Pakistani Man Aims to Bring Shade to Arbaeen Pilgrims Marching from Najaf to Karbala
Mohammedi Durbar, 85, wants to plant nearly 50,000 trees along the entire 80-km pilgrimage route between Iraq’s holy cities of Najaf and Karbala.
"I immediately realized there was no shade," Durbar told Reuters at his farm on the outskirts of the city of Karachi.
Durbar traveled to Iraq, spoke to officials, and got permission for his project, and a promise the trees would be cared for. He also planted some trees in Najaf to see if they could thrive there.
A first batch of 9,800 saplings of eight types of trees, up to eight months old, set off from Karachi by truck on Friday for their journey across Iran to Iraq.
Arbaeen is one of the largest religious gatherings in the world and 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 the Iraqi city of Karbala, where the holy shrine of Imam Hussein (AS) is located, to perform mourning rites.
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