Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Mahmoud Ayoub, Redemptive Suffer-

ing in Islam: A Study of the Devotional Aspects of Ashura 

in Twelver Shiism (The Hague: Mouton, 1978); Peter 

Chelkowski, ed., Taziyeh: Ritual and Drama in Iran (New 

York: New York University Press, 1979); Moojan Momen, 

An Introduction to Shii Islam: The History and Doctrines 

of Twelver Shiism (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University 

Press, 1985); Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Taba-

tabai,  Shiite Islam. Translated by Seyyed Hossein Nasr 

(Albany: State University of New York Press, 1975).

Husayniyya

 

(Arabic, based on the name 

Husayn; also spelled Hosayniyya)

A Husayniyya is a ritual hall, room, or build-

ing where the Shia gather to commemorate the 

Husayniyya

  

319  J

---

martyrdom

 of the third i

mam

, h

Usayn

 

ibn

 a

li

 (d. 

680), who died on the battlefield of k

arbala

 in 

i

raq

. Historically, it began in 10th-century Iraq 

with tents that were erected temporarily for a

shUra

observances at the beginning of Muharram, the 

first month on the Islamic 

calendar

. Later, these 

observances were conducted in palaces, houses, 

or open spaces. In the era of the s

aFavid

 

dynasty

(1501–1722), when the name Husayniyya was 

first coined, Iranian and Iraqi Shii Muslims made 

it a more fixed structure attached to a house or a 

self-standing building.

The idea of creating a special ritual gather-

ing place for Ashura observances subsequently 

spread beyond Iraq and i

ran

 to Shii communities 

in other parts of the world. As a consequence of 

its growing popularity and adaptation to different 

Shii localities, it became known under a variety of 

other names, such as takiya (place of piety) and 

zaynabiyya (in honor of Husayn’s sister Zaynab) 

in Iran; matam (funeral house) in Bahrain and 

Oman; and imambarah (enclosure of the Imam), 

imambargah (Imam building), azakhana (mourn-

ing house), ashurkhana (Ashura house), and 

taaziyakhana (condolence house) in i

ndia

,  b

an

-

gladesh

, and p

akistan

. These constructions were 

financed by donations from wealthy Muslim mer-

chants, landlords, or nobles, and by waqfs, which 

were income-producing properties set aside by the 

donor as perpetual endowments for the benefit of 

the community. As a form of Islamic 

architec

-

tUre

, the Husayniyya assumed a variety of forms. 

It does not resemble the 

mosqUe

 so much as it 

does the khanqah and 

tekke

, where Sufis gather at 

appointed times to remember God and honor the 

memories of m

Uhammad

 and the Sufi 

saint

s and 

spiritual masters. Although some are of consider-

able size, most are modest structures.

The size and number of Husayniyyas have 

been affected by the degree of prosperity in the 

K  320