A brief historical background of Shi'ism and Moharram -- The Qajar elites and religious patronage (1796-1925) -- Qajar society and religious culture : Tehran as a case study -- The Pahlavi regime and the emergence of secular modernism (1925-1979) -- Religious rituals, society and politics during the Pahlavi period -- Hoseyn "the prince of martyrs" -- Fatemeh, Zeynab, and emerging discourses on gender -- The Islamic republic.