Hundreds of thousands of mourners reach Holy Karbala

By: Ismail Zabeeh

HOLY CITY OF KARBALA, Iraq: Hundreds of thousands of devotees from across the country have descended at the holy city of Karbala to observe Ashoura – tenth of Muharram - here which marks the day when Chief of Martyrs grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (p) Al-Imam Al-Hussein (p) along with his 72 sincere companions was unjustly slaughtered some 1,400 years ago causing the sky to rain blood, while security forces are on high alert ahead of the event.

Flocks of mourning devotees spend night at tents and camps, set up by Husseini organizations and bodies. Free meal, and hot and cold drinks from the table of Al-Imam Al-Hussein (p) are served to the Imam (p)’s mourners.

Meanwhile, husseini rituals – majales and mawakeb al-azaiyah (mourning sittings and processions) – were continued on Muharram 6, Tuesday, February 15, attended by throngs of black-dressed mourners.

The processions culminated at the red-lighted holy shrines of Al-Imam Al-Hussein (p) and his brother Al-Abbas (p) to pay homage to their matchless sacrifices offered for the defense of Islam.

According to reports hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from different countries were stopped on Iraq borders as these have been sealed in the latest emergency measure intended to thwart violence on the occasion of Ashoura.

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