Shahbedin Mousavi

Seyyed Shahabuddin Mousavi was born in 1971 in Shiraz. After some time, he migrated with his family to Ahvaz and around 1981, due to the war, he moved to Yazd province. In 1986, while he was a middle school student, he was eagerly sent to the front lines due to his religious beliefs and spiritual practices. The Karbala 5 operation in Shalamcheh was the first region he participated in, and from that year until the end of the war, except during periods of injury and leave, he was present on the front lines.

He composed his first poem at the age of about 15 in 1986, at the front, with themes of the front and martyrdom. After the end of the imposed war, he focused all his poetic talent on religious poetry. In 1988, after the war ended, he joined the community of eulogists and composed his first famous elegy, "My eyes are full of tears and my water bag is empty," which became a kind of artistic identity for him in the realm of religious literature among literary activists and eulogists across the country.

From 1989 to 1991, he was active in the Poetry Center of Education and for a while was the poetry secretary at the Yazd Propaganda Organization. He then continued in the Art Department and later worked in the Culture Network of Tehran Radio and Television.

In the 2000s, he established the religious literature section for the first time under this name at the Iranian Literary Center, which was previously known as religious or Ashura poetry, alongside Master Moallem and Dr. Kiasari.

After about 15 years of activity in this field, Seyyed Shahabuddin Mousavi concluded that eulogizing and religious literature were not in their proper place and had become counterproductive. This concern led him to utilize the high capacity of Yazd's assemblies to revive or reflect on the essence of the movement or to enlighten in this area.

He believes that people in Yazd have a specialized view on this issue compared to other parts of Iran. Yazd is the only place where elegies are repeated in ceremonies. In other regions like Kashan, Tehran, Mashhad, Qom, and others, an elegy is performed impromptu by the eulogist, and no one knows in advance what the eulogist will sing. However, in Yazd province, the leaders of the assembly must know what the eulogist will sing, and the elegy is practiced and repeated many times. This allows for deep and multi-layered poetry to be composed, where each repetition unveils a new layer of the poem. It is important that only a simple and weak elegy is not written but that it has something meaningful to say. In short, the artistic aspect of Yazd's elegies is rich. In Yazd's assemblies, there are specialized elegy composers, and the singers are knowledgeable about music and its terminology.

Seyyed Shahabuddin Mousavi's activity in composing elegies for Yazd's assemblies is significant, and he has played a crucial role in creating an enlightening movement in Yazd's religious assemblies and is one of its pioneers.

Seyyed Shahabuddin Mousavi, who is the poet of two of the most famous elegies of the late Hossein Saadatmand, with the opening lines "The story of your Nainawa takes my heart's peace away" and "The celestial song came, whose blood boiled?" in the Fahadan assembly, first began his activity with a new style and approach in 2000 with the Sheikhdad assembly. In 2001 and 2002, he continued his activity with the poems "Break" and "Rise" with a cognitive elegy approach. Subsequently, through extensive collaboration with other assemblies in Yazd, including Koocheh Biouk, Abshoor, Imamzadeh Jafar, Nainawa, Safaieh, and others, he introduced a new perspective to Yazd's mourning ceremonies and opened a new chapter in this path.

*Translated on 2026-03-13*