The Tradition of the Maddāḥ in Iran: Ritual, Social Memory and Political Discourse

This study offers a comprehensive examination of the maddāḥ tradition in Iran, considering its historical significance, ritual context, and the socio-political roles it has assumed in the modern era. The narrative of Karbala, which holds a central position in the theological, cultural, and social fabric of the Shia Islamic world, has, through the maddāḥs, developed from a simple religious commemoration into a dynamic arena where social memory and political discourse are continually recreated. Drawing on Maurice Halbwachs’s theory of collective memory, Jan Assmann’s concept of cultural memory, Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of habitus, and Michel Foucault’s theories of power, the study analyses the crucial role of maddāḥ performances in mass mobilisation, the generation of social consent, and the construction of ideological legitimacy. Historically, it traces the tradition’s origins in pre-Islamic Iranian epic culture (the Siyavush myth), through the Safavid, Qajar, and Pahlavi periods, focusing especially on the transformations following the founding of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979. The research also highlights the significant role played by maddāḥs in mobilisation during the Iran-Iraq War, leadership crises, and succession processes, as well as their global reach through digitalisation in contemporary times. The aim is to clarify, from a qualitative perspective, how maddāḥ performance has shifted from a traditional mourning ritual to a modern tool for political mobilisation. Through the performances of leading contemporary maddāḥs such as Nādir Javādī, Mahdī Rasūlī, Meysam Moṭī’ī, and Maḥmūd Karīmī, this article examines the ontological significance of the maddāḥ’s voice, the aesthetics of the performance, and the emotional atmosphere it engenders in the construction of social identity. The article contends that the maddāḥ tradition is not merely a mourning ritual but also a vital institution for understanding Iran’s social and political framework.