The spiritual pathway of Muharram mourning in Persian cities; A case study of Ardabil

Muharram commemoration to remember sacrifices made by Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions is one of the special and deep-rooted Islamic events, tied to spirituality for centuries. These processions are often held in specific routes or ‘mourning pathways. These paths and related spaces over time, in addition to being memorable and creating identity, have become spiritual in their own ways. But the contemporary Iranian urban planning pays more attention to material aspects and has moved away from spiritual spaces. Extensive physical changes and interventions in traditional cities, as well as threats and damage to mourning pathways, highlight the need for further research. This article, using comparative-qualitative studies and bringing evidence and numerous examples from different Iranian cities and emphasizing Ardabil, has tried to interpret the collected data, while proving and introducing mourning pathways as sacred and spiritual paths, determine their spiritual dimensions and aspects. The spiritual effects of mourning before and after the events along with their margins have been studied. The results show that various sacred-religious, physical-spatial, cultural-social, historical-political and natural factors constitute mourning pathways and then the socio-cultural dimension added weight to it. On the one hand, these pathways connect spaces to history, and on the other hand, they add a special symbolic and semantic dimension that distinguishes them from other paths.