A Stage for the Revolution: Muharram and the Paradigm of Karbala in the context of Khomeini's Struggle with the Shah

Abstract

29 Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. XL, No.2, WINTER 2017 A Stage for the Revolution: Muharram and the Paradigm of Karbala in the context of Khomeini’s Struggle with the Shah Javier Gil Guerrero* Introduction An important part of Iran’s Islamic revolution was the role that religious rituals and Persian folklore played in the social upheaval. Khomeini successfully conjured the spirits of the past in order to bring change to the present. This paper describes how Khomeini made use of (and reinterpreted) the slaughter at Karbala (680) in order to mobilize the population. Throughout this process Khomeini not only helped to revive old traditions, but he also reactivated old concepts like “martyrdom” while instilling new meaning to them.1 The objective of this paper is to put the Khomeini’s use of Muharram (the commemoration of Hussein’s death at Karbala) in perspective and examine the nuances that he added to the story and the rituals that had emanated from it. ThroughtheuseofMuharram,Khomeini“presentedtherevolutionarymovement against the regime as a morality play […] where heroes and villains could be easily identified.”2 The study locates Khomeini’s refashioning of Karbala within the context of the Iranian revolution and the Pahlavi state, including the struggle for the ideological orientation of Shia Islam, the attempts to monopolize the Karbala commemorations by the Iranian authorities and the repeated use of those ceremonies for political motivations. The contention of this study is that through his approach to the story of *Javier Gil Guerrero is a professor of Middle Eastern History at the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria. He has recently published a book on the Iranian revolution, The Carter Administration & the Fall of Iran’s Pahlavi Dynasty (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) as well as several papers on Iran and the Persian Gulf in the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies and the Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos. He regularly writes on Islam in the Spanish press. 1 Elisabeth Jane Yarbakhsha, “Green martyrdom and the Iranian state,” Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, Volume 28, Issue 1, 2014. 2 Jahangir Amuzegar, The Dynamics of the Iranian Revolution: The Pahlavi’s Triumph and Tragedy (New York: State University of New York Press, 1991), 31. 30 Hussein, Khomeini transformed the traditional image of the Imam from a passive and abused victim of injustice to a revolutionary martyr who fought to death against tyranny and oppression. Hussein became the prototype of a permanent revolutionary in a particular “Liberation Theology” of Islam.3 Khomeini’s innovative portrayal of Hussein reinterpreted one of the cultural pillars of Shia Islam in order to advance an “activist” approach to religion instead of the “quietist” one. The Karbala commemorations were thus dressed to fit a message of confrontation against the Shah in which the revolution was the only possible way for Shiites irrespective of its chances of success. The core of this paper is the description of Khomeini’s use of Muharram during his two clashes with the regime of the Shah in 1963 and 1978. The account is preceded by a brief overview of the historical events that inspired the mourning rituals of Muharram and their significance in Iranian culture and history. The aim is to contextualize the shifting interpretation of the ceremonies in the 1960s and 1970s through the particular beliefs and customs of Persian folklore and Shia Islam. Hussein, Karbala and Muharram The commemorations of Muharram revolve around the tragic end of Imam Hussein’s life in the year 680. Grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and son of the first Shia imam (and fourth Sunni Caliph), Ali. The slaughter of Hussein and the division concerning Prophet Muhammad’s rightful heirs constitutes the epicentre of the divisions between Shia and Sunni Muslims. The Shiites believe that the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law Ali had been designated leader of the Muslim community by the Prophet himself on his deathbed. It was a designation of divine inspiration, not a personal choice:Ali had been named heir to Muhammad’s leadership by God. The Sunnis, on the other hand, ignoredAli’s claim (accusing him of falsifying the story) and proceeded to accept the ruling of the elders of Medina...