Part ofa series on Shia Islam
Beliefs and practices Monotheism Holy Books Prophethood Succession to Muhammad Imamate Ismaili Twelver Zaydi Angels Judgment Day Mourning of Muharram Intercession Clergy The Four Companions Arbaʽeen Pilgrimage
Days of remembrance Ashura Arba'een Mawlid Eid al-Fitr Eid al-Adha Eid al-Ghadir Mourning of Muharram Omar Koshan
History Verse of purification Two weighty things Mubahala Khumm Fatimah's house First Fitna Second Fitna Battle of Karbala Origin Persecution
Branches and sects Ja'fari Akhbari Usuli Shaykhi Zaydi Isma'ili Musta'li Tayyibi Dawoodi Bohra Progressive Hebtiahs Bohra Atba-i-Malak Bohra Sulaymani Bohra Alavi Bohra Qutbi Bohra Hafizi Nizari Khoja Satpanth Ghulat Alawi Alevi Bektashi Bektashism and folk religion Qizilbash Ishiki Extinct Shi'a sects
Ahl al-Kisa Muhammad Ali Fatima Hasan Husayn
Holy women Fatima Khadija bint Khuwaylid Umm Salama Zaynab bint Ali Umm Kulthum bint Ali Umm al-Banin Fatima bint Hasan Ruqayya bint Husayn Rubab Shahrbanu Fatima bint Musa Hakimah Khātūn Narjis Fatimah bint Asad Umm Farwah bint al-Qasim Ruqayya bint Ali Sayyida Nafisa
Shia Islam portal
v t e

Omar Koshan (Persian:عمرکشان, "the Killing of Umar"), also known asJashn-e Hazrat-e Zahra ("Celebration ofFatima al-Zahra'"),^[1] is a yearly festival held by someTwelver Shi'i Muslims inIran. Originally, the festival commemorated the assassination of the second caliphUmar ibn al-Khattab (also spelled 'Omar',c. 583–644) by thePersian slaveAbu Lu'lu'a Firuz.^[2]

In its current form, it begins on the 9th day of the month ofRabi' al-Awwal of theIslamic year, and lasts until the 27th of the same month.^[3] It is acarnival-type of festival in which social roles are reversed and communal norms upturned.^[4] It generally functions as a more lighthearted counterpart of theTa'zieh passion plays during themourning of Muharram, which commemorate the death of the prophetMuhammad's grandsonHusayn ibn Ali at theBattle of Karbala in 680.^[5]

First established in the 16th century during theSafavid conversion of Iran to Shi'i Islam,^[6] the festival was originally held aroundAbu Lu'lu'a's sanctuary inKashan, each year at the anniversary of Umar's death on26Dhu al-Hijja of the Islamic year.^[7] However, later it also started to be observed elsewhere in Iran, sometimes on9Rabi' al-Awwal rather than on26Dhu al-Hijja.^[8]

The festival celebrated Abu Lu'lu'a, nicknamed for the occasionBābā Shujāʿ al-Dīn (lit. 'Father Courageous of the Faith'), as a national hero who had defended the religion by killing the oppressive caliph.[9] Umar was not only seen as a persecutor of non-Arabs,^[10] he was also thought to havethreatened and injured the prophet Muhammad's daughter and Ali's wifeFatima, who had cursed him for this.^[11] Being related to the more general institution in earlySafavid Iran of the ritual cursing of the first threeRashidun caliphs (who were all seen to have displaced Ali as the rightful caliph),^[12] the festival involved the beating and burning ofeffigies of Umar, accompanied by the recitation of vilifying poetry (sabb) and cursing (laʿn).^[13]

However, during theQajar period (1789–1925) the ritual cursing and humiliation of the first three caliphs was gradually abandoned due to the improving political relations with theSunniOttomans. By the beginning of the 20th century, the festival of Omar Koshan had fallen into disuse in the major cities of Iran, surviving only in the countryside.^[14] This evolution, further spurred on by the rise ofPan-Islamism (an ideology advocating the unity of all Muslims, both Shi'is and Sunnis) in the late 19th century,^[15] reached a height with theIslamic Revolution in 1979, after which the ritual was officially banned in theIslamic Republic of Iran.^[16]

Nevertheless, the festival itself is still celebrated in Iran, though often secretly and indoors rather than outdoors.^[17] In these contemporary celebrations, there is a lapse of historical consciousness, where the idea has taken root that the Umar involved was not the second caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab, but the leader of the troops who killed Ali's son Husayn ibn Ali at the Battle of Karbala in 680,Umar ibn Sa'd (diedc. 686).[18] There is also a shift of focus away from Umar and towards Fatima, the festival being seen as an occasion to strengthen one's devotion to Fatima and one's self-identification as a Shi'i Muslim.^[19]

• Shrine of Abu Lu'lu'a in Kashan, probably the original location of the festival

• Algar, Hamid (1990)."Caliphs and the Caliphate, as viewed by the Shiʿites of Persia". InYarshater, Ehsan (ed.).Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. IV/7: Calendars II–Cappadocia. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 677–679.ISBN 978-0-71009-130-7.
• Calmard, Jean (1996). "Shi'i Rituals and Power II. The Consolidation of Safavid Shi'ism: Folklore and Popular Religion". In Melville, Charles (ed.).Safavid Persia: The History and Politics of an Islamic Society. Pembroke Persian Papers. Vol. 4. London: I.B. Tauris. pp. 139–190.ISBN 1-86064-023-0.
• Daniel, Elton L.; Mahdi, Ali Akbar (2006).Culture and Customs of Iran. Westport: Greenwood Press.ISBN 0-313-32053-5.
• El-Hibri, Tayeb (2010).Parable and Politics in Early Islamic History: The Rashidun Caliphs. New York: Columbia University Press.ISBN 978-0-231-15082-8.
• Johnson, Rosemary Stanfield (1994)."Sunni Survival in Safavid Iran: Anti-Sunni Activities During the Reign of Tahmasp I".Iranian Studies.27 (1–4):123–133.doi:10.1080/00210869408701823.JSTOR 4310889.
• Madelung, Wilferd (1997).The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 0-521-56181-7.
• Pellat, Charles (2011)."Abū Loʾloʾa". InYarshater, Ehsan (ed.).Encyclopaedia Iranica.
• Torab, Azam (2007).Performing Islam: Gender and Ritual in Iran. Leiden: Brill.doi:10.1163/9789047410546_009.

• Umar
• Shia days of remembrance
• Islamic terminology

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing Persian-language text
• CS1: long volume value