Rozeh Khani or Rawda khwani (, "reading the Rozeh") is the Shia Iranian Muslim ritual of the

Mourning of Muharram Mourning of Muharram (; ; ) is a set of religious rituals observed by Shia Islam, Shia Muslims during the month of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. These annual rituals commemorate the death of Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of the ...

. It is held every day of the year to commemorate the death of

Husayn ibn Ali Husayn ibn Ali (; 11 January 626 – 10 October 680 Common Era, CE) was a social, political and religious leader in early medieval Arabia. The grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and an Alids, Alid (the son of Ali ibn Abu Talib ibn Abd a ...

and his followers during the

Battle of Karbala The Battle of Karbala () was fought on 10 October 680 (10 Muharram in the year 61 Hijri year, AH of the Islamic calendar) between the army of the second Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad caliph Yazid I () and a small army led by Husayn ibn Ali, th ...

Performance

Rawda khwani as public lamentation is held to commemorating the death of

and his follower, suffering of his family during the

especially by Iranian Shia Muslims. During this ritual mourning, the Rawda khwan (story teller) recites loudly chapters of the Garden of the Martyrs with innovative skills to mourners. The ritual of Rawda khwani can be held anywhere, such as public squares of cities and villages, yards of mosque or privet house, Hussainiya and the Tekyeh that were built from the eighteenth century for performing the

. At first, this ritual mourning was held through the first ten days of the month of Muḥarram and then Rawda was commemorated in Muharram and Safar but nowadays every day of the year it is held. In the 19th century, by the time of the

Qajar dynasty The Qajar family (; 1789–1925) was an Iranian royal family founded by Mohammad Khan (), a member of the Qoyunlu clan of the Turkoman-descended Qajar tribe. The dynasty's effective rule in Iran ended in 1925 when Iran's '' Majlis'', conven ...

Rawda khwani had been used by actors of the

Ta'zieh Ta'zieh (; ; ) means comfort, condolence, or expression of grief. It comes from the roots ''aza'' (عزو and عزى) which mean mourning. It commonly refers to passion plays about the Battle of Karbala and its prior and subsequent events. S ...

. The origin place of Rawda was Iran, but then at

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

this ritual is seen in its original form and at other places like

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, the modified form of it is held.

Titled

The name ''Rawda khwani'' () initially referred to the reading of ''Rawḍat al-s̲h̲uhadāʾ'' (), a book composed by Hussain Wa'ez Kashefi in 1502 in

Herat Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...

. Gradually, the name ''Rawda'' (taken from the title of the book) became a common word to denote the recitation of the tragedy of Karbalāʾ.Subtelny, M.E.,
KAMĀL-AL-DIN ḤOSAYN WĀʿEẒ
', Encyclopaedia Iranica, 2011 ''Rawda khwan'' (the story tellers) is referred to the person who recites chapters of the ''Garden of the Martyrs''. After a while the story teller strived to gain new techniques and texts to performing the Rawda khwani. When new Maqtal al-Husayn books (various books which narrate the story of the battle of Karbala and the death of Hussain ibn Ali) were authored by different writers, the story tellers decided to use these books as texts of recitation of Rawda. Tufan al-Buka (tempest of tear) of Muhammad Ibrahim Jawhari, Asrar al-shahada (Mysteries of Martyrdom) of Ali Asghar Tabatabai are the most popular books that are replaced as Rawḍat al-s̲h̲uhadā.

References

{{reflist Arabic poetry Shia literature Mourning of Muharram Persian poetry

Performance

Titled

See also

References