ta'ziyeh

The tradition & historical record

Ta'ziyeh, also spelled as ta'zieh (Iranian Persian: تعزیه, romanized: taʿziye [tæʔziˈje], from Arabic ‏تعزية‎ taʿziya, 'condolence'), is a dramatic art form of Iran, performed by Shia Muslims, and historically also called shabih-khani (Iranian Persian: شبیه‌خوانی, romanized: šabih-xâni [ʃæbiːɦxɒːˈniː]), though this term is less commonly used today (see § Etymology and terminology, below). Performances of ta'ziyeh have often been described as "Iranian passion plays". They reenact the events of the Battle of Karbala (680 CE), centering on the tragic death of Husayn ibn Ali, a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, along with his family members and companions on the plains of Karbala (present-day Iraq). The event, which resulted from a political struggle over leadership of the Muslim community after Muhammad's death, became a powerful symbol of sacrifice, resistance, and justice in Shia Islam. Sir Lewis Pelly began the preface of his book about ta'ziyeh maintaining that ¹

If the success of a drama is to be measured by the effects which it produces upon the people for whom it is composed, or upon the audiences before whom it is represented, no play has ever surpassed the tragedy known in the Mussulman world as that of Hasan and Husain. Years later Peter J. Chelkowski, professor of Iranian and Islamic studies at New York University, chose the same words for the beginning of his book Taʻziyeh: Ritual and Drama in Iran. Today, we know of 250 ta'ziyeh pieces. ¹

The Iranian Persian word تعزیه (taʿziye) derives from Arabic ‏تعزية‎ (taʿziya, 'condolence'), which is the verbal noun of the Form II verb عزى (ʿazza 'to console'). A performer or reciter who takes part in a ta'ziyeh play is called a ta'ziyeh-khan (Iranian Persian: تعزیه‌خوان, romanized: taʿziye-xân [tæʔzijeˈxɒːn], lit. 'ta'ziyeh-reciter'). The act or practice of performing a ta'ziyeh play is called ta'ziyeh-khani (Iranian Persian: تعزیه‌خوانی, romanized: taʿziye-xâni [tæʔzijexɒːˈniː], lit. 'ta'ziyeh-recitation'). The word shabih-khani (Iranian Persian: شبیه‌خوانی, romanized: šabih-xâni, from Arabic ‏شبيه‎ šabīh 'resembling, similar') is an alternative term for ta'ziyeh, although it is now less commonly used; it emphasizes the act of impersonating figures from the tragedy of Karbala. ¹

There are two branches of Islam; the Sunni and the Shi'i. The Sunnis make up about 85–90% of Muslims, but the ta'ziyeh tradition is performed by Shia Muslims during the first month of the Muslim calendar, Muharram, one of the four sacred months of the Islam calendar. The ta'ziyeh is performed each year on the 10th day of Muharram, a historically significant day for the Shia Muslims because that was the day of Husayn's slaughter. Each year the same story is told, so the spectators know the story very well and know what to expect. However, this does not negatively affect audience levels. A strong belief in the Muslim community was that nothing created by regular people could be better than the way Allah created it, so all other creation was deemed disrespectful. Because of this, there are not many accounts—visually or otherwise—of this religious tradition. During the tradition it was very important that all spectators knew the actors were not disrespecting Allah, so most often, the actors had their scripts on stage with them so it was clear that they were not trying to depict another person that Allah did not create. ¹

Ta'ziyeh is often discussed in relation to earlier Iranian narrative and performative traditions. According to Anthony Shay, sacred Iranian performative practices such as rowzeh-khani and ta'ziyeh "have direct roots to the related and corresponding non-sacred practices of shah-nameh-khani, naqqali, and siyah-bazi theatre." Some scholars have noted parallels between ta'ziyeh and pre-Islamic mourning narratives, particularly the story of Siavash in the Shahnameh, whose tragic death and subsequent mourning rituals are sometimes cited as an early example of ritual lamentation in Iranian culture. Ta'ziyeh as a kind of passion play is a kind of comprehensive indigenous form considered as being the national form of Iranian theatre which have pervasive influence in the Iranian works of drama and play. It originates from some famous mythologies and rites such as Mithraism, Sug-e Siavush (Mourning for Siavush) and Yadegar-e Zariran or Memorial of Zarir. Mourning for Siavosh as reflected in literature is a manifestation of all the prominent characteristics of Islamic shabih-khani. Quoting Seyed Hossein Fadaie, ¹

Some believe that Iman Hossein's tragedy as depicted in Taziah is the next recreation of the legend of Siavosh ¹

There is uncertainty about when ta'ziyeh appeared in its Islamic form. According to Ghanoonparvar and Green, ¹

Although the roots of ta'ziyeh date back many centuries, even to pre-Islamic Iran, in its Islamic form, it began to thrive during the Safavid period, in the sixteenth century, and flourished later, particularly in the nineteenth century, during the Qajar dynasty, whose kings patronized this dramatic art form." According to Chelkowski, ¹

The ta‘zia passion play was born in the middle of the 18th century (although many scholars believe it occurred as early as in the end of the 17th century; see Beyżāʾi) when the costumed marchers of the dasta began to recite the stories of the rowża-ḵᵛāni. Monchi-Zadeh considered ta'ziyeh to be a modern form of theater likely originating around the first decade of the 19th century, based on his observation that neither native Persian literature, nor Western travelers noted any theatrical productions in Muharram prior to the 19th century. ¹

The development of ta'ziyeh reached its peak during the Qajar period thanks, in particular, to the great interest shown by the Qajar rulers, especially Naser al-Din Shah Qajar (r. 1848–1896), who would build the Takyeh Dowlat (see § Performance spaces, below). A most important development during this period is that "due to popular demand," performances of ta'ziyeh were no longer restricted to the month of Muharram and the following month of Safar, but extended to other times throughout the year. In the beginning, there were only certain dates in the Shiite calendar when ta'ziyeh could be performed. For example, the ta'ziyeh of the martyrdom of Ali, the first Shiite Imam and the fourth caliph, was performed on the 21st of Ramadan, the day Ali died from a sword wound. Popular appreciation of this dramatic form encouraged the growth of the ta'ziyeh repertory. Other stories from the Islamic tradition as well as biblical stories and Iranian national legends were incorporated. Since staging a performance involved a great deal of effort, a ta'ziyeh group would usually perform in the same place for several days, mixing the Muharram repertory with what we can call the fringe ta'ziyeh plays. Among these plays, we finally come across comedies, or more accurately, satires, concerning various perceived enemies of the Shiites. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Ta'ziyeh”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

ta'ziyeh is Iranian Shia dramatic art form, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 25 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²