Literary and Dramatic Analysis of the Condolence of Imam Reza (AS) by Rajai-Zafraei



Abstract

In the Islamic period, with the prevalence of Maqtal-e-Nawsi, which was mainly about the events of Ashura, the tradition of composing and writing ritual works continued, and later in the ninth century, with the book Rawda al-Shuhada by Kashfi, it reached its peak and even surpassed the works written after it. It should be noted that the attention of political authorities to Ta’ziyya from the Safavids to the end of the Pahlavis was accompanied by ups and downs. The roots of ritual performances are repeatedly mentioned in literary chronicles, and usually the common proposition among them is that ritual performances in the general sense in Iran go back to centuries before Islam. If Ta’ziyya is not initially considered as a ritual performance, the continuation of Ta’ziyya in its non-Islamic and general sense can be traced back to centuries before Islam, and in its specific meaning in the Islamic era, at least in a specific way, to the first century of the Hijri lunar calendar. Of course, Ta'ziyyah in the form of a performance that can be called a performance today, far from being considered a mere ritual, is not very old according to some researchers and dates back to the era of Karim Khan Zand and ultimately the Safavids. On the other hand, the definitions of Ta'ziyyah found in various sources usually consider it to be a type of Iranian-Shiite performance whose content, regardless of the methods of processing the structure, is based on religious teachings. Ta'ziyyah is important not only from historical-social and literary-performance perspectives; but also, since it narrates about a specific religion, it also represents and represents a type of ritual and religion. From the perspective of literary types, it can also be claimed that Ta'ziyyah is one of the main sub-genres of Shiite literature, which has been popular among the Iranian masses, especially since the end of the Safavid era, due to its importance in dramatic literature. This importance and social status have caused many orators and poets associated with the masses, especially since the Qajar era, to create numerous texts on the subject of the martyrdom of the Ahl al-Bayt and their lives (AS) in the form of poetic plays. Many of these works have been recorded in manuscripts and have received less attention in the course of dramatic art. On the other hand, the existing manuscripts of ta'ziyyah and parallel research in the field of ta'ziyyah studies generally focus on the tragedy of Karbala and less attention has been paid to other topics such as the tragedies of other Imams (AS). Mohammad Ali Rajai-Zafreh (1281 AH-1361 AH) is one of the prominent religious poets and poets of the late Qajar and early Pahlavi eras. He composed numerous works in the field of ta’ziyyah, and despite his literary position in the field of ta’ziyyah, his works have been less introduced and published. Accordingly, in the present study, based on one of his lesser-known ta’ziyyahs in mourning for Imam Reza (AS), an attempt has been made to discover missing links in the research on the history of ta’ziyyah during the middle of his lifetime, and in the process, some literary features of this influential literary genre are introduced by analyzing Zafareh’s work as a perfect example of literary ta’ziyyahs of the late Qajar era. To achieve this goal, after a general study of Ta’ziyyah, the text of Rajai Zafra’i’s Ta’ziyyah has been analyzed in detail in two areas: literary features and dramatic elements of Ta’ziyyah using the method of content analysis. The most important results that can be obtained from this study are that, in comparison to many poets of the Qajar era, Rajai Zafra’i has tried not to limit himself to expressing moods and imaginations in this work and his other compositions, and has been able to display various aspects of Shiite identity through narrations and dialogues. One of the most important manifestations of this effort of the Ta’ziyyah writer is the content and structural actions in giving advantage to the supporters in conflict with the opponents. It seems that the main difference between Ta’ziyyah as a native type of play and Western play is more related to the arrangement and editing of content, and generally the differences between the two have not been related to formal structures. It can also be analyzed that the greater attention paid to topics related to the tragedy of Karbala in Ta'ziyya is probably due to the greater poignancy of that event in terms of the magnitude of the subject matter; as the Shiite world still holds Muharram more dear than other days of mourning. Obviously, this does not mean lowering the status of any of the Ahl al-Bayt (a.s.) in the art of Ta'ziyya. Perhaps it is because of the sacred view of the characters in Ta'ziyya that the kind of sophistication that is seen in the characterization of the characters in Western works is not very tangible in Ta'ziyya. This is probably because in Western drama, the poet's goal is generally to elevate the dramatic art of the work, while in Ta'ziyya, since the main goal of the Ta'ziyya poet is to mention the tragedy and express completely religious and heavenly themes, he does not prioritize the artistic issues of the play and does not pay attention to the formal characteristics of the play and its art. This issue also shines outside of the play in the poetic techniques of Ta'ziyya, so much so that Rajai Zafra'i's Ta'ziyya, despite his poetic concern for the order of the play, cannot be considered among the first-rate brilliant works of the Qajar era in terms of literary grandeur, although the various valuable literary and non-literary aspects in his Ta'ziyya indicate the importance of the Ta'ziyya's position. The final point is that Rajai Zafra'i's Ta'ziyya sheds light on one of the neglected aspects of Shiite dramatic literature for the audience. The importance of Imam Reza's (AS) Ta'ziyya and the relative strength of this work in comparison to other Ta'ziyyas on the same subject are some of the points that we have reached through this research. It should also be said that Rajai Zafra'i's Ta'ziyya, in addition to its relative literary strength, also has capabilities from the perspective of dramatic elements that have received less attention. The final finding is that, due to his mastery of literary principles, unlike many Qajar era ta'ziyyah writers, Rajai Zafra'i insists on observing literary standards in his poems. He has included three components of impact on the audience, attention to the religious content prevalent in the era, and observance of general literary features such as meter and rhyme as the principles of his ta'ziyyah art, and has tried to create a relative diversity in the field of meters and musical elements of speech; however, the difference in the dramatic field in his work from the style of modern plays on the one hand, and the religious concern in observing religious meanings in his works have caused that, from a literary perspective, his works cannot be placed at the forefront of Iranian dramatic literature of the last two hundred years. Despite all these points, one of the main findings in the study of his ta'ziyyahs is the necessity of introducing and publishing his gatherings as works in the transition from traditional dramatic art to the contemporary era.







Keywords: Ritual literature, Imam Reza (AS), Ta'ziyya, Rajai-Zafra'i, drama.