Dr. Ammar Shamil Kadhim Al-Khafaji,
University of Baghdad, Iraq
The discussion of the theme of martyrdom and redemption through suffering in modern Iraqi poetic dramas requires an investigation of the origin and the roots of martyrdom from earlier times. Drama and religious rituals went hand in hand in earlier stages of all civilizations. The art of drama, as all arts, was in its initial stages closely connected to religion. In the Islamic world, a major historical event which is the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet of Islam, Mohammad, has become the central inspiration for the development of the Islamic commemorative drama called “Ta’ziyeh. The rituals of Muharram in Iraq, especially the Ta’ziyeh (Tashabeeh) played an important role in stimulating and motivating the writers of poetic drama in Iraq during the twentieth century like Abdul Razaq Abdul Wahid and Mohammad Ali Al-Khafaji to write modern poetic drama. Muhammad Ali Al Khafaji’s Thahab Liyaqood Al Hulum (He went to lead the Dream) is atypical example of such kind of verse plays. Poetic plays will always be a necessity. They are like the phoenix, may die for a time, but it will rise from the ashes again.
The above abstract is a part of the article which was accepted at The Third International Conference on Current Issues of Languages, Dialects and Linguistics (WWW.LLLD.IR), 31 January-1February 2019 , Iran-Ahwaz.