This is a painting I did in an art program. It is an interpretation of the Ta’ziyeh. It is supposed to look as ridiculous as possible, and I will explain why. In reading about the Ta’ziyeh, or passion play about the death of Muhammad’s grandson Hussain at the hands of Shimr, leader of Yazid’s army, I learned about how the acting out of the play has changed over centuries. The Ta’ziyeh is not meant to be just a performance, but an enactment of that fateful day, one where the audience feels like they are really there with Hussein. Recently, the Ta’ziyeh has become more and more realistic, with better lines, acting, and music. It was not always that way. Specifically the representation of Shimr has changed quite a bit. As the antagonist and Hussein’s killer, he is not a popular character for the audience or for the actor that plays him. Actors tend to exacerbate his negative qualities to elevate the image of Hussein. They gave unrealistic performances of Shimr being extremely incompetent, silly, lazy, and stupid, giving the audience more to jeer about. They depicted him drinking wine and even being an infidel. The actors themselves wanted to act out Shimr in the worst way possible, distancing their own personal beliefs from this absurdly clownish character. This absurdly clownish character inspired me to literally paint Shimr as a clown, emphasizing how truly crazy it seems to diverge so much from the actual known history for the sake of entertainment. Here, Shimr has clownish red hair and a red beard, a painted face, brightly colored striped clothing and pointy shoes. He is holding a glass of wine and his sword pointed backwards in the middle of battle. His cronies are equally foolishly dressed. Meanwhile, Hussein is humbly dressed, looking simple and normal with his followers behind him. The comparison is comedic and honestly the Ta’ziyeh is more justified and respects the honor of Hussein without portraying Shimr as a fool, because that implies that Hussein was simple enough to be defeated by a complete idiot. Personally I am glad the Ta’ziyeh has transitioned to be more realistic.