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164 Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf

urban landmarks, and Imam Husayn the town’s unofficial patron saint.

The outdoor celebrations sponsored by the ma’tams in the month of
Muharram became a window onto the political and social cleavages of
the Shi‘i population. The processions were the venues where a large
proportion of the residents of the inner city exhibited and dramatised
their allegiances to urban patrons and engaged with the government. In
the oil era, the performance of Muharram rituals continued to be the
platform for the affirmation of political loyalties and social solidarities.
Yet the old merchant class no longer acted as champions of popular
Shi‘ism, as their influence as patrons of houses of mourning and sponsors
of performances waned. By the early 1950s Muharram had become part of
a popular repertoire of nationalist mobilisation, a symbol of, and a venue
for, the expression of political dissent against the state.
Ritual behaviour and communal hierarchies
The ceremonial performance and textual tradition of ‘ashura’ contributed
to the distinctive character of Shi‘ism in Manama. Although evidence
from the first decades of the twentieth century is scanty, celebrations
evolved around the organisation of the procession and of the memorial
services, the majalis al-ta‘ziyah which featured the qira’ al-husayniyyah,
the reading of the stories of the family of Imam Husayn. It seems that the
passion play (al-tamthiliyyah) which dramatised the battle of Karbala
began to be staged as a separate performance only after World War I.
The name ma’tam (most likely from the Arabic word for funeral) which
was used for the congregation and for the building which hosted it sug-
36
gests an emphasis on bereavement. Manama’s houses of mourning were
primarily venues for sorrow and condolences. They did not host cultural
and literary activities, nor did they exhibit the architectural splendour of
the imambaras of Lucknow in India sponsored by the Nawabs of Awadh,
where the term matam defined the lamentation which accompanied the
readings of the Karbala stories in private houses. Neither did the ritual
behaviour of Manama’s congregations display the strong tribal ethos and
the cult of saints of Iraqi Shi‘ism, which emphasised manhood and hon-
our. Performances were simple dramatisations whose theatrical qualities
36
P. Thomas, ‘The Passion Play at Bahrein’ in The Arabian Mission, vol. II, 65 (April–June
1908), pp. 3–5; P. W. Harrison ‘The Feast of Muharram’ in The Arabian Mission, vol. IV,
107 (Oct.–Dec. 1918), pp. 13–14 ; F. Lutton ‘Moslem Women’s Meetings in Bahrein’ in
The Arabian Mission, vol. III, 84 (Jan.–March 1913), pp. 14–18; photographic evidence on
‘ashura’ in Manama (1930s and 1940s) and video of procession (c. 1932), BA. See Sayf,
al-Ma’tam, vol. I, pp. 38–49 and 53–74 for recent examples of performances and texts of
Karbala stories.