Mourning in the Time of Coronavirus

The 250ml bottles of disinfectant are placed in a large tray and given as an oblation (a religious offering given by Shia Muslims to others) to people walking or driving down the street. The bottles have a black label, on which, in the upper part, it’s printed in red, "Greetings to Martyr Hossein,” and in the lower part, the hashtag "We defeat coronavirus." Amir, who is complimenting the tray says: "We have been standing here on the night of Tasua [the eve of a day of mourning in the Shia Muslim calendar] for twenty years making these oblations. Our oblation has always been warm milk or syrup, distributed among the mourners, depending on whether Muharram [a month of religious significance for Shia Muslims, based on a lunar calendar] occurs in summer or winter, but this year we are donating disinfecting liquid instead because of the coronavirus outbreak, to disinfect the door handles of the passing cars."

This is one of the central neighborhoods of Tehran. A few blocks away is a charity station that distributes masks and gloves. Amir says: "In the first ten days of Muharram, this station is set up every year, but its oblations are tea and cocoa milk. This year, they also have an oblation of masks and gloves. Many people cannot afford to buy disinfectant, masks and hand gel, and these offerings can help them."

The offerings of the Sadegh family are famous in the Pirouzi neighborhood of Tehran. They make eggplant stew every year, and long queues are formed in front of their house for the oblation food.

"There are many places which give stews, but because we give eggplant stew, ours is more popular and people like it," a member of the family, Mr Sadegh, says. "We have been making this every year for 30 years, but this year we packed the meat of two sheep, lentils, rice, tomato paste, and dried lime and went to the suburbs of Tehran to distribute them before the Tasua.”

Sadegh adds: "Although the distribution of hot food during Muharram is prohibited according to the protocols of the National Anti-Coronavirus Headquarters, many people ask 'Don't you give oblations of food?' And when we tell them that we are ashamed we cannot do it this year, they look at us in surprise and say, but some people do give it."

Sadegh is referring to the words of Colonel Jalil Moghufei, the Deputy Chief of the Capital Prevention Police. On August 27, 2020, Moghufei said: "According to the announcement of the National Anti-Coronavirus Headquarters, the distribution of hot food is prohibited. Citizens should also refrain from receiving hot meals, as a precaution, given the importance of preventing the spread of the disease and maintaining their own health."

However, some still give the hot food offerings. Parya lives in the east of Tehran, and says: "My aunt has been giving porridge oblation in the morning of Ashura [the most important day during Muharram]. She did not accept to fulfil her oblation in other ways, no matter what we told her. What is worse is that families have all come together to their house to help cooking without observing any distancing." She pauses and says: "May God help us."

From the first day of Muharram until today, Parya has received five packs of masks and hygiene items as an oblation from others. ”Our neighboor has replaced saffron sweet deserts, usually given as an oblation, with masks, and distributes masks in the metro,” Parya says. “Many others have done the same. People are really in trouble to buy masks and disinfectants because of the widespread unemployment and the sluggish market."

Parya herself prepared and distributed detergents a few weeks before Muharram in southern areas of Tehran: "I do not believe that I must do oblation on a particular day. A few weeks ago, I bought some washing liquid, hand wash, bleach, soap, toothpaste, and shampoo and distributed them among needy families with the help of a friend. I convinced many who had an oblation to give, to go for this option instead of a [traditional] oblation.”

She says, apart from oblations, these days I advise even those who have lost their loved ones and are unable to set up funeral ceremonies due to the spread of the coronavirus, to help the poor in remembrance of their loved ones: "For example, one of my relatives, who had lost his wife due to the coronavirus disease, spent the funeral money on buying a hospital bed for a university hospital."

Sohrab lives in the Narmak neighborhood of Tehran and says: "We have been putting up a tekyeh [a temporary mosque, erected in a tent] in Muharram in our neighborhood since we were teenagers, that is, about 15 years ago. This year we did not want to set up a tekyeh, but whatever we did, we could not satisfy the elderly and traditional men of the neighborhood. They wanted the tekyeh to be established in any possible way. This is their belief.”

Sohrab and his family have looked for other ways to please the traditional men in the neighbourhood and have built a disinfecting tunnel at the entrance of the tekyeh. "We give masks and gloves to people who come to the tekyeh. Hands must be disinfected and they must wear gloves, and we will give each person two masks so that if they cry or sweat, they can change the mask immediately. We have arranged the chairs with distance between them and have planned the whole mourning ceremony for an hour."

Sohrab believes that, despite all the work they have done in their tekyeh, many still do not observe the distancing: "In our neighborhood, the mosque Basij also distributes masks. One person stands with a plastic bag in his hand, wearing gloves, puts his hand inside the bag and gives a mask to everyone. I saw him touching a glass of water with the same glove or opening a carton to pour new masks into the plastic bag."

But Sohrab says that people who strictly observe the rules with their oblations are more numerous than those who are careless.