Arbaeen walk is basically a march or you can say pilgrimage. It is the world largest march in Iraq where almost more than 45 million people took part every year.
It is a religious gathering in which Shia Muslim gathered after the 40 days melancholy pursuing Ashura.
Date of Arbaeen Walk
It occurs every year at 20th day of Safar in Iraq. Millions of people march toward the Shrine of Husayn, which is situated in Karbala. They make a pilgrimage on foot.
History of Walk
• The first person who performed pilgrimage was Jabir Ibn Abd Allah. He performed arbaeen walk in 680 AD.
• After Morteza Ansari this arbaeen walk was disregarded. This march was renewed during Eid ul Asha in 1901 AD by Mirza Husain Noori Tabarsi. Then it was continuously performed annually.
• It was banned in Saddam’s Regime, until his government was overturned in 2003. During his regime, small number of people marched covertly.
• When the Saddam’s Regime was overturned, the number of people performing the pilgrimage was increased and reached up to 45 million people.
It is seen as a long organized, weatherproof march from Basra to Karbala in which all age groups are included i.e. young baby, adolescent, youngster and even old aged people.
Length of Arbaeen Walk
Distance of Arbaeen march is about 92 3kilometers from Najaf to Karbala. It took 4 to 5 days to travel to Karbala. For the comfort of people, the poles were designed that were 1452 in numbers. The distance between each pole is about 50 meter. If we look at walk according to time, it took 16 to 23 hours of travel.
People want to be on time for Arbaeen, so they usually travel few days before this pilgram and arrive at noon or evening before arbaeen.
Services
People provide free services during this arbaeen walk that can be indicated as:
• Free food
• Free checkups
• Free dentistry
• Accommodation
• Free beverages
According to them, it is a religious walk and everyone has to care each other during this pilgrimage.
During pilgrimage, people use to do many things such as:
• Decoration of their houses
• They carry flags of different colors especially black during pilgrimage.
• They follow three main routes toward Karbala.
• They also decorate temporary tents which they take with them during the walk for praying and other activities like sleeping.
Arbaeen is also known as Chehlum. It is different from hajj as hajj is compulsory to those who are financially strong but arbaeen walk is not compulsory. Arbaeen march is the pilgrimage on the anniversary of Hussain toward the Karbala.
Arbaeen march is not only bounded in Iraq, it is also performed by the Muslims in other countries like:
• the UK (United Kingdom)
• US (United States)
• and Nigeria.
Arbaeen walk in UK
In United Kingdom, the Islamic Husnani Trust is organizing the march, in which a huge number of people take part.
Arbaeen walk in Nigeria
In Nigeria, people are worried as they were unable to join the pilgrimage held in Iraq due to distance. So they held in Nigeria in which people from Ghana, Chad, Benin, Togo took part in that pilgrimage.
Hope you enjoy it
great history of walk!
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