Encyclopedia of Islam

Husayniyya

Husayniyya in Bahrain 

(Juan E. Campo)

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local community and the attitudes of the rulers. 

For example, it is estimated that in the early 19th 

century, the north Indian city of Lucknow had as 

many as 8,000 Husayniyyas and takiyas under its 

pro-Shii rulers, the Nawwabs, while the region 

of Khorasan in Iran today has some 2,000 such 

structures. Sunni Wahhabis, on the other hand, 

destroyed Husayniyyas in the past and strictly 

control their proliferation in the Eastern Province 

of s

aUdi

 a

rabia

 today. Shii immigrant communi-

ties living in North America and Europe have 

built their own Husayniyyas.

The ritual practices conducted at the Husayni-

yya have varied, often depending on local commu-

nity custom. Generally, they are governed by what 

one scholar has called the “Karbala paradigm,” 

which involves the commemoration of events sur-

rounding the martyrdom of Husayn and his loyal 

followers. Rituals include long, moving recitations 

of elegiac poems (sing. marthiyya) that employ 

themes of divine justice and worldly injustice, 

death, and suffering. Such recitations often pro-

voke outbursts of weeping among participants. 

The Husayniyya, often decorated with banners, 

religious portraiture, emblems, and Karbala mod-

els, is where ritual objects used in Ashura proces-

sions are stored, and affiliated members organize 

the Ashura processions and related ritual perfor-

mances. In many communities, participants in 

Husayniyya rituals beat their chests in rhythmic 

unison or afflict their bodies by self-flagellation, 

which can induce copious bleeding—a demon-

stration of one’s piety, devotion, manliness, and 

atonement for one’s sins. Theatrical reenactments, 

including musical performances and costumed 

actors, of moments in Shii sacred history, culmi-

nating with Husayn’s death, are staged at Husayni-

yyas and takiyas in Iran. Husayniyyas are also 

where people gather for 

prayer

, other religious 

holidays

, and funerals.

Traditionally, Husayniyyas have been reli-

gious places for men, while 

Women

 have con-

ducted their Ashura rites at home, although they 

also watch and participate in public processions. 

In recent years, women in some countries have 

established their own Husayniyyas, using them 

as centers of 

edUcation

 and political activity, 

as has happened in Bahraini matams in recent 

years. The modern transformation of Husayni-

yyas into political focal points occurred in Iran 

in the 1960s and 1970s, when Iranians became 

actively involved in antigovernment activities 

that eventually led to the i

ranian

  r

evolUtion

oF

 1978–1979. The most famous example is the 

Husayniyya-i Irashad, founded in 1965 in the 

Iranian capital, Tehran. It had male and female 

members and offered films and a forum for the 

expression of new religious and political ideas. 

It engaged 

Ulama

 and laity alike and featured 

the lectures of a

li

  s

hariati

 (d. 1977), whose 

revolutionary talks rallied people against the 

government.

See also s

hiism

; W

ahhabism

.