Encyclopedia of Islam

Karbala

  

423  J

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displaying a representation of it), carrying such 

traditional items as mock coffins, poles topped 

by the five-fingered hand (representing the five 

members of the 

ahl

 

al

-

bayt

: Muhammad, Fatima, 

Ali, Hasan, and Husayn), displaying banners 

showing scenes from Husayn’s life, and carrying 

scale models of the tomb of Husayn at Karbala 

(called  naql or darih) on a palanquin; perform-

ing “passion plays” (taaziya in Iran or shabih in 

Iraq and Lebanon) reenacting the martyrdom at 

Karbala; participating in collective rites of self-

flagellation (latam) using chains (zanjir-zani) 

and swords (qumma-zani) or, more recently, razor 

blades tapped on the forehead, and rhythmically 

beating the chest in unison (sina-zani). Celebrants 

set up a group of visual symbols for the events of 

Muharram, an Imamzada. There are performances 

of elegiac poetry and songs of devotion and vener-

ation for Husayn and the ahl al-bayt in the home, 

and public recitals (rawda-khani) of the suffer-

ings and martyrdoms of all the Imams, especially 

Husayn, at gatherings (majlis/majalis) in buildings 

known as Husayniyyas in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon, 

imambaras in India, and matams in Bahrain. For 

many modern Sunni Muslims, particularly those 

in the West, Shii religious sensibility has always 

seemed extreme, even a bit frightening and repel-

lent. Thus, some contemporary Shiis have moved 

away from Ashura rituals of “bloodletting” and 

even the bloodless flagellation of rhythmic chest 

beating, which function to evoke the “passion” 

and suffering of Imam Husayn, and have recently 

allowed the painless substitute of giving 

blood

 to 

the Red Crescent (the Islamic equivalent of the 

Red Cross).

The ongoing impact of the events of Karbala 

and their annual commemoration during Ashura 

lie in Shiism’s ideology of martyrdom, self-sacri-

fice, and redemptive suffering, and a strong direc-

tive toward community service and volunteerism. 

The moral example of Karbala, of resisting over-

whelming evil even unto death, has illuminated 

Shii life experience through the centuries whether 

in the context of oppression of the minority Shii 

umma by the Sunni majority or its oppression 

by non-Muslim forces, as in Israel’s invasions 

and bombings of southern Lebanon. Recent Shii 

religio-political movements, such as h

izbUllah

,

continuously interpret their contemporary expe-

riences of persecution and suffering within the 

trope of Husayn’s passion and martyrdom at 

Karbala. Their sacrifice of blood and sweat, like 

Husayn’s, is quite literal: “This is our Karbala, this 

is our Husayn, we live on, Karbala lives on in the 

Lebanese Resistance” (quoted in Deeb 159).

See also 

holidays

; h

Usayniyya

; 

shiism

.

Kathleen M. O’Connor