| Arba'in pilgrimage | |
|---|---|
 Arba'in pilgrims near theshrine ofHusayn ibn Ali, grandson of theIslamic prophetMuhammad and the thirdShia imam | |
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Religious gathering |
| Date(s) | Arba'in (twentieth ofSafar) |
| Frequency | Annually |
| Location(s) | Karbala,Iraq |
| Participants | Shia Muslims |
| Part ofa series on Shia Islam |
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 Shia Islam portal |
TheArba'in pilgrimage is a pilgrimage to theshrine ofHusayn ibn Ali, grandson of theIslamic prophetMuhammad and the thirdShia imam. It is the world's second largest public gathering and occurs annually. Every year, on the twentieth ofSafar, also known asArba'in, millions of pilgrims flock toKarbala,Iraq, often arriving there on foot from the nearby city ofNajaf. Arba'in marks forty days after the tenth ofMuharram, known asAshura. On this day in 61AH (680CE), Husayn was killed, alongside most of his relatives and his small retinue, in theBattle of Karbala against the army of theUmayyad caliphYazid ibn Mu'awiya (r. 680–683). The battle followed Husayn's refusal to pledge his allegiance to Yazid, who is often portrayed byMuslim historians as impious and immoral. InShia Islam, Karbala symbolizes the eternal struggle between good and evil, the pinnacle of self-sacrifice, and the ultimate sabotage of Muhammad's prophetic mission.
It is the secondlargest human gathering after theHindu'sKumbh Mela of India. Pilgrims take the 80 kilometer route from Najaf to Karbala on foot over several days.[1]
Forty is a sacred number inIslam, and the Arba'in pilgrimage is an early Shia tradition popularized by the Shia imams. In recent times, the Arba'in pilgrimage was banned by the Iraqi presidentSaddam Hussein, but rapidly grew after his deposal in 2003 from two million participants that year to around twenty million in 2014. Nevertheless, the voluntary Arba'in pilgrimage remains largely unknown in the West, even though it is far larger thanHajj, the obligatoryMuslim pilgrimage. As with Ashura, Arba'in can be an occasion forviolence against Shia Muslims. During the pilgrimage, free meals and accommodation are provided by volunteers.
In theIslamic calendar, twentieth ofSafar is known as Arba'in,[2][3] which marks forty days afterAshura, tenth ofMuharram.[4] In turn, Ashura is the death anniversary ofHusayn ibn Ali, grandson of theIslamic prophetMuhammad and the thirdShia imam.[5] Husayn was killed on 10 Muharram 61AH (10 October 680CE), alongside most of his male relatives and his small retinue, in theBattle of Karbala against the army of theUmayyad caliphYazid ibn Mu'awiya (r. 680–683), having been surrounded for some days and deprived of the drinking water of the nearbyEuphrates river. After the battle, women and children in Husayn's camp were taken prisoner and marched to the Umayyad capitalDamascus inSyria. The battle followed failed negotiations and Husayn's refusal to pledge his allegiance to Yazid, who is often portrayed byMuslim historians as impious and immoral.[6][7][8] The fight took place in the desert land ofKarbala, en route to the nearbyKufa, whose residents had earlier invited Husayn to lead them against Yazid.[9]
InShia Islam, Karbala symbolizes the eternal struggle between good and evil,[10][11] the pinnacle of self-sacrifice,[12] and the ultimate sabotage of Muhammad's prophetic mission.[13] Historically, the event served to crystallize the Shia community into a distinct sect and remains an integral part of their religious identity to date.[14][15] Ashura to Arba'in is thus a period of mourning for Shia Muslims,[16] particularly the first ten days of Muharram and Arba'in.[17][4][18] On the one hand, Shia mourners hope to share in the pain of Husayn to benefit from his intercession on theDay of Judgement.[19][20] On the other, the Shia minority views mourning for Husayn as an act of protest against oppression, and as such a struggle for God (jihad).[21][22]
Forty is a sacred number inIslam,[4] and commemorating the dead forty days after their death is a long-standing Islamic tradition,[23][24][4] dating back to the early Islamic period.[23] Shia tradition attaches a similar significance to Arba'in, the fortieth of Husayn.[23] Probably by combining the accounts available to him,[23] the Shia scholarIbn Tawus (d. 1266) reports that Husayn's relatives returned via Karbala to their hometown ofMedina when they were freed from captivity in Damascus. Upon arrival in Karbala on Arba'in,[25][26] they metJabir ibn Abd Allah (d. 697), acompanion of Muhammad,[23] who had learned about the death of Husayn through a divine sign.[4] This origin story was repeated by many authors after Ibn Tawus, even though several scholars before Ibn Tawus report only the Arba'in pilgrimage of Jabir.[23] The veracity of Ibn Tawus' account has therefore been questioned by some, including the Shia scholarHusain Noori Tabarsi (d. 1902) and the IslamicistMahmoud M. Ayoub (d. 2021).[23][4] Ayoub adds that Arba'in is not mentioned inKamil al-ziyarat, an early and authoritative hadith collection by the Shia traditionistIbn Qulawayh (d. c. 978).[4] Whatever the case, such narratives may have helped establish Arba'in in Shia culture.[23]
Risking the Umayyads' wrath, the commemoration of Karbala was initially small and private.[27][28] In particular, pilgrimage to Karbala remained limited and precarious during the Umayyad period.[29] Soon after the Umayyads fell, however, Shia imams worked to institutionalize the Ashura and Arba'in pilgrimages to the tomb of Husayn, as reflected in some of the traditions ascribed to the imams. For instance, the Shia imamHasan al-Askari (d. c. 874) is reported to have listed the Arba'in pilgrimage among the five signs of a true believer.[23]
Arba'in is a day of pilgrimage to theshrine of Husayn in Karbala,Iraq. Pilgrims arrive there in large numbers, often on foot. The most popular route isNajaf to Karbala, as many pilgrims first travel to Najaf and then walk from there to Karbala, some eighty kilometers away, which takes about three days on foot. Along the way, volunteers provide the pilgrims with free meals and services.[30] In Karbala alone, seven thousand of such hospitality units (mawakib,sg.mawkib) were set up in 2014.[31] Indeed, this generosity and hospitality are said to characterize the Arba'in pilgrimage. When the pilgrims finally reach the shrine of Husayn in Karbala, they recite theziyara of Arba'in, a supplication for this occasion.[30]
As with other Shia rituals of Karbala,[32] the Arba'in pilgrimage was banned by the Iraqi presidentSaddam Hussein (r. 1979–2003),[33] who favored theSunni community in Iraq,[32] and viewed large Shia rituals as a political threat.[33] The pilgrimage was revived immediately after the deposal of Saddam in 2003,[33] with the total attendance numbers for this multi-day event growing from two million participants in that year to nine million in 2008,[33][34] and around twenty million in 2014,[35][36] making that year's pilgrimage the second largest gathering in history.[37] The figure reached twenty-two million in 2015, according to Iraq's state-run media.[38] In 2016,al-Khoei Foundation estimated around twenty-two million pilgrims.[39] Even though the Hindu festivalKumbh Mela draws a larger crowd, it is held once every three years, which makes the Arba'in pilgrimage "the world's largest annual gathering in one place."[35]
Unlike the voluntary Arba'in pilgrimage, performingHajj once is obligatory for every Muslim who can afford it and is physically capable. Nevertheless, tight regulations on Hajj bySaudi authorities have driven up its costs, making pilgrimage to Shia shrines an affordable alternative for Shia Muslims. In recent years, Karbala has consistently received ten to twenty million pilgrims, compared to fewer than three million Hajj pilgrims in 2018.[40]
As Hussein is regarded as a universal, borderless, andmeta-religious symbol,[41][42] the Arba'een pilgrimage, while rooted in Shia Islam, has emerged as a symbol of interfaith engagement. It increasingly attracts participants from various religious backgrounds, including Sunnis,Christians,Jews,[43] and non-Abrahamic faiths such asHindus,Yazidis, andZoroastrians, who come to commemorate and mourn the death of Husayn.[44][45][42] Each year, millions of participants, includingSunnis and people of other faiths, join the pilgrimage to Karbala, both to attend and to serve the devotees.[46][47][48]
During the pilgrimage "copious supplies of food, small clinics and even dentists are available for pilgrims and they all work for free. The care of pilgrims is regarded as a religious duty."[49] Along the roads to Karbala,mawakib provide "accommodation, food and beverage and medical services," and practically anything else the pilgrims need for free.[50]
As with Ashura,[51] Arba'in can be an occasion for Sunni violence against Shia Muslims.[52][53][54] For instance, a suicide bomber killed at least forty-four Arba'in pilgrims and wounded some seventy others in 2012 nearNasiriya, Iraq.[55] In another attack in 2013, at least twenty pilgrims were killed and another fifty were wounded by a car bomb.[56] The pilgrimage is therefore performed under tightened security, guarded by tens of thousands of Iraqi forces,[57] and supported byIranian advisers at least in 2015.[58] In the same year, the Iraqi police seized eighteenbooby-trapped dolls, stuffed with explosives, which were intended to be scattered on the roads leading to Karbala during the Arba'in pilgrimage.[59][60]
As with other Shia rituals of Karbala,[32] the Arba'in pilgrimage was banned by Saddam Hussein,[33] who favored the Sunni minority in Iraq,[32] and viewed Shia rituals as a political threat.[33] The pilgrimage was revived immediately after his deposal in 2003 and that year's march to Karbala thus symbolized Shia defiance of Sunni regional powers. The 2003 pilgrimage also set off a regional wave of Sunni violence against the Shia minority as scores of Shia mourners were killed in multiple bombings in the following Ashura.[61] Later on, as millions of Shias risked their lives by their participation, the Arba'in pilgrimage embodied their protests against the rise ofISIL, a Sunni extremist militant group with aspirations for a hardline Sunni caliphate and responsible for several Shia massacres.[36][62] In recent years, the participation of non-Iraqi Shias in the Arba'in pilgrimage has fostered a sense of solidarity among Shias. In particular, the unprecedented Iranian attendance in recent pilgrimages could be an indication of Iran's victories against its Sunni regional rivals. Yet the Arba'in pilgrimage also exposes the rivalries between different political currents within the Shia community.[36]
The Arba'in pilgrimage remains largely unknown in the West, even though it is far larger than Hajj.[62] Some have therefore accused the Western media of censoring or minimizing the annual Shia march.[63][64][65][66]
In 2016,Asharq al-Awsat, a Saudi-owned news site, reported from theWorld Health Organization (WHO) that "unplanned pregnancies and [...] disease" were seen "following the arrival of scores of unregulated Iranians to take part in the annual Shia pilgrimage to Karbala." The article added that 169 unmarried women were impregrated by Iranian pilgrims.[67][68] These claims later proved to be fabricated. They were rejected by the WHO, which also condemned the use of its name for spreading false news.[68][69][70] TheIraqi prime ministerHaider al-Abadi and some other Shia leaders similarly condemned the report,[68] which had further described the arrival of Iranian pilgrims as an "incursion against Iraqi sovereignty" and warned that they would spread diseases in Iraq.[67]
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