A black flag over Iran’s Imam Reza shrine isn’t a war cry. It represents mourning for Gaza victims
Muslim Pilgrims visit the mausoleum of Imam Reza, the 8th Shiite Muslim’s Imam and grandson of the Prophet Mohammad in Mashhad, 900 km (540 miles) northeast of Tehran, Iran, on Monday, Aug. 11, 2008. The Associated Press on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023 reported on social media posts falsely claiming that a black flag of war has been raised over the holy site. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)
CLAIM: A major mosque in Iran raised a black flag to call Muslims to war over Israel’s attacks on Gaza.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The Imam Reza shrine said the flag was raised as a symbol of mourning for the lives lost in Israel’s strikes on Gaza. Experts on Islam and Iran confirmed the flag includes a passage from the Quran that is meant to comfort Muslims that their sacrifices will one day be rewarded.
THE FACTS: As the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas threatens to spillover into a wider regional conflict, social media users are claiming a battle cry has already gone out to Muslims worldwide.
Many have shared images and videos of the distinctive gold dome of Iran’s Imam Reza shrine — a major pilgrimage site for Shiite Muslims in Iran’s northeast that includes a mosque, library and other institutions — with a black banner flying on a flagpole.
“BREAKING: The Black Flag has been raised over Razavi Shrine in Mashhad, Khorasan province, Iran,” wrote one Facebook user who shared the image on Oct. 18, using an alternate name for the complex. “This is a call for war or vengeance.”
Others claimed the black flag and its Farsi inscription was meant to herald the coming of the Mahdi, the final leader believed to appear at the end of times to lead Muslim people.
But the black flag isn’t a call for war, and neither the flag’s text nor the shrine’s statement about the banner references the coming of the Mahdi or the end of time.
In fact, an announcement on the shrine’s English-language Facebook page on Oct. 17 specifically describes it as a “mourning flag” that was raised in response to the deadly blast that rocked a hospital in Hamas-controlled Gaza that day.
“In an unprecedented gesture and by the order of the custodian of Astan Quds Razavi, the black flag has been hoisted above the illuminated and pure Razavi dome, and drum beating will not be played tomorrow,” the post said, including #sorrow #mourning #sadness #grief and other hashtags.
Islamic and Iranian experts confirmed the flag includes a line from the Quran roughly translated as “help from Allah and an imminent victory” or “conquest from Allah and victory is near.”
That phrase isn’t traditionally used to declare war, but meant to bring comfort and hope to those struggling or engaged in battle that their sacrifice is not in vain and that Allah will grant them victory eventually, they said.
Hamid Dabashi, professor of Iranian Studies at Columbia University in New York, said the Quranic verse, in the context of the shrine’s Facebook post, means “solidarity” with the Palestinian cause and not an outright declaration of war against Israel.
“To me it says nothing more than the obvious: the ruling government in Iran supports Hamas and the Islamic Jihad,” he wrote in an email. “Nothing more, nothing less.”
The Middle East Media Research Institute, a Washington-based think tank founded by Israeli analysts, agreed, noting that Islamic militants tend to use a different passage from the Quran when declaring war.
The organization noted that statements from the Iran-backed Iraqi militias claiming responsibility for recent attacks on U.S. bases in Syria and Iraq open with this Quranic verse: “Permission [to fight] is given to those upon whom war is made because they are oppressed, and most surely Allah is well able to grant them victory.”
To be sure, the black flag has a long history in Muslim culture, Islamic scholars said.
Historically, it represents the Shiite branch of Islam and traces its roots to the Persian Abbasid Caliphate established in 750, explained Mohammad Faghfoory, director of the Islamic Studies graduate program at George Washington University in Washington.
The black flag is also a symbol of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, in which Shiite Muslims commemorate the death of Imam Hussian, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, he said.
Indeed the Imam Reza shrine hoisted the black flag in July to mark the start of the mourning month, according to local reports at the time.
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