Over 21 Million Pilgrims Attend 2025 Arbaeen in Iraq, Authorities Say
The shrine authorities announced on Sunday that the total number of pilgrims marking Arbaeen 1447 AH reached 21,103,524. Last year’s figure was 21,480,525.
Officials said the count was made through an artificial intelligence-based electronic system installed along routes to Karbala and at the gates of the shrine of Abbas ibn Ali (AS).
Iraq’s Supreme Committee for Mass Pilgrimages reported that the country hosted over 4 million foreign visitors in addition to millions of Iraqi nationals.
Read More:
The committee noted that traffic management, supported by radar systems on international highways, reduced road accidents by 26 percent, fatalities by 55 percent, and injuries by 36 percent compared with the previous year.
The committee also said Karbala was declared a “weapon-free city” during the pilgrimage, a step it said reinforced security. It reported an 87 percent drop in fire incidents, with only five cases recorded, and praised what it described as high coordination among security and intelligence agencies.
Iraqi Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari, who was stationed in Karbala during the pilgrimage, said the security plan “was successfully implemented.” He added that forces were deployed across all routes leading to Karbala, with heightened security around the shrines of Imam Hussein (AS) and Hazrat Abbas (AS) as well as gathering sites for pilgrims.
Watch:
The Arbaeen pilgrimage, one of the world’s largest annual religious gatherings, marks the 40th day after Ashura, commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS), the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), in the 7th century.
4300049
