In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

It is natural that any memory similar to Ashoura has its spiritual relation with the people’s passions, religion, educational mentality and political movement as well. Accordingly, this memory usually develops in accordance with the development of the means of communication, which help in the process of convincing and clarifying the holiness of the memory of Ashoura’a. In the light of the above mentioned ideas, not only do we encourage the commemoration of Ashoura, but we also call for developing the means of portraying it.

 We believe that the performance of the incidents of Ashoura on a primitive theatre via primitive means is too poor to lead to a good effect simply because the observer loses this lively and spiritual interaction which the commemoration of Ashoura aims at. For this reason, we aim at making Ashoura an occasion that does not only concern the Shiites but also a universal occasion that concerns all the people due to its human dimensions. Thus, we need a very well developed technical means and very creative playwrights and artists who compose, direct, and perform the incidents of Ashoura’ on a well-developed modern theater.

Why not, especially if the actress is a Muslim woman who possesses all the human affections, and who, at the same time, understands the personality of Zainab (a.s) and knows how to play her role.

I don’t think that the well educated and open-minded jurists who are fully aware of the modern technology and its impact on the modern man would be irrational enough to reject. Indeed, the jurists and I are fully aware that the modern man is capable of using such technical devices as his means to deliver his messages. Similarly, Islam is in need of such technical means so as to be widely spread and universally understood.

I know that there are certain types of people who usually fear the new… they are complicated from any new idea thinking that this newness would smash their habitual traditions. However, I believe that swimming against the current is risky and needs patience. So, I advise those, who are creative by their nature and are always looking for the best, to endure the difficulties that will be facing them.

We all agree that the conventions do neither mean the end of the world nor do they possess any sense of holiness. For this reason, God (swt) in His Holy book, the Quran, orders us to liberate ourselves from the constraints of blind traditions and conventions. God wants us to observe, to contemplate and to think about such customs in a way that makes us accept what suits our Islamic concepts and reject what doesn’t. “We have found our fathers following a certain religion; we are merely walking in their footsteps. Each (apostle) said: What if I bring you a better guidance than that which you found your fathers following? But they replied: We deny the message you have brought”. (Surah 43, Ornaments of Gold (Al-Zukhruf) Aya 23,24).

Since the Islamic concepts and thoughts are constant in their original and real content, we usually talk about changing the types of expressions and not about the content. However, we have, after a thorough understanding and contemplation to this content and to the issues that might arise, the right to come up with many interpretations. For this reason, we don’t usually fear the changes we have made or we are still making due to our realization that there are open minded and watchful jurists who understand the content of the Islamic conception, the mentality of our generations, thus they constitute a guarantee against any deviation.