‘Āshūrā’, or, Torturous Memory as a Condition of Possibility of an Unconditional Promise

Jalal Toufic

‘Āshūrā’, or, Torturous Memory as a Condition of Possibility of an Unconditional Promise

Jalal Toufic

Research output: Contribution to conference › Conference paper

Abstract

Al-Husayn, the grandson of the prophet Muhammad and the son of the first Shi‘ite imam, ‘Alī, was slaughtered alongside many members of his family in the desert in 680. This memory is torture to me. But, basically, one can say this memory is torture to me of every memory, since each reminiscence envelops at some level the memory of the origin of memory, the torture that had to be inflicted on humans in order to make them remember (Nietzsche). The memory that the yearly commemoration of ‘Āshūrā’ is trying to maintain is not only or mainly that of the past, but the memory of the future, that of the promise of the Parousia of the twelfth imam, the awaited Mahdī, notwithstanding the passage of a millennium since his occultation; as well as the corresponding promise of Twelver Shi‘ites to wait for him.

Original language	English
Publication status	Published - 23 Nov 2019
Event	The Performance of Lament as Production of ‘Cultural Intimacy’: From the Ritual of the Ashura to Contemporary Artistic Practices - Athens School of Fine Arts, Athens, Greece Duration: 23 Nov 2019 → …

Symposium

Symposium	The Performance of Lament as Production of ‘Cultural Intimacy’: From the Ritual of the Ashura to Contemporary Artistic Practices
Country/Territory	Greece
City	Athens
Period	23/11/19 → …

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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@conference{d196efd126d74c84a36f78ee8e8bad56,

title = "{\textquoteleft}Āshūrā{\textquoteright}, or, Torturous Memory as a Condition of Possibility of an Unconditional Promise",

abstract = "Al-Husayn, the grandson of the prophet Muhammad and the son of the first Shi{\textquoteleft}ite imam, {\textquoteleft}Alī, was slaughtered alongside many members of his family in the desert in 680. This memory is torture to me. But, basically, one can say this memory is torture to me of every memory, since each reminiscence envelops at some level the memory of the origin of memory, the torture that had to be inflicted on humans in order to make them remember (Nietzsche). The memory that the yearly commemoration of {\textquoteleft}Āshūrā{\textquoteright} is trying to maintain is not only or mainly that of the past, but the memory of the future, that of the promise of the Parousia of the twelfth imam, the awaited Mahdī, notwithstanding the passage of a millennium since his occultation; as well as the corresponding promise of Twelver Shi{\textquoteleft}ites to wait for him.",

author = "Jalal Toufic",

year = "2019",

month = nov,

day = "23",

language = "English",

note = "The Performance of Lament as Production of {\textquoteleft}Cultural Intimacy{\textquoteright}: From the Ritual of the Ashura to Contemporary Artistic Practices ; Conference date: 23-11-2019",

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TY - CONF

T1 - ‘Āshūrā’, or, Torturous Memory as a Condition of Possibility of an Unconditional Promise

AU - Toufic, Jalal

PY - 2019/11/23

Y1 - 2019/11/23

N2 - Al-Husayn, the grandson of the prophet Muhammad and the son of the first Shi‘ite imam, ‘Alī, was slaughtered alongside many members of his family in the desert in 680. This memory is torture to me. But, basically, one can say this memory is torture to me of every memory, since each reminiscence envelops at some level the memory of the origin of memory, the torture that had to be inflicted on humans in order to make them remember (Nietzsche). The memory that the yearly commemoration of ‘Āshūrā’ is trying to maintain is not only or mainly that of the past, but the memory of the future, that of the promise of the Parousia of the twelfth imam, the awaited Mahdī, notwithstanding the passage of a millennium since his occultation; as well as the corresponding promise of Twelver Shi‘ites to wait for him.

AB - Al-Husayn, the grandson of the prophet Muhammad and the son of the first Shi‘ite imam, ‘Alī, was slaughtered alongside many members of his family in the desert in 680. This memory is torture to me. But, basically, one can say this memory is torture to me of every memory, since each reminiscence envelops at some level the memory of the origin of memory, the torture that had to be inflicted on humans in order to make them remember (Nietzsche). The memory that the yearly commemoration of ‘Āshūrā’ is trying to maintain is not only or mainly that of the past, but the memory of the future, that of the promise of the Parousia of the twelfth imam, the awaited Mahdī, notwithstanding the passage of a millennium since his occultation; as well as the corresponding promise of Twelver Shi‘ites to wait for him.

M3 - Conference paper

T2 - The Performance of Lament as Production of ‘Cultural Intimacy’: From the Ritual of the Ashura to Contemporary Artistic Practices

Y2 - 23 November 2019

ER -

‘Āshūrā’, or, Torturous Memory as a Condition of Possibility of an Unconditional Promise

Abstract

Symposium

UN SDGs

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