Omar Koshan (Persian: عمرکشان, "the Killing of Umar"), also known as Jashn-e Hazrat-e Zahra ("Celebration of Fatima al-Zahra'"),[1] is a yearly festival held by some Twelver Shi'i Muslims in Iran.
Originally, the festival commemorated the assassination of the second caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab (also spelled 'Omar', c. 583–644) by the Persian slave Abu Lu'lu'a Firuz.
[4] It generally functions as a more lighthearted counterpart of the Ta'zieh passion plays during the mourning of Muharram, which commemorate the death of the prophet Muhammad's grandson Husayn ibn Ali at the Battle of Karbala in 680.
[9] Umar was not only seen as a persecutor of non-Arabs,[10] he was also thought to have threatened and injured the prophet Muhammad's daughter and Ali's wife Fatima, who had cursed him for this.
[13] However, during the Qajar period (1789–1925) the ritual cursing and humiliation of the first three caliphs was gradually abandoned due to the improving political relations with the Sunni Ottomans.