Ashura in Patriotic Harmony: Khamenei Invokes “Ey Iran” in Mourning for Imam Hussein

According to Saed News, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei marked the sacred night of Ashura — commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussein — with a gesture that has drawn attention across Iran: requesting the performance of the patriotic anthem “Ey Iran” during a mourning ceremony. The moment, described by religious commentator Sheikh Mahmoud Memizadeh, has since been interpreted as a symbolic fusion of spiritual grief and national pride.

Memizadeh, a cultural and religious analyst, framed the move as deeply intentional. “In calling for ‘Ey Iran’ while commemorating Ashura,” he wrote, “the Leader signaled that his love for Imam Hussein is inseparable from his devotion to Iran.” The analyst went on to describe Khamenei as “the most Iranian of Iran’s leaders,” contrasting him with monarchs and officials of the past who, he argued, compromised the nation’s sovereignty.

Referencing a well-known vision attributed to the prominent Shi’a cleric Mirza Naeini, in which Imam Mahdi prevents the symbolic collapse of Iran depicted as a crumbling wall, Memizadeh asserted that Iran remains under divine protection — a “house of Shi’ism” safeguarded by the Imams themselves.

The use of “Ey Iran” — long revered as a secular yet nationalistic anthem — within a deeply religious Shi’a ceremony is rare, but in this context, it echoed a broader ideological narrative: that Iran’s identity is inseparably tied to the legacy of the Ahl al-Bayt. The gesture also served as a reminder of the state’s post-revolutionary ethos, in which the homeland is revered not merely as territory, but as a sacred trust entwined with Islam and history.

In Memizadeh’s words, “When the Leader strikes his chest to the rhythm of ‘Ey Iran,’ he is telling the world: this land belongs to Hussein. It is both sanctuary and sacrifice.” For many in Iran, the moment was more than ceremonial — it was a reaffirmation of a worldview in which mourning, memory, and nationhood converge.