Muharram in Iran: An Onto-Political Ritual of Unity and Resistance against Oppression

The ritual of Muharram in Iran, traditionally understood in the West as a strictly religious ceremony, in fact holds a much deeper and more complex significance. It is not merely a spiritual commemoration, but an onto-political act that weaves together identity, historical memory, and resistance.

To fully grasp this dimension, one must first interrogate the very category of “religion” — understood as a modern, colonial construction — and recognize that Muharram is embedded in a discourse that transcends conventional boundaries between secular nationalism and the Islamic Republic, shaping a shared project of sovereignty and autonomy.

Religion as a colonial category

In contemporary studies on religion and politics, thinkers such as Talal Asad, Saba Mahmood, Gil Anidjar, and Jasbir Puar have challenged the notion of religion as an autonomous, universal sphere detached from the political. Asad, in particular, argues that “religion” is a modern European invention, imposed upon non-Western traditions as a form of epistemic and disciplinary fragmentation. This process has served to depoliticize certain practices by relegating them to the private or spiritual sphere, stripped of collective agency.

Saba Mahmood expands this critique by showing how religious practices can embody complex forms of ethical and political agency, often outside liberal or secular frameworks. Gil Anidjar emphasizes that the division between “religion” and “secularism” is a central mechanism of modern Christian governance, while Jasbir Puar has demonstrated how the category of religion has been instrumentalized to justify both colonial domination and national hierarchies in postcolonial states.

From these perspectives, Muharram must not be read as a mere religious observance, but rather as a form of political ontology — a mode of being-in-the-world that mobilizes affects, bodies, memories, and symbols in a praxis of resistance and sovereignty.

Muharram as onto-political remembrance

Muharram commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Hossein at Karbala, an event that symbolizes the perpetual struggle between justice and tyranny, between the oppressed and the oppressor. Far from being a purely devotional narrative, the Karbala paradigm is a foundational narrative for Iran’s collective memory. It operates as an ontological framework through which the political identity of the people is shaped, giving meaning to a historical trajectory marked by resistance to domination.

Each year, the ritual of Muharram reactivates this paradigm — not through ritualistic repetition, but through a symbolic renewal of the struggle against injustice. The performativity of mourning, elegiac chants, processions, and communal gatherings projects a shared horizon of dignity, sovereignty, and sacrifice. The past is inscribed in the present as a living historical continuity that legitimizes current forms of resistance and anticipates future ones.

Nationalism and the Islamic Republic: False oppositions, real convergences

In the Iranian context, Muharram also plays a central role as a site of national cohesion. However, this unity should not be understood as a mere meeting point between two oppositional poles — nationalism and Islamism — but rather as a deeper articulation in which both traditions meet, contend, and intertwine around a shared objective: the defense of Iranian sovereignty.

The supposed opposition between nationalism and Islamism has largely been an ideological construction, useful at certain historical junctures but inadequate in capturing the complexity of Iran’s political landscape. Both cultural nationalism and revolutionary Islamism share a common matrix of resistance against foreign interference, colonialism, and dispossession. In Muharram, this convergence finds expression in a shared symbolic language that integrates the religious, historical, and political.

During the Pahlavi monarchy, for instance, nationalism was instrumentalized by the regime as a tool to legitimize its authority, often at the expense of Shia Islam as a source of popular legitimacy. However, following the Islamic Revolution of 1979, and especially during the imposed eight-year war between Iran and Iraq, religion regained a central role. The Karbala narrative provided an ethical and affective framework that gave meaning to national defense. The war was interpreted as a continuation of Imam Hossein’s struggle, and the use of religious symbols was not only accepted but also embraced by fighters and citizens alike.

Muharram 2025: Between memory and present struggle

The Muharram of 2025 holds particular significance in the aftermath of the recent 12-day war between Iran and Israel. This conflict, widely perceived across Iranian society as an act of foreign aggression, has catalyzed a renewed moment of national cohesion. The massive mobilizations during Muharram have not been mere acts of devotion, but politically charged expressions through which unity, sovereignty, and national dignity have been reaffirmed.

The mourning ceremonies, public speeches, and grassroots demonstrations have projected a narrative of historical continuity: from Karbala to Qods, from Imam Hossein to contemporary martyrs. The Iranian people are not simply commemorating a sacred past — they are reactivating it as political practice in the face of present-day threats. Muharram thus becomes a site of articulation between memory, resistance, and collective action.

Muharram in Iran cannot be adequately understood through the reductionist lens of religion as a modern category. Rather, it must be seen as an onto-political ritual that embodies a particular mode of being and resisting — a collective practice that articulates memory, affect, identity, and sovereignty. In times of external aggression, such as the recent confrontation with Israel, Muharram functions as a catalyst for national unity, reinforcing the internal coherence of a people that has combined Islamism with an emancipatory political project.

Beyond the superficial tensions between nationalism and the Islamic Republic, the ritual becomes a space of convergence and affirmation. History and theology, culture and politics, meet in a shared praxis of defending autonomy. In this sense, Muharram is not merely a commemoration — it is an act of sovereignty in itself: a declaration that Iran will not bow, that its memory remains alive, and that its future will be shaped by its own people.

Understanding this dimension is key not only to grasping the specificity of Shia Islam in Iran, but also to appreciating the non-Western forms of articulating the religious and the political. Ultimately, Muharram is the living expression of a nation that resists through its memory and asserts itself through its faith.

Source.tehrantimes.