An investigation into the col­lapse of time in the annual Shi’ite ritual of Muhar­ram, from locust of protest to anachronistic passion-​play (ta’aziyeh), Mystical Protest looks at the poten­tial of the numinous, or the holy, as an agent of change in the con­crete, material world.

If the suc­cess of a drama is to be measured by the effect which it produces upon the people for whom it is com­posed, or upon the audience before whom it is represen­ted, no play has ever sur­pas­sed the tragedy known in the Mus­sul­man world as that of Hasan and Husain.

– Sir Lewis Pelly, 1879