December 12, 2014
Iranian pilgrims are pouring into Iraq in unprecedented numbers for the Arbaeen religious gathering to flex Shiite muscle in the face of the challenge from the Islamic State.
The immense outpouring has been promoted by both Iran and Iraq. In Iran, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi has urged Shiites to mass at Karbala for Arbaeen. In Iraq, the government has lifted the $80 visa fee for the holiday.
A million Iranians or double the usual number are now expected to descend upon the city of Karbala for the holiday this Saturday.
Agence France Presse (AFP) was at the Iraqi border post of Zurbattiyah last Saturday and reported that General Ali Tamuz, the top Iraqi security official there, has many bruises and a couple of cracked ribs to show for the Iranian turnout.
Tamuz knows only one word of Farsi to manage the flow: “beshin” (sit down). “That achieved pretty good results,” he told AFP, laughing.
He tried a second word he thought he knew, but “bia” means come. And when the pilgrims heard that, they all stood up, the fence was broken and, Tamuz said, “Things got crazy.”
Arbaeen marks the end of the 40-day period of mourning for the death of Imam Hussein, killed in battle and beheaded in 680 AD at Karbala. It produces one of the world’s largest religious gatherings.
Hossain Rahimi, 40, from Kerman province, crossed the border into Iraq with no visa in his passport but a Khamenehi sticker on the back cover.
“We came here on his orders,” said Rahimi. “We want to convey the message that we will always obey the marjaiya [Shiite religious leadership] and that we are ready to fight the terrorists right here and right now.”
Recent battlefield victories against the jihadis, notably in the Jurf as-Sakhr area south of Baghdad, have helped clear a corridor for the pilgrims.
aeed Ohadi, who heads Iran’s body in charge of organizing pilgrimages, told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), “So far more than 750,000 Iranian pilgrims have entered Iraq.” The deputy governor of Iraq’s border province of Wasit, Adel al-Zargani, said he expected the total to reach one million this year.
Foreign Minister Moham-mad-Javad Zarif said after a meeting in Tehran with his Iraqi counterpart, Ibrahim al-Jaafari: “The pilgrims’ entry … is a symbol of the cooperation and union between our two countries.”
