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Karbala / AFP
Huge crowds of black-clad Shiite Muslim pilgrims thronged the Iraqi shrine city of Karbala on Wednesday, weeping and beating their chests in mourning for the seventh-century killing of the prophet’s grandson.
Shiites around the world mark Ashura, but attacks on those commemorating bloodshed 1,300 years ago often result in more mourning and loss, including in Afghanistan, where more than 30 people were killed in attacks on Shiites in less than 24 hours.
Up to 18 were killed in Kabul on Tuesday in two attacks claimed by the IS extremist group. Shiites in Iraq too have come under frequent attack by extremist group IS.
Some 30,000 security personnel were deployed in and around Karbala to protect pilgrims, although attacks inside the city are rare.
The annual Ashura commemorations mark the killing of Imam Hussain by the forces of the Yazid in 680 AD — a formative event in Shiite Islam.
The pilgrimage draws huge numbers of faithful, with Staff Major General Qais Khalaf Rahaima, the head of the security command responsible for the area, saying that 4.5 million people had visited Karbala over a
period of 10 days.
Haider Al Salami, spokesman for the Imam Hussain shrine, said two million people took part in a ritual run from outside the city to the mausoleum on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, black-clad pilgrims massed at the shrine to listen to a recitation of the story of Hussein’s death, with some beating their chests or heads and weeping in mourning.
“We will continue to commemorate the imam despite terrorist threats,” said Saad Jassem, a 35-year-old from nearby Najaf.
Fellow pilgrim, Karim Hussain, 40, from the southern port city of Basra, said taking part carried a message for corrupt Iraqi politicians, who have come under mounting fire in the past two years but have done little to reform.
It is “a message to the politicians to fix themselves, because he (Imam Hussain) rose up and revolted against corrupt rulers”.
In Lebanon, thousands of Shiite faithful gathered in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah made a relatively rare public appearance on the occasion of Ashura.
According to Shiite belief, Hussain went knowingly to his death at the hands of Yazid’s forces in what is now Iraq in a bid to expose the corruption and irreligiosity of his rule.
This ideal of self-sacrifice is a key tenet of Shiite Islam to this day, inspiring followers to give their lives for causes, including the war against IS.
Iraqi forces are currently preparing for a final push on Mosul, the last city in Iraq held by IS, which has lost much of the ground it seized in 2014.