Ayatollah Vahid-Khorasani offers advice on Arba’in pilgrimage

Rasa – Ayatollah Vahid-Khorasani offered his advise to the Arba’in pilgrims and the mourning processions participating in the pilgrimage to the Iraqi city of Karbala.

News ID: 434512

Date: 02 November 2017 - 14:36

RNA – Speaking during his advanced jurisprudence class which was held at Qom’s Grand Mosque, Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Vahid-Khorasani pointed to the Arba’in pilgrimage which will be held next week in the Iraqi city of Karbala, saying, ““The Arba’in pilgrimage is a sign of faith.”

The revered source of emulation added, “The importance of faith is explained in the Holy Quran and the Arba’in pilgrimage has no dimensions of nearness or remoteness and everyone who makes ablution and recites ‘May God bless you, Oh Aba Abdillah’ three times has performed the Arba’in pilgrimage and will receive great rewards.”

Ayatollah Vahid-Khorasani argued that the Arba’in pilgrim possesses the signs of faith and belief and stated, “The people did not know who Husayn ibn Ali was and the pilgrims must strive to participate in all mourning processions to express their greetings to the ‘Master of the Martyrs’ [Imam Husayn].”

The prominent teacher in the Islamic Seminary of Qom continued, “All the processions must have plans and participate and convey condolences to Imam al-Mahdi, the Imam of the Era. He knows what has occurred and hence the processions and the people must express their condolences to him.”

Ayatollah Vahid-Khorasani stressed, “All of the Arba’in pilgrims must follow the path of the eighth Imam [Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha] and recite Surat al-Ikhlas day and night and remember Imam al-Mahdi.”

Arba’in is a Shi’ah Muslim religious observance that occurs forty days after the Day of Ashura. It commemorates the martyrdom of Imam al-Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, who was killed on the tenth day of the month of Muharram alongside 72 of his companions by the tyrannical caliph Yazid I’s army in the Battle of Karbala in 61 AH (680 CE).

During the days leading up to Arba’in, millions of pilgrims from Iraq, Pakistan, India, Iran, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Azerbaijan, Turkey and elsewhere walk to the city of Karbala, where Imam al-Husayn and his companions are buried from Najaf, another holy city in Iraq, to show their devotion. The two cities are more than 75 kilometres apart.

This year, the day of Arba’in will fall on November 9th and on this day, the pilgrims will converge on the city of Karbala and make a pilgrimage to the holy shrines of Imam al-Husayn, his brother Abbas ibn Ali, and his companions.