Talking about the amount and extent of mourning and the time spent in it is a long historical topic. Sometimes violence was used – in the time of Reza Shah – only on the day of Ashura, and sometimes its size increased dramatically.
Some go to Bishwaz before Muharram. He set up a mourning table. They cover the streets in black. An unforgettable tragedy occurred on the tenth of Muharram. This surplus has no spiritual component. This upset the majority of society.
In the sixties, in the first year of my radio administrator, when we got to the first Muharram, friends said that last year, in connection with the month of Muharram, the music and compliments on the radio stopped. On the first day of Muharram and until the 15th of Muharram, only mourning music was played.
Since those days I have been accused of modernity. I felt that if I removed this tradition, I would be rejected. Of course I had a good relationship with the Imam’s office. From the morning of the first day of Muharram, radio programs were broadcast with special music for mourning days, and praise and ordinary music no less than lamentation were removed.
On the afternoon of the first day of Muharram, I was called by Ayatollah Seyyed Muhammad Hashemi, who was a member of the Imam’s office and a member of the broadcasting supervisory board. The imam said: I will not interfere (quoted from the text). But since the first day of Muharram, when you broadcast this kind of mourning, what do you want to do on major mourning days like Tasua and Ashura?
This was an important step for me. Excessive mourning is also harmful.
* Posted on Jamaran website / Saturday 17 August 1401
