english.al-akhbar.com – Singing classical Sufi music can now get you in trouble in Iran as the state’s censors seek to reign in on cultural expression. An early target, the famous Persian epic Khosraw and Shirin by Nizami Ganjavi, had some of its verses removed by Iranian officials. The latest move by the Iranian Ministry of Culture to remove Sufi poetry from Iranian songs comes amid a three year surge by the censors to control Iranian art.

Muhammad Mirzami, head of the music department at the ministry, announced the decision forcing many groups to re-record their songs according to the new rules. Iranian artists see the decision as a reneging on prior licenses granted by the Iranian ministry of culture to music groups. They insist that the decision is the first step towards confining songs in Iran to litanies, prayers, and religious songs.

Sufi poetry enjoys the highest recognition in Iranian society and is a principle element at the heart of Iranian culture and collective subconscious. The poetry of the grand Persian Sufi poets, such as Hafez al-Shirazi and “Mawlana” Jalal al-Din al-Rumi, formed the basis of Iranian folk song for hundreds of years. In recent years, Iranian pop groups have developed music that draws on the Sufi tradition, while lacing it with modern rhythms.

Government officials do not believe the decision will restrict Iranian music, justifying their move with both moral and artistic arguments. While Iranian pop music combines the language of modern daily life and theological Sufi poetry, the soul of traditional Iranian song closely links Sufi poetry to spiritualism. Furthermore, traditional song is the principle vehicle for the spiritualism shared by different ethnic groups in Iran. Yet the merits of this music have not swayed Iranian officials to allow these theological elements to remain a part of cultural and artistic life.

This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.

Photo: Sufi whirling performance of the Mevlevi order is part of a formal ceremony known as the Sama. The order was founded by the Persian-Turkish poet Mowlana Jalaluddin Rumi, one of the greatest mystic poets of Sufism in Islam. (Photo: AP)