(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Hundreds of thousands of Muslims in Iraq who rallied from the city of Najaf to the city of Karbala arrived in Karbala city, Southern Iraq, on Monday to mark the Arbaeen.
Muslims from across the world, including Iran, attended the 100-km rally, while hundreds of thousands more join them on the way to Karbala and to the holy shrine of Imam Hossein (PBUH).
Analysts believe the rally is unique in terms of quality and also the number of its participants. It started from the holy shrine of Imam Ali (PBUH) - the first Shiite Imam - and will end up in the holy shrine of Imam Hossein (PBUH).
Large numbers of different student and popular groups are still joining the rally.
In November, Shiite pilgrims of Iraq and other countries, including Iran, flocked into Karbala, some 100 km South of Baghdad, and into Kadhmiyah in Northern Baghdad to commemorate Ashoura, which marks the martyrdom of Imam Hossein (PBUH), grandson of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and the third Shiite Imam.
Imam Hossein (PBUH) was martyred in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the Imam's holy shrine.
In the battle, Imam Hossein (PBUH) was decapitated and his body mutilated by Yazid's armies. All of Imam Hossein's male family members, relatives, friends, soldiers who all together formed a 72-member army were beheaded in an unequal war with a 30,000-strong army of the enemy in the desert of Karbala.
The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson for the Shiites.
Imam Hossein's martyrdom - recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song - remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to Shiites, who make up a majority of the Muslim population in Iran, Pakistan, Iraq and Bahrain.
Iraqi security hiked as millions mark Arbaeen pilgrimage
Iraqi officials say they have increased security in southern parts of the country as millions of Shiite Muslims began a pilgrimage to the holy city of Karbala.
Roads have been sealed off and checkpoints added to protect the expected 20 million pilgrims from terrorist attack, Tasnim news agency reported Monday.
The pilgrimage celebrates Arbaeen, the end of 40 days of mourning on the anniversary of the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein.
About 1.3 million foreigners are among millions of worshipers who have already entered the city, local officials say.
Observance of Arbaeen was prohibited for 30 years during the reign of Saddam Hussein.
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