Iran’s clerics argue over how to hold the festival of Muharram

LAST MONTH Saudi Arabia did something unprecedented. To slow the spread of covid-19, it restricted participation in the , the annual pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, which every Muslim is expected to perform once in their life. Somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 people already resident in the kingdom were allowed to take part—a tiny fraction of the 2.5m pilgrims who attended last year from around the world. It has been well over a century since the ritual was so disrupted.Iran is taking a very different approach to this year’s Muharram ceremonies, which begin on August 20th and bring millions of Muslims together to mourn the death of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson and favoured martyr of Shia Islam. “Even if we die, we will hold this year’s Muharram ceremonies splendidly,” says Saeed Haddadian, a , or cantor, who chants for Iran’s supreme leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.