Abstract. – This article examines the redefinition of the Muharram processions in Iraq during the 1960s. The article addresses the societal and political significance of “Ashura” in Iraq and examines in detail the Muharram processions organized by the country’s nascent Islamist movement. The Islamic Da‘wa Party (Hizb al-Da‘wa al-Islamiyya), established at the end of the 1950s, sensed the importance of “Ashura” for promoting its political message, attracting new followers, and mobilizing the Shi’ite community. By then, however, the educated middle classes, who accounted for the majority of al-Da‘wa’s activists, were absent from the “Ashura” rituals. The party, therefore, organized separate processions for university students, differing from popular forms of commemoration in both outward appearance and political content. [Iraq, Ashura, Islamism, Da‘wa Party, Hizb ad-Da‘wa]