The Religious Mode of Existence: A Heideggerian Reading to

Salah Abdul Sabur’s Murder in Baghdad (Masaat Al Hallaj)

No doubt drama plays a vital role in reflecting people's social

reality. It can be considered a vehicle to transport cultures, norms and
traditions. The true essence of theatre lies not only in its ability to delight
but also to communicate ideas with tentative spectators. The main aim of
my study is to explore the various factors which lead Hallaj, the hero in
Abdul Sabur’s play Murder in Baghdad(Masaat Al Hallaj) (1967), to
behave religiously. One of the most controversial issues which is widely
discussed by news agencies is the bloody religious conflicts that take
place within the Middle East. Each religious sector assumes that it
upholds the true form of religion. The barbarous acts of murder
committed in the name of religion triggered into my thought a series of
questions that need to be grappled with. As a result, I started to question
what is the role of religion? What are the characteristics of religious
behavior? Who is the true religious person? Can religion function as an
ideology?

Thus, relying on Heidegger's Philosophy of "Being", the research is

keen on examining the ideology of religious turn by characters in the
selected play. The main focus is to explore how the religious mode of
existence employed by various characters influences their behavior and,
consequently, the dynamics which govern the mechanisms of power
relations among characters in the play. Semiotics will be adopted to decode
the multiple sign systems that echo the characters' religious mode of existence.