Martyrdom as Piety: Mysticism and National Identity in Iran-Iraq War Poetry

During the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), which claimed more than one million lives, concepts and metaphors from classical Persian mysticism were used to mobilize young people to go to the frontlines and to offer their lives. Concepts from medieval love mysticism were used to idealize martyrdom to such a degree that martyrdom became an essential part of Iranian identity. This article analyses how medieval martyrs of love became the role models for Iranian soldiers, who interpreted the war against Saddam Husain's army as a redemptive mystic path leading to union with the Beloved. Religious literature was interpreted in a political context to convince Iranians to offer their lives. For example, the metaphor of the moth and the candle was popular in medieval mysticism, to represent the annihilation of the mystic's ego and his union with the Truth, and during the war, Iranian soldiers referred to themselves as moths, about to offer their lives, not necessarily for victory or patriotism, but in the hope of union with the Beloved.