(Arab)	‘I whom thou seest coming with an hundred passionate strains
	Am the hoopoe coming from Sheba into the presence of Solomon.
	I come from Kúfa, having tidings of poor Muslim,
	I come enlarging the spirit like the morning breeze.
	In my head is a longing to meet the son of Fáṭima1,
	I come as the remedy for the pain of a wounded heart.’
('Abbás)	‘To this gate, of whose pavilion the dust is camphor
	And collyrium for the angels' eyes, and its servants the Ḥúrís2.
	By God, this gate is the qibla3 of all faithful folk,
	And a house of healing to those stricken with sorrow!’
(Arab)	‘My salutation to thee, O exemplar of mankind;
	I come from Kúfa, O leader of the people of Paradise!
	For God's sake whither goest thou, O my lord?
	Explain to me [I conjure thee] by the God of Jinn and men!’
(The Imám)	‘And on thee [be my salutation], O messenger of comely face!
	Even now I am going to Kúfa in an agitated condition.
	They have written to me letters of longing:
	Heaven draws my reins towards the land of 'Iráq.
	Tell me, therefore, if thou hast news of Muslim:
	Has any one in Kúfa loyally aided him?’
(Arab)	‘May I be thy sacrifice! Ask not of Muslim's case!
	Come, master, let me kiss thy hands and feet!
	Go not to Kúfa, O King of the righteous!
	For I fear that thou may'st become sorrowful and friendless.
	Go not to Kúfa, O Lord! It were a pity!
	Be merciful! 'Alí Akbar1 is so young!
	Go not to Kúfa! Zaynab2 will be humiliated,
	And will be led captive through the streets and markets!’
(Together)
(Imám)	‘O Arab, make known Muslim's condition!’
(Arab)	‘Lament for grief-stricken Muslim!’
(Imám)	‘Tell me, how fared it with Muslim in Kúfa?’
(Arab)	‘Know that Muslim's fortune failed.’
(Imám)	‘Did the Kúfans drag his body through blood?’
(Arab)	‘They severed his innocent head from the kingdom of his body.’
(Imám)	‘Did they cut his body in pieces?’
(Arab)	‘They stuck his noble body on the headsman's hook.’
(Imám)	‘Tell me, what further did these wicked people do?’
(Arab)	‘They dragged him through the city and market.’
(Imám)	‘Tell me, how fares it with Muslim's children?’
(Arab)	‘They have become the guests of Muslim in Paradise.’
(Imám)	‘Who wrought cruelty and wrong on those children?’
(Arab)	‘Ḥárith severed their heads from their bodies.’
(Imám)	‘Alas for Muslim's weeping eyes!’
(Arab)	‘These are the garments of Muslim's children.’
(Both)3	‘Alas that faithful Muslim has been slain by the cruelty of wicked men!’”

*

It has only been possible here to touch the fringe of this vast literature of what is commonly and not inappropriately termed the Persian Passion Play, and I have had to content myself with a few specimens of the main types in which it is manifested, namely the classical threnody or elegy (marthiya) of Muḥtasham and his imitators; the more popular presentations of these legends in verse, prose, or mixed verse and prose, contained in innumerable and obscure lithographed books, of which I have chosen the Asráru'sh-Shahádat as a type, not because it enjoys any supreme excellence, but simply because it is one of those of which I happen to possess a copy; and lastly the actual librettos of the dramatized ta'ziyas, to be seen at their best at the Royal Takya of Ṭihrán during the first ten days of the month of Muḥarram. Manuscript note-books for the use of rawẓa-khwáns on such occasions are commonly met with in collections of Persian books, and the full description of one such (Add. 423) will be found in my Catalogue of the Persian MSS. in the Cambridge University Library. * Most of these pieces are anonymous, but amongst the poets named are Muqbil, Mukhliṣ, Mawzún, Nasím, Shafí'í and Lawḥí, of none of whom can I find any biographical notice.

One of my young Persian friends who, like so many of the rising generation, deplores the influence of the mullás

Immense influence of the Ḥusayn-Legend on Persian mentality. and rawẓa-khwáns and the religious atmosphere created by them, especially in connection with the Muḥarram celebrations, admitted to me that at least the work has been done so thoroughly that even the most ignorant women and illiterate peasants are perfectly familiar with all the details of these legends of martyrdom, however little they may know of the authentic history of the events portrayed or the persons represented. Even the greatest mujtahids, like Mullá Muḥammad Báqir-i-Majlisí, however little they might approve the exaggera­tions and even blasphemies which characterized the Passion Plays in their final popular developments, were at great pains to supply their compatriots with popular and easily intelligible religious treatises in Persian, so that a knowledge of these matters might not be confined to Arabic scholars or professed theologians.

One effect of the ta'ziyas has been to create amongst the Persians a widely diffused enthusiasm for martyrdom,

The Persian passion for martyrdom. of which sufficient account is not taken by those who, misled by the one-sided portrait, or rather caricature, presented by Morier in his famous Hajji Baba, deem them an essentially timid and even cowardly folk. The English missionaries in Persia, who in sympathy for and understanding of the people amongst whom they work seem to me greatly superior to those whose labours lie in other fields, know better, and no one has done fuller justice to the courage and steadfastness of The prestige of the Bábís and Bahá'ís is chiefly due to the courage of their numerous martyrs. the Bábí and Bahá'í martyrs than the Reverend Napier Malcolm in his valuable book Five Years in a Persian Town (Yazd). Another told me an interesting story from his own experience in Iṣfahán. One of the chief mujtahids of that city had condemned some Bábís to death as apostates, and my informant, who was on friendly terms with this ecclesi­astic, ventured to intercede for them. The mujtahid was at first inclined to take his intervention very ill, but finally the missionary said to him, “Do you suppose that the extra­ordinary progress made by this sect is due to the superiority of their doctrines? Is it not simply due to the indomitable courage of those whom you and your colleagues condemn to die for their faith? But for the cruel persecutions to which the Bábís have from the first been subjected, and which they have endured with such unflinching courage, would they now be more numerous or important than a hundred obscure heresies in Persia of which no one takes any notice and which are devoid of all significance? It is you and such as you who have made the Bábís so numerous and so formidable, for in place of each one whom you kill a hundred converts arise.” The mujtahid reflected for a while and then replied, “You are right, and I will spare the lives of these people.”*