Hail to the Commander: The Mystagogue’s Hymn
by Mahmoud Sadri and Alireza Ghandriz* — 11September 2022
Seven years ago, Iran’s “supreme Leader”, Ali Khamenei, offering videotaped advice to his cultural advisors, stated: “If you manage to compose a melodious, effective, and well-composed song, the kind children could hum on their way to school, you will have accomplished a great feat.” Last March, on the eve of the Persian New Year (Nowruz), Iran’s national TV broadcast a hymn entitled: “Hail to the Commander.” A chorus of 313 youngsters — an esoterically significant number — débuted the song, which became an immediate sensation and a viral hit — polemics and parodies continue to pour in.
Repeat performances of the song echoed in hundreds of schoolyards and shrines in Iran, as well as in the Shiite communities’ public venues from Pakistan to Nigeria. Urdu, Arabic, and English versions of the song rolled out in quick succession.
However, the reverberations did not go according to the plan. The song was re-imagined according to various Shiite communities’ beliefs and perspectives. In Iraq and Gulf countries, where most Shiites follow a quietist creed based on the Mosque/state separation, the references to the Iranian regime were removed The tune, with variations on the lyrics, appeared at weddings and other festive and memorial occasions.
Although the song has found a life of its own, it is worth asking what the original intent was. It may help us understand the present predicament of the Iranian theocratic regime.
“The Original Intent of “Hail to the Commander”
It would be a mistake to reduce the hymn to a simple political propaganda coup by the Iranian “culture industry” to bolster its “supreme” leader. To begin with, the hailed “Commander” in the song is not Ali Khamenei, but Islam’s (and particularly Shiites’) awaited Messiah: Mahdi. The song is primarily a declaration of preparedness to serve the awaited savior upon his return. It is the Islamic version of the Christian pre-millenarian “end-time” creed, spiked with local patriotism. Its goal is to interlace the Shiite community’s traditional Messianic hopes with the Iranian regime’s theocratic pretensions as if they are the warp and woof of the same creedal cloth…
*Mahmoud Sadri is a Professor of Sociology at Texas Woman’s University. Alireza Ghandriz is a geopolitical analyst.
