A Death Never-ending: Theoretical Reflections on the Ritualized Recurrence of Imam Husain's Becoming and Death in Shi'ism

“Every land is Karbala, every day is `ashura.” This maxim, attributed to Imam Jaʿfar al-Sadiq provides a number of insights into the ongoing and never fully completed death of Imam Husain at the battle of Karbala in 680 CE. In Husain Va`ez Kashefi’s Rowzat al-Shohada, and in marsiya, salam, and nauha poems, the Shi`a are commanded to always remember Imam Husain and his loyal followers and family members. In the dramatic performance of the Iranian ta`ziyeh tradition through the ritualized, public, and collective performance of matam by men, the martyrdom of Imam Husain never remains a past and completed event. Shi`i devotional texts and a multitude of performative modes constitute a ritualized recurrence in which Imam Husain’s death is an act that took place in the past (recurrence), yet its remembrance (ritual) produces a never-ending becoming, of being in the present and a projection toward the eschatological future. The consummate martyr (shahid), Imam Husain’s death is limited to the corporeal: “And do not say of those who are slain in the way of Allah: ‘They are dead’. No, they are living, though you do not perceive it” (Qur’an 2:154). Roy Rappaport’s theory of recurrent ritual refers to performances that “lead back, so to speak, from whence they came. Cycles are familiar, and many liturgical orders, most obviously calendrical orders, take a ‘cyclical’ form” (1992). Kashefi speaks of the recurrent nature of Imam Husain’s becoming and death when he writes, “Nearly 847 years have passed between the martyrdom of Imam Husain and the writing of this book. Every time the month of Muharram is renewed, the letters reviving his suffering will be drawn upon the pages of the hearts of Muslims, and the devotees of the Prophet of humanity” (1979). The ta`ziyeh likewise is a recurrent, cyclical ritualized re-presentation of Imam Husain’s becoming a hero of faith and a living martyr. In the dramatic performance of the ta`ziyeh, Imam Husain is brought back to life—he is made immediate and real—and his death is re-presented and the wounds the martyr received on his body are re-inscribed on the bodies of Shi`i devotees as they perform matam on `ashura.