1 See Frend, W. H. C., Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church (New York: New York University Press, 1967), p. 22.Google Scholar

2 Ibid.,, p. 58.

3 Ibid.,, p. 61.

4 See Nateq, NasehBahsi Dar Bareh-e Zendegani Mani Va Paym-e Ou (A discussion of Mani's life and message) (Teheran: Kavian Publisher, 1978), pp. 49–85.Google Scholar Although Manichaenism never became all-pervasive throughout Iran its intellectual impact was distinct and powerful.

5 Shater, Ehsan Yar, ed., The Epic of the Kings: Shah-nameh the National Epic of Persia, by Firdowsi, trans. Levy, Reuben (Chicago: University of Chicago, Press, 1967).Google Scholar Rostam was killed in 637 after his armies were defeated by Umar's forces in the battle of Qadasyyia.

6 Miskub, Shahrukh, Sug-i Siyavush:Dar Marg va Rastakhiz (Mourning for Siyavush: on death and resurrection) (Teheran: Kharazmi Publishing House, 1975).Google Scholar The death of Siyavush inspired a cult of mourning that lasted until the tenth century. A significant myth associated with this cult depicts Siyavush as a divine martyred saint whose death generates new life. According to legend from Siyavush’s blood grew a herb called “the blood of Siyavush”. Thus, the death of Siyavush is followed by a rebirth and the martyred hero becomes immortal. See Ehsan Yarshater, note 7.

7 Yarshater, Ehsan, “Taáziyeh and Pre-Islamic Mourning Rites in Iran,” in Tťaziyeh ritual and drama in Iran, ed. Chelkowski, Peter (New York: New York University Press and Soroud Press, 1979), pp. 89–90.Google Scholar

8 Hillman, Michael C.Iranian Culture: A Persianist View (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1990) pp. 14,15.Google Scholar

9 Ibid.,, p. 15

10 Fischer, MichaelIran, from Religious Dispute to Revolution (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980), p. 16.Google Scholar

11 Shahri, Muhammad Ray, Shahadat Dar Nahj Albalaqeh (Martyrdom in the Nahj Albalaqeh) (Qum: Yaser Publishers, n.d.), pp. 9, 41, 50.Google Scholar

12 Ayoub, MahmoudRedemption Suffering in Islam: A Study of Devotional Aspects of Ashura in Twelver Shíism(New York: Mouton Publishers, 1978) p. 242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

13 The legacy of this asceticism and the virtue of noble suffering goes back to Prophet Muhammad. The prophet was told, “The Lord wishes to try thee with three things to test thy patience. The first was hunger and privation, as he was to give all that he possessed to the poor. The second trial was the persecution and calumnies which Muhammad had to suffer at the hands of the hypocrites and the wounds inflicted upon him. The third trial was the persecution and wrong his family was destined to suffer after him.” The Imams, the descendants of the prophet, “were from the beginning destined by God to drain the cup of suffering and martyrdom and to play a decisive role in human salvation and judgement. To a large extent, the intercessory prerogative of the Imams is dependent upon their patient endurance of privation, rejection and persecution. Indeed, Shiíi piety has insisted, in many cases with little or no evidence, that all the Imams were martyred.” In Shi’ite devotional piety “the house of sorrow” represents “the community of suffering, which is basically the twelve Imams, the prophet and his daughter. Into this community, the pious devotees of the Imams can enter through their participation in the suffering of the Holy Family.” See Ayoub, , Redemption Suffering in Islam, pp. 16, 198–99.Google Scholar

14 Ibid.,, p. 108.

15 Enayat, Hamid, Modem Islamic Political Thought (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1982), p. 183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

16 Ibid.,

17 Weber, Max, The Sociology of Religion (Boston: Beacon Press, 1963), pp. 6–7.Google Scholar

18 Ayoub, , Redemption Suffering in Islam, p. 232.Google Scholar

19 Enayat, Modern Islamic Political Thought, pp.183–184.Google Scholar

20 Ayoub, , Redemption Suffering in Islam, p. 143.Google Scholar

21 Sheikholeslami, Ali Reza, “From Religious Accommodation to Religious Revolution: The Transformation of Shiíism in Iran,” in The State, Religion and Ethnic Politics: Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, ed. Banuazizi, Ali and Winer, Myron (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1986), p. 229.Google Scholar

22 Ibid.,

23 This new interpretation became popular not only among Shiíites in Iran, but also Muslim and secular intellectuals in Egypt and other parts of the Sunni world depicted Imam Husayn as a heroic rebel who fought consciously against oppression to set an example for the posterity. See Enayat, , Modern Islamic Political Thought, pp. 184–88.Google Scholar

24 See for example, Grunebaum, G. E. Von, “Ferdausiís Concept of History,” in Islam, Essays in the Nature and Growth of a Cultural Tradition (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1961), pp. 168–84.Google Scholar See also Hillman, , Iranian Culture, pp. 14, 15.Google Scholar

25 Mortimer, Edward, Faith and power (New York: Vintage Books, 1982), pp. 31–120.Google Scholar

26 Enayat, , Modern Islamic Political Thought, p. 181.Google Scholar

27 Ibid.,

28 Haqiqat, Abdol Rafieés, Tarikh-i Nehat hay-i Fekr-i Iranian (The history of Iranian intellectual thought) (Teheran: Moóalefan Publishers, 1976), pp. 116–17.Google Scholar

29 Petroshevsky, I. P., Islam dar Iran (Islam in Iran) (Tehran: Payam Publication House, 1971), pp. 352–55.Google Scholar

30 ibid.,, pp. 370–371, 398.

31 Halabi, Ah asghar, Shinakht-i lrfan-va Arifan-i Irani (The study of Persian gnosis and gnostic philosophers) (Teheran: Zavar Publication, 1981)Google Scholar. For a discussion of Rumi’s philosophy and poetry see Ghozideh-i ghazaliat-i shams (A selection of poetry of Mowlana jalal-al din mohammad of Balkh [Rumi]) (Tehran: Sherkati-i Sahami-ye Ketabhay-i Jibi, 1984)Google Scholar. See also The Ruins of the Heart: Selected Lyrics of Poetry of Jelaludin Rumi, 3rd ed., trans. Helminski, Edmund (Putney: Threshold Books, 1981).Google Scholar Other philosophers, such as Ummar Khayyam, are considered by some to be the intellectual precursor of modern existentialism, whose social philosophy consists of rebellion against the absurdity of death and fatalism.

32 Mathnauri (vol. 111.11.3901–07) as cited by Abedi, Mehdi and Legenhausen, Gary, Jihad and Shahadat: Struggle and Martyrdom in Islam (Houston, TX: Institute for Research and Islamic Studies, 1986), pp. 67–68.Google Scholar

33 Geertz, Clifford, The Interpretation of Cultures (New York: Basic Books, 1973), p. 104.Google Scholar

34 Martyrdom has also been used by numerous Shiíite sects proselytize throughout history to proselyte and to seize political power. For a comprehensive sutdy of use of individual terrorism in Islam See Rapaport, David C., “Fear and trembling: terrorism in three religous traditions,” American Political Science Review 78, no.3 (1984) 658–77, esp. 664–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

35 Lewis, Bernard, Origins of Ismaiíilis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1940)Google Scholar and The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam (London: Nicholson and Weidenfeld, 1967).Google Scholar

36 Brown, E. G., “Future Notes on the Literature of the Huruhfis and Their Connection with the Bektashi Order of Dervishes Jras (1907),” as cited by Arjomand, S. A. in The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984), p. 73.Google Scholar

37 Ibid.,, p. 65.

38 Mottahedeh, Roy, The Mantle of the Prophet (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985), p. 173.Google Scholar The annual observance of Husaynńs martyrdom engendered a drama and a theatrical passion play known as TaáZiyeh. While having deep roots in pre-Islamic Iranian tradition, it was systematically developed only in the sixteenth century during the Safavid rule.

39 As cited by Geertz, , Interpretation of Cultures, p. 163Google Scholar, Malinowski, Magic, Science and Religion (Boston: 1948), pp. 33–35.Google Scholar

40 Sheikholeslami, “From Religious Accommodation to Religious Revolution,” p. 230.

41 Bazargan, Mehdi, Sirr-i aghab oftadegy-i Mellal-i Muslman (The secrets behind the backwardness of Muslim nations) (Houston, TX: Center for book distribution, 1977), p. 51.Google Scholar

42 Shariati, AliAbuzar (Abudhar), collective work, vol 3, (N.p., n.d.), p. 105.Google Scholar

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44 Ibid.,, p. 89.

45 See for example Negahi Be Ali (A look at Ali) by Taqijaáfari, Mohammad (Tehran: Jahan Ara Publishers, n.d.), p. 115.Google Scholar

46 Ibid.,, pp. 163–77.

47 Alishan, Leonardo, “Ahmad Shmlu: A Rebel Poet in Search of an Audience,” Iranian studies 18, nos 2–4 (1985): 380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

48 Ibid.,, p. 385.

49 Biani, Aligholi, Manteq-i ishq-i irfani (The logic of gnostic love) (Tehran: Inteshar Publishing Company, 1985), p. 162.Google Scholar

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51 For a study of Iranian populism see Dorraj, ManochehrFrom Zarathustra to Khomeini: Populism and Dissent in Iran (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1990).Google Scholar

52 Ibid.,, pp. 109–50.

53 Zendegy Nameh va Modafe'at-i Mojahed-i Shahid Saeed Mohsen (The life story and the trial defenses of the martyred Mojaheed Saeed Mohsen) published by Iranńs Freedom Movement abroad, 1976, p. 16.

54 See Salrooz-i shahdat-i Roofagha Pooyan, Sadeqi nejad, Pirmndiri (The commemoration of the martyrdom of our comrades [Pooyan, Sadeqi Nejad and Pirvandiri]). Published y Cherik Hay-i Fdayee- Khalq, (n.d.), p. 7.

55 Durkheim, Emile, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life: A Study in Religious Sociology (Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 1947), p. 416.Google Scholar

56 Abedi, and Legenhausen, , Jihad and Shahadal, pp. 67–68.Google Scholar

57 Ibid.,, p. 136. This concept of martyrdom is pervasive among Sunni theoreticians as well. Sayyid Qutb, one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, for example, echoed the same theme when he asserted that the Mujahid (one who strives to realize God’s will; soldier) willing to lay down his life for the cause of God does not die. “All the people die; he is a martyr. He departs this world to the Garden while his opponent goes to the fire.” Qutb, Sayyid, Maalimfi Al Tariq (Cairo: Maktabat wahbah, 1964; English translation: Milestones, Cedar Rapids, Iowa: University Publishing Company, n.d.), p. 226Google Scholar as cited by Haddad, Yvonne, “Sayyid Qutb: Ideologue of Islamic Revival,” in Voices of Resurgent Islam, ed. Esposito, John L. (London: Oxford University Press, 1983).Google Scholar

58 During the Iran-Iraqi War the leaders and the publicists of the Islamic Republic made a special effort to further popularize the idea of martyrdom and enhance mass mobilization. Basing his comments on Imam Ali’s advice to Mohammad Hanifeh, Hojat Al Islam Ali Akbar Nategh Noori, the former minister of the interior, proclaimed to graduating Gendarmeri students: “Fear is the main reason for defeat. If human beings were not afraid of death and surrendered totally to God’;s will, they would never surrender to degradation and humiliation. So far as our nation was tied to the past system and had its eyes focused on worldly gains, it was afraid of death and would commit any disgraceful act to escape. But since the day that our nation has come under a leadership modeled after the prophet, the leadership of Imam Khomeini, and stepped in the Imam's path, it has grown immensely and has overcome the fear of death. Death in God's path is no longer regarded as death but martyrdom” (Jumhury-i Islami, 4 January 1982, p. 2). In the same spirit Mr. Chamran, the former commander of the armed forces, addressed the troops at the Iraqi front, drawing upon the example of Ali Shariati: “Ali Shariati, like Ibrahim, sacrificed all of himself for the love of God thus he became all light. As the candle illuminates only when it burns and melts, Shariati consciously burned to illuminate others. All his life, he anxiously awaited martyrdom” (Kayhan Havai, 20 June 1990, p. 19).

59 Abedi, and Legenhausen, , Jihad and Shahadat, p. 129.Google Scholar

60 Iran Times, 16 11 1982, p. 12.Google Scholar

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64 Karimi-Hakkak, Ahmad, An Anthology of Modern Persian Poetry (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1978), pp. 137–59.Google Scholar

65 Golsorkhi, Khosrow “Tau” (You). Reprinted in Payam, a publication of the Iranian Student Association 12 (1974): 58.Google Scholar

66 Jalal Az Didgaheh Doctour Reza Brahani, “Jalal in Dr. Brahaniís, Reza perspective,” in Miíadba Jalal (Rendezvous with Jalal), ed. Jahani, Mirzad (Teheran: Ravaq Publishers, 1983), p. 102.Google Scholar

67 For analysis of politics in the poetics of Ahmad Shamlu see Alishan, , “Ahmad Shmlu,” pp. 375–422.Google Scholar

68 ibid.,, p. 409.

69 Gerth, H. H. and Mills, C. Wright, From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979), p. 327.Google Scholar

70 See for example “Ashora Falsaphe-i Azadi” (Ashura, the philosophy of freedom) (Mojahadin Khalq, 1979). See also Reza-;i, Ahmad, Rah-i Husayn (Husaynńs path) (Teheran: Sahab Ketab, 1979).Google Scholar

71 See Hamasay-e Yak Payedary-i Bozorg (The epic of a great resistance) (Mojahadin Khalq, n.d.), pp. 38–13.

72 Payam, p. 30.

73 The defense of the great revolutionary Shokrallah Paknejad, reproduced by the Association of Iranian Students in the United States, 1976, p. 2.

74 Reprinted in Elm va Jama’a (Science and society) no. 15, p. 40.

75 For a description of these organizations see Abrahamian, Ervand “The guerrilla movement in Iran: 1963–1977,” Merip Reports, no. 86 (1980.Google Scholar

76 Jazani, Bijan, Tarh'i jameaáh Shenasi va Mabani-i Strategy jonbesh-i Enqelab-i Iran {The sociological scheme and the strategic basis of Iranian revolutionary movement), vol. II, part one (Fedayeian Khalgh, 1978), p. 69.Google Scholar

77 There is a clear parallel here with Lebanese Shi’ite increasing bid for political power in that country. As the Israeli invasion of Lebanon led to their concomitant confrontation with the hitherto subdued and submissive Shi’ite community in the South and as the number of Shi’ite casualties grew, so did their involvement in politics and their political power.

78 Jumhury-i Islami, 10, Day, 1359, p. 5.

79 Sheikholeslami, “From Religious Accommodation to Religious Revolution,” p. 229.

80 Malinowski, magic, science and religion, p. 29 as cited by Geertz, , Interpretation of Cultures, p. 162.Google Scholar