302 drama and theater: The Islamic World for the khayal al-zill, and their subjects ranged from complex theological themes to comedies featuring crude sexual humor For most of the medieval era the most popular plays were ones that featured exciting battles, and most plays ended with a rousing battle scene; those that did not ended instead with a stirring song Some political leaders tried to suppress the khayal al-zill, as plays often satirized government policies Efforts to suppress the satirical plays rarely succeeded, however, because they often were what audiences most wanted to see; stages were portable, so authorities had difficulty both in preventing people from staging the plays in homes, tents, or outdoors in remote byways and in dissuading people from attending performances Word of mouth was usually enough publicity to draw an audience The karagöz oyunu probably developed among the Turks This form was named for the everyman character Karagöz, who was the protagonist of every play Karagöz typically was a boisterous nitwit whose adventures tended to be broadly comical, featuring much slapstick Topics could involve the high and mighty, but everyday people living ordinary lives were the more common subjects Disagreements among characters usually were resolved through beatings Audiences would cheer their favorite characters and laugh uproariously, making performances wild and happy affairs The characters in the plays were puppets manipulated on a stage above the head of the puppeteer, who would wrap cloth or canvas around himself in a convention his audience understood to mean that he could not be seen Of the medieval Islamic world’s dramatic traditions, the ta’ziyah is probably the most familiar to Western audiences because it involves a story told in action by actors Ta’ziyah is the term for the figurine effigy at the shrines of Shia imams, particularly Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the prophet Muhammad The dramatic form is often referred to as a “Passion play” by Western scholars because it is about the death of an important religious figure, like the Passion plays of medieval Europe were about the Crucifixion of Christ The ta’ziyah event commemorates the martyrdom in 680 at the battle of Karbala of Husayn ibn Ali, an important figure in the history of the Shia branch of Islam The play is still presented during the month of Muharram, usually in places where the population is entirely or almost entirely composed of Shiites, because the play could be a source of antagonism for other Islamic sects In fact, among many Shiite and Sunni scholars the custom has come under considerable criticism, with some often suggesting that it be abandoned The presentation usually involves most of a community in weeks of preparation and is often a grand spectacle: For nine days many devout followers of the tradition publicly recite the events of the life of Husayn ibn Ali, often with great dramatic emotions During those days men whip themselves bloody while gathered in the streets On the 10th day a coffin representing that of Husayn is paraded through the streets, followed by a horse representing Husayn’s warhorse as well as by men still bloody from their days of whipping themselves After a male choir and a female choir wail lamentations, the play is presented, lasting about three hours The play ends with a battle during which, as accompanied by a roll of drums, Husayn’s effigy is slain Afterward, participants go to mosques and shrines to reverently complete their commemoration of Husayn’s death The dance traditions of the Islamic world are much misunderstood even within the modern Islamic world The term belly dance probably made its first appearance in English in 1899, when the phrase was used to attract audiences to a fairly serious effort by Egypt to present its customs to audiences at a world’s fair in the United States To the modern ear, however, belly dance implies a sensuality that was not necessarily part of the performances in question Arabic has many terms for the dances that were popular in the medieval Islamic world, but the two that seem to be most common are raqs sharqi, meaning “dance of the East” or “Oriental dance,” and raqs baladi, meaning “folk dance.” The raqs sharqi were dances intended for performance in front of audiences, whereas the raqs baladi were social dances Both terms probably originated in Egypt during the medieval era Most modern studies of the history of dance in the Islamic world have been written by dancers who wished to know more about dances that were passions for them The sources of dances in the Islamic world are many, and during the medieval era they were combined and modified in hundreds of different ways to suit the interests of dancers and audiences Almost all raqs sharqi derived from social dancing In the Maghreb, in North Africa, men and women danced together, naked except for short skirts The use of draperies held in hands during dances may have evolved from efforts to have women cover their breasts while dancing, although such use of handheld draperies may have originated far away in India, likewise in efforts to cover dancers, who there often gave public performances in the nude before the Muslim conquests In Egypt both religious and secular dances had often been performed in the nude before the coming of Islam During the medieval era female dancers who performed unclad or nearly unclad were often prostitutes Religious leaders tried to abolish all dancing, as well as music, but despite threats of damnation and oppressive laws ordinary Muslims continued to dance In the Near East dancing became segregated between the sexes, with men dancing for men, out of sight of women, and women dancing for women, out of sight of men By the 1300s the male musicians