Supporters of Iran’s national team have been asked to wear black and unite in religious chants rather than football songs during Tuesday afternoon’s World Cup qualifying match against South Korea, after a row broke out over the game’s clash with a day of mourning in the Shia calendar.

Senior clerics from the holy city of Qom, home to prominent Shia Islam seminaries, and hardliners in Tehran had initially called for the match at the capital’s majestic Azadi stadium to be postponed.

The informal voluntary Basij militia and home-grown Hezbollah supporters have staged protests in Tehran and other major cities, threatening to confront fans. For them, a football match is at odds with the spirit of the sombre occasion of Ashura, which falls on Wednesday.

Faced with an intransigent Fifa, Iranian officials allowed the game to go ahead. The influential cleric Ali Movahedi-Kermani used his weekly sermon on Friday to set conditions for the 100,000 fans expected to attend and the authorities in charge of the country’s sport.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest A woman holds a picture of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a gathering a day ahead of the Ashura rituals in Beirut, Lebanon. Photograph: Anwar Amro/AFP/Getty Images

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“If a football match is to take place on the night before Ashura, the spirit has to be one of Ashura and Karbala. Everyone has to be covered in black and the crowd should chant Ya Hussein. Instead of clapping hands, everyone has to chant Ya Hussein,” Movahedi-Kermani said.



Media reports say riot police have been deployed near the stadium.

Ashura, which occurs on the 10th day of the Islamic month of Muharram, marks the death of the prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein ibn Ali, at the battle of Karbala, which is in present-day Iraq, in AD680. It is a significant occasion for Shia Muslims across the world, who wear black during the whole month and participate in street ceremonies that involve mourning, beating their chests and slapping their heads.



The commemorations are widely observed in Iran and not just by those sympathetic to the ruling establishment – some younger people who may not practise the religion during the rest of the year also take part. For many, it is a chance to prepare food to donate or participate in what has increasingly become like a huge carnival.



Iran’s religious state has often exploited Ashura, with the authorities using the commemorations to spread their own message. Iranian leaders evoke Ashura as the main driving force behind the concept of martyrdom and resistance. The state also often sees itself as a defender of oppressed nations and frames regional conflicts, such as in Palestine, Syria or Iraq, in a religious context.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ashura ceremonies in the city of Khorramabad. Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA

The controversy over Tuesday’s match was so great that the country’s supreme national security council had to step in to soothe concerns. At the weekend, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, an influential MP, announced that the council had given the go-ahead for the match.

“According to Fifa regulations, if Iran refrains from playing in this game, then it will be barred from two more matches,” he was quoted as saying. “The supreme national security council concluded that the game can take place, though compatible with the spirit of Ashura and Hussein symbols all over the stadium.”



Although there has often been a backlash when Iranians have been told what to wear and what to say in public, fans are expected to be respectful of the commemorations. South Korean players were reportedly going to wear black armbands as a sign of respect.

