Iranian Artists Forum observes Ta’zieh performance

Iranian Artists Forum hosts Ta’zieh performance in commemoration of Imam Hussein (AS)’s martyrdom.

Iranian Artists Forum plays host to art troupe performing Ta’zieh until November 7, 2018. 

Ta'zieh, Persian passion play, is recognized as a form of Iranian national and dramatic musical play that is the theatrical expression of religious passion.

This traditional and folkloric play narrates the story of martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS), beloved grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and his companions in the Battle of Karbala.

Imam Hussein (AS) was brutally murdered, along with seventy-two of his companions on the tenth day of Muharram.

The bloody massacre took place in the sun-baked desert of Karbala in Iraq on the Ashura day, the tenth day of the Muslim month of Muharram.

The Battle of Karbala is commemorated during an annual 10-day period held every Muharram by Shia, culminating on its tenth day, known as the Day of Ashura.

Shia Muslims mark these events by mourning, holding public processions, distributing Nazri (charity food) and striking the chest.

Symbolizing epic spirit and resistance, Ta’zieh rituals depict the eternal and unwavering stance of truth against falsehood and humanity's struggle against tyranny realized by Imam Hussein (AS).

This Persian passion play was registered on the UNESCO list during the fifth session of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Committee in Nairobi, Kenya in November 2011.

The late renowned Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami also made a documentary movie titled ‘A Look to Ta’zieh’ in which he explores the relationship of the audience to this theatrical form.

Another veteran Iranian director Nasser Taghvaei also made a documentary on Ta’zieh titled ‘Tamrin e Akhar’.

As put by Elias Canetti, the 1982 Nobel Prize laureate in Literature, “Emotionally the contemplation of the personality and fate of Hussein stands in the center of the faith; they are the mainspring of the believer’s religious experience. His death interpreted as voluntary self-immolation, and it is through his suffering that the saints gain paradise’’.

MM/FM