The passage of centuries has never affected the eternal adoration for Imam Hussain (A.S) and his few companions.
The month of Muharram, the beginning of the season of invocation to the martyrs who had fallen in the epic battle of Karbala, is one of the most significant events in the Shiite Muslim calendar. The 10-day period of grief culminates with the Day of Ashura.
However, Arbaeen, which takes place a month after Ashoura, the world’s largest religious pilgrimage, is the apogée of the mourning period for the Prophet Muhammad’s [PBUH] beloved grandson, Imam Hussain.
Indeed, the Arbaeen march is the perfect epitome of generosity, pure altruism, respect and benevolence. In this modern materialistic world, where everything is measured based on profit and loss, the Arbaeen pilgrimage creates a spiritual revolution through Imam Hussain, a Great Awakening that displays the true Islamic values of peace, coexistence and compassion and ushers to a utopian world ruled by justice and equality.
During Arbaeen, one can witness an avalanche of young and elderly, women, and children trekking on an 88-kilometre-long dusty road between Najaf and Karbala while sincerely providing other pilgrims with food, or accommodations to have some rest.
As devout hosts of the Arbaeen ritual, the Iraqis bring all they have to the roadway between Najaf and Karbala to serve the pilgrims.
All pilgrims, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, or language, are treated with the highest courtesy and hospitality by their Iraqi brothers and sisters. As a token of loyalty and affection for Imam Hussain, Iraqi children, men, and women ardently offer the pilgrims food and water along the road, urging them to accept the meal.
Numerous sociologists consider the classless, albeit religious, procession of Arbaeen as an inspiring and realistic example of how an egalitarian society could be established.
During the Arbaeen pilgrimage, those Iraqi hosts who lack sufficient financial conditions get loans to serve Imam Hussain’s pilgrims. Thus, it can be said with absolute conviction that Arbaeen is a matchless miracle in our age when the capitalist system annihilated humanity in humans.
