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The following summary makes use of various online sources, such as:

An article on Husayn ibn Ali

An article on the Azerbaijani People

An article on the Azerbaijani language

And an article on the Safavids

The Martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali in the Month of Muharram

The Battle of Karbala (10^th Muharram, 61 AH / 9^th or 10^th October, 680 CE) is one of the more significant battles in the history of Islam. It occurred ostensibly because Hasan ibn Ali was lured to the vicinity of Karbala, in central modern-day Iraq, by an apparent summons from the citizens of Kufa, also in central modern-day Iraq, calling upon him to liberate them from the rule of Caliph Yazid I. The Caliph represented the Sunnis, whereas Hasan ibn Ali and his caravan are claimed by the Shi’ah, who hold Hasan ibn Ali to be their 3^rd Imam.

The battlefield was a desert region located beside one of the branches of the Euphrates River, at Karbala. On one side were supporters and relatives of Husayn ibn Ali; on the other side was a military detachment from the forces of Yazid I. Husayn ibn Ali's group consisted of notable members of the Ahl al-Bayt, around 72 men. On the opposite side, the armed forces of Yazid I were led by Umar ibn Sa'ad and contained at least 4000 men.

The caravan of Husayn ibn Ali was cornered and defeated. Husayn ibn Ali was slain, along with apparently all of the other men. The Martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali is commemorated in the form of a Passion Play during every Muharram, with the most important of these days being its 10^th day, Ashura, which is when the anniversary of the Battle of Karbala is marked.

The Peculiarities of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan is a country in the Caucasus, and is actually an old part of north-west Iran. Located at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. The language is Azeri, also the name of the Azerbaijani race. It is a Turkic language of the Oghuz branch, closely related to Turkish and also historically influenced by Persian and Arabic languages. However, as with so many Turkic-speaking groups in the Caucasus, the Azeri people themselves are generally Caucasoid or Iranic with a Turkic background.

The Safavid dynasty (1501-1722 CE) was a Shi’i dynasty that ruled the Iranian Empire. They originated in Azerbaijan, then part of Iran, and created the greatest Iranian empire since the Arab conquest of Persia. They established the Ithna Ashari (Twelver) school of Shi'i Islam as the official religion of their empire and reasserted the Iranian identity of the region, thus becoming the first native dynasty since the Sassanids to establish a united Iranian state.

Shirvan or Shirwan is an historic region in Azerbaijan, stretching between the western shore of the Caspian Sea and the Kura River. There is another Shirvan / Shirwan in the Islamic Republic of Iran proper, in the province of North Khorasan. The role of the Shirvanshah (Shah of Shirwan, a Sunni) was in continuing existence with Shirwan as an independent or vassal state, from 861-1539 CE; longer than any other dynasty in Islamic world.

The Safaviyeh Sufi order (Sunni Shaf’ite) was founded by Sheikh Safi al-Din Is'haq Ardabili (1252-1334 CE). It had an hereditary succession of Grand Masters (Sheikhs). An ambitious Safavi Sheikh once sought refuge with Uzun Hasan, Shah of the White Sheep (Ak Koyunlu) Turkomans, from the Shah of the Black Sheep (Kara Koyunlu) Turkomans, and married the Ak Koyunlu King's sister. Of that union, the Safavi Sheikh Haydar was born. Sheikh Haydar married his cousin, the half-Greek daughter of Uzun Hasan. In 1488, Yaqub, the half-Greek son of Uzun Hasan, killed his brother-in-law / cousin, Sheikh Haydar, because he feared the growing Safavi influence in Shirwan. This was after Yaqub had become an ally of the Shirvanshah.

By then the bulk of the Safavid followers were the Kizilbashes (Kizilbash is Turkish for "Red Hat" due to their red headgear known in Persian as Taje-e Haydari or "Haydar's crown"). The Kizilbashes were overwhelmingly Turkmen warriors and spiritual followers of Sheikh Haydar. With the help of these powerful "men of the sword", the Safavid ruling dynasty was founded in Iran, land of the Persian "men of the pen", and the son of Sheikh Haydar, Shah Isma’il I, that Turkic-speaking Sufi leader of mixed Turkic, Iranic, and Pontic Greek heritage and a direct descendant of Safi al-Din of Ardabil, became the first Safavid Shah and also Sheikh of the Safaviyeh Order.

In this way, the Safavids can again be compared to the pre-Islamic Sassanid dynasty who made Zoroastrianism as the official religion and who were originally from a priestly class. Even though Safavids were not the first Shi'i rulers in Iran, they played a crucial role in making Shi'i Islam the official religion in the whole of Iran. In 1501, Isma’il I proclaimed himself Shah of Azerbaijan and professed Shi'ism. The population of Iran stayed largely Sunni until the Safavid period. Following his conquest of Iran, Isma’il I made conversion mandatory for the largely Sunni population. Despite the Sufi origins of the Safavids, most Sufi groups were prohibited, bar the Nimatullahi order.

The Peculiarities of this Book

This book will give the reader a fundamental insight into Shi’ism, with its heterodoxies and historical roots. There are some amazing insights into its parallels with Christianity (e.g. the Shi’i Pentad and the modern Christian Holy Family), Hinduism (the water-rites on the day of Ashura and the Durga Puja ceremony in Hinduism), for example. In this book, you will find ideological links to Gnostic movements such as Sufism, Baha’ism, and Freemasonry (the Passion Play re-enacting the murder of the mythical Hiram Abiff by 3 “Ruffians”, also referred to in Masonic ritual as “Juwes” is part of the 3^rd Masonic degree. This is actually closer to the Martyrdom of Ali, whose murder was arranged by 3 Kharijite assassins [the fatal blow being to the head, c.f. Hiram being killed with 3 blows to the head], than it was to the death of Husayn ibn Ali, who received fatal blows from approximately 6 men) and even, in the case of the Azerbaijanis mentioned in this work, hints of pre-Islamic nature-worship in the form of stone and tree veneration.

Parallels with “The Last Samurai”

Many traditions of Islam have been attributed to non-Muslims. Curiously, it seems to be often done by New-Age authors attributing them to Buddha. Regardless of  whom the tradition is attributed to, the list of such occurrences is a point of interest. Take for example the author of a New-Age book, who gives the story of a Samurai who is sent to track down an enemy. After many travails, he corners his quarry, but the criminal spits in his face. The Samurai is thus obliged to let him escape, because he feels he cannot strike a blow out of personal anger. This is a corruption of an event in which Ali was about to execute an enemy, during the defensive Battle of the Trench. The man had spat in Ali’s face after Ali had defeated him in a duel and Ali was about to finish him off with his sword, Zulfikhar. But in response to being spat at, Ali walked off in order to cool down, because he did not wish to act out of personal anger. It seems likely that Ali would have executed him after cooling down, but the man converted to Islam through Ali’s chivalry.

One extremely interesting aspect of this book, The Muharram Mysteries, is that the Passion of Husayn reveals a parallel with the movie “The Last Samurai”. In fact, that movie is basically a film version of the Passion of Husayn.

● Husayn felt he was acting in the service of the Muslim Ummah. In the movie, the Samurai were cast as rebels who were acting out of love for their Emperor, despite the Japanese army being out to crush them.

● Husayn is cast by the modern Shi’ah as a revolutionary. In the movie, the Samurai were fighting against Western-influenced corruption of the Japanese government (indeed, the motto of the Samurai during the Satsuma rebellion was "New government, High morality", although it is also said that they themselves were rather corrupt).

● Umar / Omar bin Sa’ad was the merciless commander of the army sent to stop Husayn on his journey to Kufa. In the movie, Omura is a corrupt politician who wields great military power. He commands the army in the final encounter with the Samurai.

● At the start of the Battle of Karbala, a man from Umar’s army, Hur bin Yazid ar-Riyahi, conscientiously defects to the side of Husayn ibn Ali (he was not the only one to do so). In the movie, Tom Cruise (Captain Nathan Algren) defects from the Japanese Imperial army that he was training, to the side of the Samurai.

● The men of Umar’s army openly weep when they see the various ways in which the caravan of Hasan is suffering at their hands. In the movie, the soldiers of the Japanese army openly weep when they see the devastation they have wrought upon the Samurai army with their rifles.

● The merciless Umar bin Sa’ad goads his men to finish off Husayn, and to even shoot his baby son with an arrow, despite his own men’s weeping. The merciless Omura goads his men to finish off the Samurai army in their last charge, by turning machine gun fire on them, despite his own men’s weeping.

● The people of Kufa and Karbala eventually became a bastion of Shi’ism. The army of Omura singularly prostrate before the finished Samurai army.

● Zulfikhar, the Sword of Ali, which was wielded at Karbala by Husayn ibn Ali, makes an appearance at the end of the movie as the Sword of the Samurai, presented to the Japanese Emperor by the wounded Tom Cruise.

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THE

 MUHARRAM MYSTERIES

AMONG THE AZERBEIJAN TURKS OF CAUCASIA

AN ACADEMICAL DISSERTATION

BY

 IVAR LASSY

HELSINGFORS 1916

______________________________________

From the INTRODUCTION

     This book forms the first attempt fully to describe and scientifically to analyse the great Muhammadan Passion Festival, which, lacking a name among its celebrators as well as among the Western scientists, I shall call the Muharram Mvsteries, after the New Year's month of Muharram … that comprises the most important days of its celebration. In the Persian Orient, this festival, constituting a highly remarkable manifestation of the modern culture of the East, is the centre around which the intellectual activity of the people circulates, inspiring the believers to manifold speculations and practices, and forming the chief incitation to their artistic production. I am also firmly convinced that a careful and exhaustive analysis of the character and origin of the Muharram Mysteries, not merely will show their importance for their celebrators, but will procure them a central place in every investigation that hereafter may be undertaken into the mental culture of the Shi'a confessors, and ... the ancient religions of Persia, Syria, and Egypt. The first part of such an analysis will be attempted in this work, the question of the pre-Islamic origin of the Muharram Mysteries being reserved for a following dissertation [Please note: it would seem that the promised follow-up was never published].

     Having decided to make a careful research into this Oriental Passion Festival, the circumstances led me to the Azerbaijan Turks of south-eastern Caucasia, and in the first place to that portion of this people which inhabits the peninsula of Apsheron and the adjoining districts.

______________________________________

CONTENTS

Prefatory Note, p. i-ii.

CHAPTER I. - THE AZERBAIJAN TURKS OF CAUCASIA, pp. 1-11.

Introduction, p. 1.

The Peninsula of Apsheron, p. 2.

The Azerbaijan Turks, or the Tartars, p. 4.

The Character of the Tartars, p. 5.

The Tartar Language, and its Transliteration, p. 9.

      CHAPTER II. - THE TRAGEDY AT KERBELA, pp. 12-54.

The Wonderful Birth and Childhood of Husein, p. 12.

The Imamat, p. 18.

Prologue, p. 23.

The First Act of the Tragedy - The Episode of Muslim, p. 24.

The Second Act of the Tragedy - Husein's Journey to Kerbela, p, 25.

The Third Act of the Tragedy - The Fight Begins, p. 29.

The Fourth Act of the Tragedy - The Great Martyrdom, p. 32.

Conclusion, p. 46.

History and Legend, p. 49.

      CHAPTER III. - THE MUHARRAM MYSTERIES, pp. 55-131.

The Preparations, p. 55.

The First Ten Nights of Muharram, p. 60.

The Ashura, p. 107.

The Imamun Uci, p. 128.

The Forty Days of Mourning - The Arbein, p. 130.

       CHAPTER IV. - MUHARRAM AND THE CULT OF THE DEAD, pp. 132-209.

Introduction, p. 132.

Husein as a Martyr, p. 133.

The nur-doctrine, p. 135.

The Forms and Conditions of Immortality, p. 138.

The Impurity of the Corpse and the Blood, p. 161.

The Examination of the Dead. The Soul as a Bird, p. 163.

The Character of Certain Periods, Dates, Numbers, p. 166.

The Mourning of the Dead, p. 175.

The Cult of Saints, p. 181.

        CHAPTER V. - MUHARRAM AND THE NEW YEAR, pp. 210-238.

The Nouruz Bairam, p. 210.

The Calendars of the Solar Year, p. 214.

The New Year, p. 218.

The Year End, p. 226.

CHAPTER VI. - THE DEVELOPMENT AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE MUHARRAM MYSTERIES, pp.239-284.

The Muharram Mysteries of the Persian Orient, p. 239.

The Muharram Mysteries of the Indian Orient, p. 269.

The Muharram Mysteries of the Mediterranean Orient, p. 276.

The Character of the Muharram Mysteries, p. 282.

ERRATA, p. 285.

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QUOTES

p. 110

… It also forms the material for the muhur stones which are used at prayers. Their origin is illustrated by the following legend. Imam Muhammad Baqir, the son of Zeial Abidin and grandson of Husein, wept during a space of forty years over the fate of the Martyrs ... he took a little of the turbat and placed it before himself when praying. The frag­rance of the sand induced him to keep the sufferings of Husein unceasingly before his mind's eye. The Si’i confessors have since that time used the muhur stones in order to keep the Martyrs in memory and in order to have a pure and sacred thing to press their foreheads against, when at prayers. Aside from this the stones remind the people of their terrestrial origin and of their dissolution to earth again, when they depart this mundane life. The size of these stones varies little, being about that of common ink-erasers, although sometimes parts of muhur stones are in use which have originally had the size and the circular form of a saucer. They are of a grayish hue and extremely brittle, for which reason most of them in daily use are broken.

p. 111-112

… As to the pigeons attached to the horses of the Ashura processions, this detail is based upon the following tradition. When, at Kerbela, Husein fell dead to the ground, a dazzling white dove was seen to circle above his body. Suddenly it steered its flight straight down to a pool of the blood of the Martyr. Its feathers were thus stained quite red with gore. From hence the dove flew to Medina and settled on the Prophet's tomb, where spots of the blood flecked the grave-stone. The dove subsequently circled about in the air above the city, raising consternation in the inhabitants thereof with its strange appearance. At this time a Jew lived in Medina with his daughter, whose beauty was known far and wide in the country. The girl, however, was infirm, and her sight was impaired, for she was blind. She lived alone in a house, which her father had built for her in a garden, in the remote quarters of the town. On this day the dove flew to rest in the garden of the blind girl. There it la­mented and wept at the death of Husein. The girl perceived the presence of the bird. Following its voice, she groped her way to the tree. When she reached the spot just below the dove, two drops of the blood of Husein happened to fall upon both her eyes. No sooner did the blood come into contact with her eyes, than she regained her sight. She anointed her entire body with the same blood, after which she grew healthy and wonderfully white and clean. Whereupon the girl showed the tree and the bird to her astonished father. The dove spoke and said that all birds were now lamenting the tragic death of Husein.

p. 158

... this water represents that of the Furat or even the river itself. In ancient times already this river enjoyed great fame for its sacredness. “Far above ordinary water was the sacredness of the Euphrates. Tacitus relates that the Armenians reverenced it; Lucian says that twice a year a great concourse of worshippers assembled at the Tempe (of Hierapolis) bearing water from ‘the sea’, a synonym for the Euphrates, which was poured out in the Temple. Among the Arabs, if water from the Euphrates is procurable, it should be sprinkled on the new-born babe’s forehead. To the Hebrews it was always ‘the River’, and the Talmud contains some reference to its veneration. At the sight of Babylon one should recite five benedictions; thus, on seeing the Euphrates: ‘Praised be the Author of Creation’;… Older than these customs, probably, is the Assyrian hymn –

‘O thou river, who didst create all things,

When the great gods dug thee out

They set prosperity upon thy banks,

Within thee Ea, the King of the Deep, created his Dwelling’”

p. 194

... Somewhere on the coast of the Caspian, very long ago, there once lived a female saint Hukeima Hanim Hazrat Musa Kazim-qizi, accordingly a sister of Muhammad Sadiq in Bulbula. One day, when she was standing on the sea-shore, a boat approached her place navigated by a man whose name was Heibat. As these regions were most desolate, the saint asked the man to take her in his boat and to bring her to an inhabited country. He promised to do so. However, after having remained a few days in the place, he sailed out to sea without the saint. From far away he saw her come down to the shore and spread out her veil over the waves. Furthermore, he saw her poised on this veil, while she rowed it in the direction of his boat. The sailor was greatly astonished at the miracle, and, seeing that the woman was a saint, returned to her and took her in his boat. When they came to Apsheron, she desired to disembark and to stay there. The sailor asked whether he might not be allowed to live with her as her servant, and she acquiesced. A few years later she died and was buried at the place of the present sanctuary. Heibat survived her but a short time and was buried at her side. Since this time the place is known as that of “the Lady and Heibat”, or Bi-Bi Heibat.

     The sanctuary is situated on an elevated shore near rich oil-wells and close to the sea, where combustible gases emerge from the water. The way to the tomb leads through the largest cemetery I have seen in Caucasia. Here wealthy people have erected permanent tomb-buildings for their families, and from far away the dead are brought to the blessed vicinity of this saint. The entrance to her shrine, which partly has the character of a mosque, is through an archway with kamand chains. The court is, for the most part, covered with tomb-buildings and tomb-stones, often richly ornamented and of precious material. Close to the principal building two olive-trees, zeytun agaji, are to be found, to the branches of which are tied innumerable nazir strips and cords …

p. 195

     There is still another kind of ziarat which is paid, not to the shrines near at hand, but to those in Persia and Arabia. As far as the Tartars are concerned, Meshed, Mecca and Kerbela form equally important resorts of pilgrimage. In Meshed the famous tomb of Imam Ali Riza, the brother of the saints in Bulbula and Bi-Bi Heibat, is situated with a mosque of great beauty and extraordinary splendour, forming the “Glory of the Si’a World”. The persons who have paid ziarat to this place, put the title mesadi before their names. The pilgrimage to Mecca, on the other hand, gives the title haji, and that to Kerbela, the title kerbelay, colloquially shortened to kablia, or kalb. The pilgrimage to Kerbela is performed so as to coincide with the celebration of the Muharram Mysteries.

p. 260

… Smiting the breasts is a universal act throughout the mourning; and the breast is made bare for that purpose, by unbuttoning the top of the shirt ... Part of the square was partitioned off by an enclosure, which was to represent the town of Kerbela, near which Husein was put to death; and close to this were two small tents, which were to represent his encamp­ment in the desert with his family. A wooden platform covered with carpets, upon which the actors were to per­form, completed all the scenery used on the occasion.

p. 261

… After a short pause, a body of fierce-looking men, with only a loose white sheet thrown over their naked bodies, marched forwards. They were all begrimed with blood; and each brandishing a sword, they sang a sort of a hymn, the tones of which were very wild. These represented the sixty ­two relations, or the Martyrs, as the Persians call them, who accompanied Husein, and were slain in defending him. Close after them was led a white horse, covered with artificial wounds, with arrows stuck all about him, and caparisoned in black, representing the horse upon which Husein was mounted when he was killed … Eventually, the unfortunate Husein lay extended on the ground, ready to receive the death-stroke from a ruffian dressed in armour, who acted the part of executioner. At this moment a burst of lamentation issued from the multitude, and heavy sobs and real tears came from almost everyone.

p. 274

… Some very pious Shi'ahs celebrate the fortieth day after the first of Muharrarn. It is on this day, according to some accounts, that the head and body of Husain were reunited. It is known as the ‘Id-i-sar wa tan (head-and-body feast). Among other Indians, we are told, “on the tenth day, the good Mussulmann rigidly fast until after the third watch; not even a drop of water, or the hookha [pipe] enters their mouths; - as they believe Hosein's sufferings only concluded just before the third watch, they cautiously abstain from indulgences, until that hour has passed”. On the third day an offering is prepared, “chiefly composed of sugar, ghee, and flour, and called meettah; ... all is served in the common brown earthen dish, - in imitation of the humility of Hosein and his family”.

     On Sumatra also, Muharram Mysteries appear to be celebrated. The accounts of these Mysteries “show that the burial of Hosein forms the purpose of the ceremonies. In the evening of the eighth day of the festival the golden hands that are to ornament the shrine of the ceremonies, are carried about in great solemnity. On the ninth day the same is done with the turban. On the tenth day the ornamented tabuts (shrines) are carried about in the processions, and finally, the tabuts are thrown into the river, after the golden hands have been taken off and put aside till the following year”.

p. 275

     Some of the observances at the Muharram Mysteries of the Indian Orient appear peculiar to this continent only. In the Turkish and the Persian Mysteries we have met with nothing corresponding to the lighting of the so-called alawa fires, nor with the water-rites on the day of Ashura. In fact, the latter seem in many respects to resemble certain practices at the Hindu festivals. “The procession of the ta’ziyas and the casting of them into the water is very similar to the procession at the Hindu feast of the Durga Puja, when on the tenth day the Hindus cast the idol Durga, the wife of Siva, into the Ganges”. The same is the case on Sumatra: "The custom of throwing the tabuts into the river corresponds to the well-known practice of the Hindus, which is also to be found on Sumatra, namely on certain occasions to cast the idols in to the river”. The fire-rites might perhaps in a similar way be traced to the Hindu fire-cult. Moreover, the “Shub-gusht” carnival, as well as the market character of the Ashura day, are peculiar to India only and must be due to the local customs. However, it is possible that the Indians, contrary to the Tartars and the Persians, have attached ideas of the New Year to their Mysteries, and if such be the case, all these ceremonies and practices may find their exact counter­parts in the New Year customs of the latter. In both cases fire, water, and gaiety play the most prominent parts.

     Notwithstanding these differences, it is evident that the celebration of the Muharram Mysteries is substantially the same both in India and in the Persian Orient.

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