Servants Narration of the Religious Rituals of the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza (AS) From Tradition to Lived Experience
Gholam Reza Azari Khakestar
Machine Translation Edited by Mandana Karimi
2026-09-11
The long history of holding religious rituals in the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza (AS) has led us to examine the history and manner of holding religious rituals in the shrine through oral history, recording the biographies and memories of the servants of the Holy Shrine. Although, according to historical documents, the presence of servants in the shrine and holding rituals has a long history. However, the importance of oral history narratives, its flexibility and ability to produce documents, especially in matters that we need, has led us to address the oral history of the servants.
A review of written documents and sources indicates that some rituals have a long history and history in the shrine. What factors have caused these rituals to continue for many years, without interruption, is the subject of this research. Therefore, recording the direct narratives of the organizers of religious rituals is a neglected part of research, and the oral history of the servants (Khodam) can cover this lack of resources.
The existence of ritual traditions from the Safavid period to the present indicates the cultural continuity and the special role of the servants in preserving the spiritual heritage of the shrine. Rituals such as sweeping, suffah (vault), playing the drums, reciting the sermon, changing the robe, and the rites of initiation, as well as the culture and literature of the servants, in addition to the ritual structure, have symbolic, educational, and spiritual elements and have been performed for centuries in a relatively stable, but lively and dynamic manner.
The most important goal of this research is to document, analyze, and explain the history, continuity, and function of the religious ritual of the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS), through recording and analyzing the oral history narratives of the servants, in order to preserve the spiritual and ritual heritage of the Razavi shrine. Therefore, the other goals of this research are as follows:
1.Recording and recording oral narratives of the servants as the main performers of the religious rituals of the Razavi Holy Shrine.
2. Examining the role of hereditary servants and service structures in the intergenerational transmission of religious rituals and traditions.
3. Analyzing the developments in the religious rituals of the Holy Shrine in contemporary periods from the perspective of the servants lived experience.
4. Completing and enriching existing written documents through the production of oral history documents as a complementary source of historical research.
Oral history, as a new method, provides an important opportunity to record authentic narratives and the lived experience of the organizers of these traditions. A review of the documents of the Astan Quds Razavi Document Center shows that the roots of some rituals, such as playing the flute and the lute, sweeping, and the sermon of handing over the guard, go back to the Safavid period and have been established in historical periods. In fact, endowment bonds and hereditary servants have been the main carriers of the transmission of this heritage. The oral history project of the shrine servants was carried out in two stages. First, interviews were conducted sporadically with old servants and hereditary servants over the past years. Second, from February 2025 to December 15, 2025, 137 interview sessions were conducted in 8443 minutes, equivalent to 140 hours and 40 minutes of interviews, with 76 people from the first to eighth guard ranks. The most important topics considered in this project are: family history and pilgrimage to the shrine from the perspective of the interviewees, biographies and historical events, family occupations, how to get service in the shrine and record narratives in this regard, the first day of service in the shrine, description of the servants' duties, how to serve, pilgrims to the shrine, participation in religious ceremonies in the shrine, healing and miracles of Razavi, etc.
The rituals of the Razavi shrine are part of the spiritual identity of Iranians and Shiites. Any change or distortion in them directly affects collective memory. Many rituals have been subject to change with the evolution of management structures, the development of spaces, and the reduction of the new generation of servants' connection with old traditions. The spiritual experience of servants, feelings, narratives and stories of how to receive service, the miracles of the Imam, etc. are not recorded in official documents and can only be collected through oral history. This information can be the basis for scientific works, cultural media documentaries. In each of the rituals of the Holy Shrine, there is a hidden message that adds to the purification of the soul, the correction of the speech and behavior of pilgrims and neighbors. In fact, this ritual, in addition to strengthening and consolidating people's beliefs, causes their unity and bonding.
For example, the Sufa ceremony is one of the rituals that has a long history in the Holy Shrine. The Sufa ceremony is held every morning, half an hour after sunrise, and every evening, half an hour after the Maghrib call to prayer (except during the holy month of Ramadan) in one of the porches in front of the Holy Shrine (Dar al-Hifadh - Dar al-Salam). Three groups participate in the performance of this ceremony: the guards and the servants. The sermon of the changing of the guard or the changing of the guard ceremony is another ceremony that has been held in the shrine since the past and continues to this day. The servants of the Holy Shrine gather in one of the porches in the morning at a certain time according to the schedule determined by the head of the guard, all wear formal clothes, and a handover and change ceremony is performed.
The connection between service in the Holy Shrine and the endowment has continued since the Safavid period. The allocation of endowments to the servants, the protection and the covering of the Holy Shrine has always resulted in a continuous source of funding from the endowments, which is considered the most important factor in the continuity of the service and rituals of the Holy Shrine. Hereditary servants are people whose families have continued to serve in the Holy Shrine for several generations. In fact, since the Safavid era, the leadership of each group of priests has been in the hands of families that have served in the Shrine for generations and have played a pivotal role in preserving the ritual memory of the Shrine. Hereditary service is considered a spiritual legacy that has been carried on in these families for many years. Based on the experience of old servants, some rituals are held less often compared to the past or have lost their previous function. The "Ash-e-Jaro (soup of sweaper)" ritual is one of the examples that was introduced in interviews as a prominent ceremony in the past, but has become less popular in recent years. A significant portion of the interviews were devoted to the spiritual experiences of the servants during their service. These narratives included experiences of feeling calm, seeking refuge, and witnessing or hearing stories during the performance of the ritual. These experiences are not usually recorded in official documents, but they play a decisive role in their motivation and continuation of their service.
The interviewees pointed to structural changes in the management of the shrine and the increase in the number of servants. They believed that although these changes had led to better order and organization, in some cases they had also led to a reduction in the length of service.
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