HOLY CITY OF KARBALA, Iraq: Mourning rituals marking the anniversary of martyrdom of Amir ol-Mo’minin Al-Imam Ali b. Abi Talib (peace be on him) and aamaal of first two Layali al-Qadr (Ramadan 19 and 21) culminated in Iraq and other countries on Ramadan 21.

Flocks of mourners, worshippers and devotees of Ahl-il Beit (Muslims and Christians) packed the holy shrines of al-Imam al-Hussein and Al-Abbas (peace be on them) in the holy city of Karbala on these two nights.

Aamaal included recitation of holy Quran, supplications narrated from Ahl-il Beit (peace be on them) – one of these is raf’-ol masahif (putting holy Quran on head) -, zyarah of al-Imam al-Hussein and his brother al-Abbas (peace be on them).

Majalis al-azaiyah were also held, elegies were recited and replica coffins of al-Imam Ali (peace be on him) were taken out.

Other than zyaraat al-milyoniyah and nisf al-milyoniyah (ZYARAH SHA’BANIYAH, ASHURA AND ARBAEENIYAH), tens of thousands of pilgrims daily visit holy Karbala increasing the number of pilgrims to more than 55 million yearly. This is the highest rate of visitors to the world holy cities rather the highest rate to the traveling cities in the world.