Eulogies describing the suffering and persecution of the 12 Imams—direct descendants of Prophet Muhammad who served as community leaders—play a critical role in mainstream Shiite Islam. While usually backed by the state, less than a year after many Iranians took to the streets following the death of Mahsa Jina Amini in morality police custody, some Shiite eulogists have begun openly criticizing the Islamic Republic in their lyrics. They have in the process gained an audience that the state has traditionally relied upon for support.

The anti-establishment lyrics pose a unique challenge for the Iranian authorities, particularly in the Islamic lunar month of Muharram, when emotions run high and Iranians congregate in large numbers to mark the killing of Hussein ibn Ali—a grandson of Prophet Muhammad and the third Shiite Imam—in the 680 CE Battle of Karbala.

A new political battleground

Gholam Koveitipour is a veteran of the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88), and a prominent Shiite eulogist whose lyrics are popular among the religiously devout in Iran. During the recent Muharram ceremonies, he and the musician Danial Moghadam released a eulogy entitled ‘Rais’, meaning ‘boss’ in English—unleashing a...