“The total number of visitors to Iraq to perform the [Arbaeen] pilgrimage has reached approximately three million visitors so far,” said Adnan al-Waeli, head of Iraq’s border ports authority.
Nearly one million pilgrims have already departed Iraq, according to Waeli, and the Zurbatiyah border crossing in Wasit province has been the busiest point of arrival and departure.
The Shiite Muslim Arbaeen pilgrimage marks the end of a 40-day mourning period for the grandson of Prophet Mohammed, Imam Hussein, who died in a battle fought in Karbala in 680 AD.
Millions of religious tourists from Lebanon, Turkey, Kuwait, and especially Iraq’s Shiite-majority neighbor Iran journey to Iraq for a symbolic 80-kilometer walk from Najaf to Karbala - both Shiite holy cities.
The Arbaeen walk begins in Ras al-Bishah, near Iraq’s southern borders with Iran and Kuwait, near the Gulf. Pilgrims customarily dress in black, march through the streets, and often self-flagellate with chains and wood. The walk ends at the shrine of Imam Hussein in Karbala.
The mourning of the Imam’s death is one of the most important rituals in Shiite Islam.
