The Women of Karbala: Ritual Performances and
Symbolic Discourses in Modern Shi`i Islam

Kamran Scot Aghaie, ed.
Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005. 304 pages.

This beautifully produced work provides a gendered reading of the cen-
trality of the Karbala commemorations among Shi`i communities. There is
a strong Persian(ate) bias in the selections (only two papers really deal with
practices in an Arab context). However, it represents the maturity of the state
of Shi`i studies, having moved beyond the sensationalism of political obses-
sions following the Iranian revolution of 1979 and the textually based
Orientalism of an earlier generation to considerations of actual practices,
performances, understanding of texts, and enactments of doctrines. 

108 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 23:2



The Women of Karbala is a significant contribution to the study of Shi`i
Islam in practice. Most of the papers are based on anthropological fieldwork
in majoritarian communities. The collection could have benefited from some
more historical studies (there are two studies on the Qajar period), textual
studies, and examinations of Arab communities, as well as the increasing
significance of the Shi`i diasporic communities in Europe and North America
(one paper does nod in that direction). Another feature that would have
enhanced the collection would be to interpret Shi`i more widely. For exam-
ple, there is one paper on Bohra practices but none on the Zaydis and recent
developments in the Yemeni highlands that have made Shi`i commemora-
tions critical junctures of conflict.

The introduction adequately presents the papers and their significance.
However, it offers an odd reconciliation of a rather basic introduction to the
Shi`ah and the significance Imam Hosayn’s (I use Aghaie’s Persian translit-
eration) martyrdom with a sophisticated articulation of several key gendered
themes in the Muharram commemorations. The author’s invocation of the
Karbala narrative as a root metaphor (somewhat akin to Michael Fischer’s
earlier evocation of the Karbala paradigm) is an important methodological
perspective that requires more discussion and exposition than a brief excur-
sus in an endnote. 

The centrality of gender is noted and stressed; however, two further
aspects of gendered performance and ritual should have been addressed.
First, women play a significant role not only in commemorative rituals but
also within the key textual narratives, symbols, and artistic representations. It
is often through women’s rituals and ceremonies that both male and female
believers encounter the Karbala narrative as children. Second, although the
collection focuses on women, the performance and construction of masculin-
ity within the same sets of performances would be a useful area of inquiry,
especially if gender studies are to be more than women’s studies. Finally,
apart from fieldwork, textual sources lie at the center of the research upon
which the collection is based. However, increasingly audio-visual and Inter-
net resources have made the Karbala narrative and its commemorations avail-
able to wider audiences and participants, especially in isolated communities
with few Shi`ahs. In particular, the Internet has engendered the notion of a
"cyber-Majlis" and even a "cyber-ta`ziyeh" (passion play). 

The papers are divided not by themes, but by the locus of investigation.
The first part on Iran comprises five papers. Negar Mottahedeh studies the
Qajar-era ta`ziyeh and the gendered dynamics of the Karbala narrative’s rit-
ual dramatization. Aghaie focuses on the same period and examines the

Book Reviews 109



functions of women within the public and private spheres. Ingvild Flaskerud
considers a case study of contemporary Shiraz and the iconography and
symbolism of women’s enactment of ritual. Faegheh Shirazi turns to the
mobilizing role of the women of Karbala in revolutionary and political activ-
ity. Peter Chelkowski returns to the ta`ziyeh and the idealization of the
women of Karbala as female exemplars. Although this is a rich bouquet, sev-
eral different areas could have been developed, as indicated above, includ-
ing films inspired by the Karbala narrative; and music, the arts, and women’s
role in their performance, commemoration, and within the text. 

Part 2 considers non-Iranian contexts. Akbar Hyder examines the poetic
representations of the women of Karbala by male and female poets in Urdu
and focuses on the rhetoric of these women as "conquerors" of Damascus,
referring to their role in defending the proto-Shi`i cause and the Prophet’s
family at the Umayyad court. One possible area of interest to develop this
would have been the contemporary growth in pilgrimage from South Asia to
the shrine of Sayyida Zaynab in Damascus, as well as the large number of
women who undertake it and their responses and attitudes to the literary
texts. Rehana Ghadially shifts the attention to the Bohra Isma`ilis of India
and argues that the centrality of women in rituals bolsters the sense of their
importance within the faith (one could no doubt find other contexts that may
corroborate her argument). 

Mary Hegland’s study of immigrant communities in the United States is
perhaps the most ambitious; however, it is also the most simplistic and a
rather journalistic contribution. Elizabeth Fernea and Basima Bezirgan rein-
terpret that fluidity of the public sphere by examining Iraqi practices. This is
another rather superficial piece based on research conducted some decades
ago. Lara Deeb looks at recent developments in Lebanese Shi`i communi-
ties. Part 2 thus represents more of a mixed bag. This is unfortunate, given
the significance (often overlooked) of non-Iranian Shi`i communities. 

The Women of Karbala is a commendable collection of research and
will no doubt find its rightful place in the libraries of those interested in Shi`i
studies and gender studies in Islam. It should also become a mainstay on
reading lists on the practice of Islam and Shi`ism in the contemporary world,
complementing and moving beyond the existing studies of David Pinault,
Vernon J. Schubel, and others. 

Sajjad H. Rizvi
Lecturer in Islamic Studies, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies

University of Exeter, United Kingdom 

110 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 23:2