Basra Ready to Serve A Million Arbaeen Pilgrims
According to Al Sumaria News, a committee in charge of running border crossings announced that some 16,000 foreign pilgrims from different nationalities have so far arrived in the province.
Most of them are Iranians, and the rest are from Persian Gulf littoral states as well as Europe, the US, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Republic of Azerbaijan and North Africa, Morthada Karim Shahmani, head of the committee said.
He said the total number of Arbaeen pilgrims crossing Basra is expected to reach a million.
Meanwhile, Jamil Shamri, a security official in Basra, said comprehensive measures have been taken to ensure safety and security for the pilgrims.
Arbaeen, which is one of the largest religious gatherings in the world, comes 40 days after Ashura, the martyrdom anniversary of the third Shia Imam, Imam Hussein (AS).
Each year, a huge crowd of Shias flock to Karbala, where the holy shrine of Imam Hussein (AS) is located, to perform mourning rites. Many of them also visit Imam Ali’s (AS) holy shrine in Najaf.
In the past few years, around 20 million pilgrims from all over the world, including Iran, took part in the mourning ceremonies in the Iraqi holy cities marking Arbaeen.
This year, Arbaeen falls on Thursday, November 9.
