Millions of Muslims marching to Iraq’s Karbala for Arba’een rituals
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Muslim pilgrims walk to the holy city of Karbala, Iraq, ahead of the holy rituals of Arba’een, November 15, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)
Millions of Muslims from across the world are marching toward the Iraqi holy city of Karbala to perform the rituals of Arba’een, one of the most revered religious occasions on the Islamic calendar.
According to Press TV, Arba’een marks 40 days from Ashura, when Imam Hussein (PBUH), the third infallible successor of Prophet Muhammad (Blessings of God upon him and his progeny), was martyred in the desert plains of Karbala along with his family and friends 14 centuries ago. Muslims across the globe commemorate their sacrifices each year.
Over the past days, large crowds of Muslim mourners from various countries have arrived in Imam Hussein (PBUH)’s holy shrine in Karbala. The pilgrims show their commitment to the imam by walking tens of kilometers, some of them barefoot.
Pictures coming out of Iraq show mourners clad in black, walking toward Karbala, which lies 80 kilometers south of the capital, Baghdad, to commemorate the occasion, which falls on November 19 this year.
Nearly two million Iranians are among the estimated 20 million pilgrims expected to arrive for Arba’een.
Meanwhile, Brigadier General Qassem Rezaei, the Commander of the Iranian Border Police, has said that the Mehran border crossing to Iraq in western Iran has been closed since Thursday due to Iraq’s lack of facilities to host more Iranian pilgrims through that crossing.
He said that a large number of Iranian pilgrims who had entered Iraq via the Mehran crossing on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning had been sent back by Iraqi authorities from mid-way, asking Iranian pilgrims not to attempt entry into Iraq via that crossing anymore.
Tight security measures have been put in place, with a large number of security forces deployed to Iraq’s holy sites in preparation for the occasion.
The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by gruesome violence ever since Daesh terrorists began a campaign of terror in the country in June 2014. The terrorist campaign, however, has not dissuaded pilgrims from around the world from making the sojourn.
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