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07-09-2023
By Syed Najaf Ali Shoukat
BAGHDAD/ KARBALA/ NAJAF: Every year, millions of Shia Muslims and some people of other faiths from around the world take part in a special pilgrimage ritual, culminating in what is arguably the world’s largest public gathering.
According to the sources closed to Iraq’s passport immigration & visa authorities told PMI that almost 70 million pilgrims across the world are participating in Arbaeen occasion while the independent sources as well as the participants claim that Arbaeen gathering crossed 74 million.
Usually on foot, for about 20 days, the pilgrims trek hundreds of kilometres from cities around Iraq and Iran to the holy city of Karbala where they commemorate the death in battle of Hazrat Imam Hussain Alaihis Salaam (AS).
Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS), the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and son of Imam Ali, was killed in 680 AD on the plains of Karbala in a battle against the forces of the Caliph Yazid Lanati, whose ascendancy to the caliphate was contested.
To mark the 40th day of mourning for Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS), the traditional mourning period, the pilgrims arrive in Karbala to pay tribute at his shrine, which is surrounded by millions on the final day of Arbaeen.
Along the route, volunteers set up stations to provide the pilgrims with food, water and shelter while people from the villages along the way keep their doors open to anyone who needs a place to stop.
Many pilgrims opt to walk 80km (50 miles) from the nearby city of Najaf, where Hazrat Imam Ali (AS), Hazrat Imam Hussain’s father, is buried, to Karbala.
Those who make the trip from distant cities, like Mashhad in Iran, 2,600km (1,600 miles) away, opt to drive.
The occasion is observed 40-days after Ashura, the commemoration of the death of the Prophet of Islam Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) Mustafa’s grandson, Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS), in the Battle of Karbala, which took place in 680 AD on the 10th day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar.
Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS) and his small party were vastly outnumbered, and martyred after a short battle against the forces of the Umayyad Caliph Yazid-I.
The event is regarded as one of the foundational moments of Shia Islam.
