stands to reason that the state and elites should be the starting point of any scholarly study on modern Iran. This book is not an exception to this general rule. However, this book tries to expand the analysis as far beyond the state as the sources will allow. This approach is intended to ascribe or attribute greater agency to groups and individuals outside the circles of government and power in Iran. A state-centered approach runs the risk of forcing the historian to postulate that there existed a traditional culture within a social, economic , and political order that is either static or in decline. The traditional order may then be characterized as having been progressively supplanted by the process of modernization promoted in society by the state and the modernizing elites. This has often caused proponents of traditional social and cultural norms, as well as newly emerging political opposition groups, to reject and criticize these modernization programs. One of the main difficulties posed by this approach is that it usually focuses primarily upon politics, the state, and the modernizing elites, often ignoring broader social and cultural processes of transformation taking place in the society. The challenge facing historians who want to examine traditionally unexplored areas of society is the difficulty of finding evidence with which to analyze alternative dimensions of social and cultural change. In the case of Iran, there is an excellent vehicle for analyzing both the state and broader changes in society, namely, the Karbala Paradigm .1 The symbols derived from interpretations of the seventhcentury Battle of Karbala have historically been used by Shiªis to x Preface articulate a wide range of political, ethical, and cultural values. Hoseyn and Yazid represent a spectrum. At one end of this spectrum, Hoseyn symbolizes goodness...