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Martyrdom as Piety: Mysticism and National Identity in Iran-Iraq War Poetry

During the Iran-Iraq war (1980–1988), which claimed more than one million lives, concepts and metaphors from classical Persian mysticism were used to mobilize young people to go to the frontlines and to offer their lives. Concepts from medieval love mysticism were used to idealize martyrdom to such a degree that martyrdom became an essential part of Iranian identity. This article analyses how medieval martyrs of love became the role models for Iranian soldiers, who interpreted the war against Saddam Husain's army as a redemptive mystic path leading to union with the Beloved. Religious literature was interpreted in a political context to convince Iranians to offer their lives. For example, the metaphor of the moth and the candle was popular in medieval mysticism, to represent the annihilation of the mystic's ego and his union with the Truth, and during the war, Iranian soldiers referred to themselves as moths, about to offer their lives, not necessarily for victory or patriotism, but in the hope of union with the Beloved. Martyrdom is one of the key icons of Iranian identity. From medieval times, martyrdom has been used in a wide range of contexts, from love mysticism and natural death to war situations. The concept was reactivated with the introduction of nation-states at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries, at which time Iranian intellectuals endeavored to introduce Western political philosophy. Several of these modernists were killed, and their deaths were interpreted in terms of martyrdom. There are several examples of martyr-deaths in Iran during the twentieth century, the most vivid and poignant occurring during the Islamic Revolution of 1978–79 and especially during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. This was the longest conventional war of the twentieth century, lasting eight years (1980–1988) and claiming more than one million lives. ) G. Sick, “Trial by Error: Reflections on the Iran-Iraq War,” in Middle East Journal, 43:2, 1989, 230–45. Der Islam Bd. 87, S. 248–273 DOI 10.1515/islam-2011-0031 © Walter de Gruyter 2012