“Now hear from me a story which is more brightly coloured than a
garden flower,
Of those who make mourning for Ḥusayn and sit in assemblies in
frenzied excitement.

All wear black for Fáṭima's darling, *
Establish houses of mourning and make lament for the King of
Karbalá. *
In every corner they prepare a feast and arrange a pleasant assembly;
They carpet court-yard and chamber, they bedeck with inscriptions
arch and alcove;
They spread fair carpets, they set out graceful furnishings;
A host of gluttonous men, all beside themselves and intoxicated with
the cup of greed,
On whom greed has produced such an effect that, like the stamp on
the gold, *
It has set its mark on their foreheads, make enquiry about such
assemblies.
One of them says, ‘O comrades, well-approved friends, versed in
affairs,
‘I and Ḥájji 'Abbás went yesterday to the entertainment of that
green-grocer fellow.
‘In that modest entertainment there was nothing but tea and coffee,
‘And we saw no one there except the host and one or two rawẓa-
khwáns. *
‘To sit in such an assembly is not meet, for without sugar and tea
it has no charm.
‘God is not pleased with that servant in whose entertainment is
neither sherbet nor sugar.
‘But, by Him who gives men and jinn their daily bread, in such-
and-such a place is an entertainment worthy of kings,
‘A wonderfully pleasant and comfortable entertainment, which, I am
sure, is devoid of hypocrisy.
‘There is white tea and sugar-loaf of Yazd in place of sugar,
‘And crystal qalyáns with flexible tubes, at the gargle of which the
heart rejoices.
‘The fragrance of their tobacco spreads for miles, and the fire gleams
on their heads like [the star] Canopus.
‘No water will be drunk there, but draughts of lemon, sugar and
snow.

‘One of the reciters is Mírzá Káshí, who, they say, is the chief of
rawẓa-khwáns.
‘Another of them is the rhapsodist of Rasht, who is like a boat in
the ocean of song.
‘From Kirmán, Yazd and Kirmánsháh, from Shíráz, Shushtar and
Iṣfahán,
‘All are skilled musicians of melodious and charming voices: they
are like the kernel and others like the shell.
‘In truth it is a wonderful entertainment, devoid of hypocrisy: by
your life it is right to attend it!’
When the friends hear this speech with one accord they assemble
at that banquet.”

On the whole, however, the emotion evoked by these Muḥarram mournings, whether dramatic representations European testimony to the true pathos of the Muḥarram mournings. or recitations, is deep and genuine, and even foreigners and non-Muslims confess themselves affected by them. “If the success of a drama,” says Sir Lewis Pelly in the Preface to his translation of thirty-seven scenes from the Ta'ziyas, * “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. Mr Matthew Arnold, in his ‘Essays on Criticism,’ elegantly sketches the story and effects of this ‘Persian Passion Play,’ while Macaulay's Essay on Lord Clive has encircled the ‘Mystery’ with a halo of immortality.” Even the critical and sceptical Gibbon says: * “In a distant age and climate the tragic scene of the death of Hosein will awaken the sympathy of the coldest reader.” Sayyidu'sh-Shuhadá (“the Chief of the Martyrs”) the Persians call their favourite hero, who is, indeed, in their eyes more even than this, since his intercession will be accepted by God for his sinful followers even when the intercession of the Prophet has failed. “Go thou,” says the latter to him on the Resurrection Day, “and deliver from the flames every one who has in his life-time shed but a single tear for thee, every one who has in any way helped thee, every one who has performed a pilgrimage to thy shrine, or mourned for thee, and every one who has written tragic verse for thee Bear each and all with thee to Paradise.” * To the Persian Shí'a, therefore, Ḥusayn occupies the same position that Jesus Christ does to the devout Christian, notwithstanding Persian doctrine of the Atonement. the fact that the doctrine of the Atonement is utterly foreign to the original spirit of Islám. To us no Persian verse could well appear more exaggerated in its deification of a human being than this: * <text in Arabic script omitted>

“Men say Thou art God, and I am moved to anger: raise the veil,
and submit no longer to the shame of Godhead!”

But I am not sure whether the following verse, ascribed to the Bábí poet Nabíl, * would not more greatly shock the Persian Shí'a:

“O witnesses of my aspect of fire, haste ye towards my home;
Make head and life my offering, for I am the Monarch of Karbalá!”

It would be an interesting study, but beyond the capacity of this volume, to trace the growth of the Ḥusayn-Legend Growth of the Ḥusayn-Legend. from its comparatively meagre historical basis, as given by Ṭabarí and the earlier Arab historians, to the elaborate romance into which it has finally developed in the ta'ziyas and rawẓa-khwáns. But the romantic element appears early, even in the narrative of Abú Mikhnaf Lúṭ ibn Yaḥyá, who flourished in the first half of the second century of the hijra (circâ A.D. 750), * and it has even been suggested that Ḥusayn has been indued with the attributes of some far more ancient prototype like Adonis. At any rate no one at the present day can see anything more like the performances of the priests Sanguinary celebration of the 'Áshúrá or Rúz-i-Qatl. of Baal than the ghastly ceremonies of the 'Áshúrá or Rúz-i-Qatl which take place on the tenth of Muḥarram (the anniversary of Ḥusayn's death at Karbalá) wherever there is a considerable Persian colony, but especially, of course, in Persia itself.

Certain episodes in the Ḥusayn-Legend would almost seem to indicate an unconscious sense of solidarity with the Christians on the part of the Shí'a Persians arising from their participation in the doctrine of the Atonement. The best-known example of this is the conversion and martyrdom of the “Firangí ambassador” at the Court of Yazíd, * a very favourite scene in the ta'ziyas, and considered especially appropriate when European visitors are included in the audience. Another instance occurs in the Asráru'sh-Shahádat , or “Mysteries of Martyrdom,” of Isma'íl Khán “Sarbáz,” * when Ibn Sa'd invites certain Christians to aid him in killing the Imám Ḥusayn, but when the eyes of their leader fell upon him—

“He saw Karbalá as the Throne of Divine Majesty, he saw that
Throne wet with God's blood; *
By the pen of imagination an impression grew in his heart, ‘Surely
this is God in such glory and splendour!
‘If he be not God, then surely he is Jesus, the Sun of the Throne of
our Faith.’”

Thereupon, being convinced of the truth of Islám and the sanctity of Ḥusayn—

“With a hundred frenzied enthusiasms he sought permission to en-
gage in the battle, and departed to offer his life as a sacrifice for
Ḥusayn.”

Since, however, we also find stories of the conversion of an Indian king (presumably a pagan) and even of a lion, the object may be to emphasize the cruelty and hardheartedness of the professing Muslims who compassed the death of Ḥusayn and his fellow-martyrs by depicting the sympathy evoked by their sufferings even in the hearts of unbelievers and savage animals.