1338 Years ago Imam Hussain had asked "Hal Man Nasirin Yansuruna?' (Who is a helper that will come to my aid?), today every year on the day of Arbaeen 24.4 Million Pilgrims say “Labbaik Ya Hussain ! ( "I am here, O Hussain! )
A few
months ago I attended the World's largest annual gathering of people which
about which in all probability you have never heard of, it is a pilgrimage
called "Arbaeen" (which is the word for 40 in Arabic). More than 20
Million walked from the Shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf to the Shrine of Imam
Hussain in Karbala, both in Iraq, Yes Iraq. So the worlds biggest gathering of
people in the world's most dangerous place, doesn't make sense does it ? But
then the fact that you have never heard of this gathering ever on any of the leading
media doesn't make sense either, does it.
So let
me tell you more about the religious significance of this pilgrimage first.
Around 1440 years ago, Islam as a religion was still only a few decades old and
Prophet himself had just passed away, the rulers of the time were trying their
best to hijack the religion using their might and money to further their own
power. Basically a lot many powerful opportunistic people who had accepted
Islam during prophet's time (as they knew they could not stand up in front of
his following), wanted to go back to their adulterous, uncouth, uncivilized
ways as soon as Prophet breathed his last. They knew that they could not
declare themselves as not being Muslims as that would augment a revolt, hence
they tried to popularize all the practices which were Haram or forbidden in
Islam, using their thrones as being Halal. Even though they were the rulers of
the time and had all the power, they knew for all matters of faith people would
turn to the Ahlulbait i.e. the family of the prophet hence they wanted Imam
Hussain, who was the Imam of the time and the grandson of Prophet to given them
a religious sanction that what they were doing, was indeed the real Islam. In
Arabic parlance this is called to give Bayyat, so they wanted Imam Hussain to
give Bayyat to Yazeed the ruler of the time.
Basically
Yazeed was the Baghdadi of his times propagating a version of Islam which was
akin to what ISIS follows today and he wanted the religious sanction from Imam
Hussain for the same. Remember the ISIS connection. Imam Hussain denied this
sanction and he was told that he would be killed if he did not agree. Imam
Hussain let them know that he is willing to give up his life but would never
let anyone pollute the Prophet's religion. Imam Hussain then with his 72
companions including family and friends, which included someone as young as
Janab Ali Ashghar who was Imam's 6 month old son to someone as old as Habib
Ibne Mazhir who was one of Prophet's companions. These 72 also included all the
women of the Imam's family including his sister Janabe Zainab. They fought with
an army of more than 3,00,000 soldiers who were considered to be some of the
most ferocious of the time. All the men including 6 Months old Imam Asghar was
killed in the battle field, hungry and thirsty on the 10th of Moharram also
called the day of Ashura. It is said that on the day of Ashura after Imam
Hussain had lost all his men in the battle field including his brother Hazrat
Abbas & his Young Son Hazrat Ali Akbar, the elderly Imam had said "Hal
Man Nasirin Yansuruna?' (Who is a helper that will come to my aid?)", no
one came and he was also slaughtered in the battle fields of Karbala.
Soon
the word that Yazeed the king of the time had slaughtered the family of the
Prophet spread like wild fire, far and wide, their was a popular uprising,
Yazeed was killed and his own son refused to get on the throne. Hence by giving
up his life along with the life of his loved ones he was able to save Islam. In
recorded history this is where the concept of Non Violence came from and
everyone from Mahatma Gandhi, to Martin Luther King to Nelson Mandela often
quoted Imam Hussain as their inspiration. Arbaeen is basically the 40th day of
Ashura (10th Moharram, the day Imam was killed).
Now
lets move to the modern times. Saddam Hussain never allowed the observance of
Arbaeen as any dictator would not like a big gathering of people. After the
fall of Saddam Hussain the observance of Arbaeen started again and millions of
people started walking the 80 Kms from Najaf to Karbala to observe Arbaeen.
Then
in 2013, ISIS (also known as DAESH in
the arab world) appeared out of nowhere and started taking over all of Iraq.
How a convoy of thousands of brand new Toyota pickups with men armed to teeth
with the latest weapons could never be seen or stopped by the world powers who
with their drones and other technology can literally monitor every single human
there is, is another discussion.
It
would be worthwhile to understand here that ISIS and their ilk hate Shias more
than anyone, ISIS are the remnants of
Yazeed and Shias are the followers of Imam Hussain, even after 1440 years they
are still trying to change the religion as their forefather tried to do and
Shias are still not letting that happen, walking on the footsteps of Imam
Hussain.
Anyway
coming back as ISIS was sweeping across Iraq scaring people and some of the
mightiest paramilitaries of the world into submission, the Shia religious head
Ayotolla Sistani gave a fatwa to all the Shias of Iraq, that all able men need
to come out the roads and walk to Karbala to show the ISIS that , even after
1400 years the followers of Imam Hussain are not scared of the followers of
Yazeed. Millions came not only from Iraq but also from Iran and the rest of the
world. The word for Pilgrims in Arabic is Zair (Plural Zaireen) So when the
whole world was running away from Iraq, the zairs were flying into Iraq. Let me
mention here that this was a time of total chaos in Iraq, there was no real
national army, there was not even any real national Govt. to talk of, but all
this did not stop millions and millions of faithful of reaching Najaf, Iraq and
then from walking 80 Kms over 4 days and 3 nights to Karbala. All the pilgrims
were hosted, fed and taken care of by the locals, who themselves were facing
extreme poverty. My late father himself attended Arbaeen when the ISIS
militancy was at it's peak as did thousands of other from India.
Over the years consistently Arbaeen has become the biggest gathering in the world. Last year 22 Million people attended and this year it is said to be 24.2 Million.
Now
let me talk about the experience in itself, I primarily went for 2 reasons,
first cos my father was really keen to go back but he could not and secondly
cos my mother wanted to go, and could not have gone alone. Also after having
heard about this from others who've been there, I wanted to experience this
myself.
So the
usual route is that all pilgrims usually arrive at Najaf and pay their respects
at the Shrine of Imam Ali (father of Imam Hussain). Then they start walking to
the Shrine of Imam Hussain which is 80 Kms away. The whole route is marked by
poles 50 meters apart making a total of 1600 poles.
As
soon as one starts walking from Imam Ali's shrine you see realize that every
single house on the route is open. They all have some kind of Sabeel (stand) in
front of their house, they are serving Water, Chai, Juice, Fruits, Dates,
Laban, Food. Little kids are standing there with boxes of napkins in their
hands giving away napkins, Other are just sitting with large dishes full of
Dates, requesting every passer-by to take one, yet others are just standing
with small bottles of Itr (perfume) in their hands rubbing some of it on
everyone walking by. Every house has put chairs in front of their house for the
Zairs to rest, they have their living rooms open for anyone who wants to lie
down and relax and of course every house’s washroom are kept open and spanking
clean for the use of the Zair’s.
Slowly
you move out of the city of Najaf and hit the highway going towards Karbala. When
you get to the highway is when the sheer size of all this really hits you
because as far as you can see ahead and as far as you can see behind all you
can see is just thousands and thousands of people marching towards Karbala. The
men, Women (I firmly believe that there were more women than men but I don’t
have exact figures), there are infants in their parents arms, there are
toddlers in their prams, there are teens in their groups, young adults, people
walking with their walking sticks, there are yet older people on wheel chairs, amputees,
people who have lost their sight, Caucasians,
Africans, Asians. It genuinely feels like the whole world has descended
there. People carry flags of their nations with pride, as I also did .
The
Walking path is made parallel to the Highway, there are 2 paths for walking one
right next to the main highway which is as wide as a 3 lane road and another
one further right which is a bit narrower and has Sabeels and Maukibs on both
sides. Sabeels for those who do not know are basically stands giving away free
services. There are sabeels serving Chai, Iraqi, Irani, Hindi (Indian), Juice,
Beverages, there are Maukibs giving away free food, everything from Falafal
sandwiches to Shawarmas, to Beans and rice, to Indian Khichrhi, to Naan &
Kebabs, basically anything you can think of. Those who know me know what a
foodie I am and believe you me every single meal there I was spoiled for choice.
All the food is prepared fresh right there at the Sabeel. There are yet other Sabeels
providing medical facilities. The most humbling are these men and kids sitting
in between the path holding your legs and requesting you to let them polish
your shoes. Yet others who are offering free leg massages for all those tired
legs. There are stands offering free phone calls to anywhere in the world if
you want to call back home. Other yet offer free wifi or a computer to get on
the internet to get in touch with your loved ones. There are stands which are
offering free repair of Umbrellas, Trolleys, Bags, Prams basically there is
anything you may need. A clean fresh Washroom is never far away. And all this
is being provided for free by the people who have been surviving a war for more
than a decade and are facing abject poverty. These people save money all
throughout the year just to spend it on the Zaireen during Arbaeen.
Maukibs
are these temporary (some now though are permanent buildings) which are places
for the Zaireen to rest and sleep in at night after a days walk (or during day
after a night’s walk) these Maukibs provide everything from pipping hot tea to
freshly prepared warm meals, medical facilities to clean washrooms to hot
showers to laundry services and ofcourse a comfortable clean warm place to
sleep in. These maukibs can accommodate a few dozen people in a small maukib to
giant ones which sleep thousands every night. These maukibs like everything
else on this pilgrimage is funded and operated by volunteers from across the
world. There are maukibs run by people from a specific country, an
organization, a family or just about anyone. For example there are several
Indian maukibs, the 2 we stayed at were run by groups from Mumbai &
Gujarat. All served by volunteers who fly in from across the world for 2 weeks
on their own cost just to serve the zaireen.
Not
surprisingly there more and more people of other faiths making this journey.
The head priest of the Georgian Orthodox Church was there this year. Sri Sri
Ravi Shankar was there a couple of years ago to name a few.
It is
an experience like no other, I have never experienced anything even close, for
the 10 days I was there I did not see a single person shouting at anyone, I did
not see anyone fighting, if ever anyone even pushed you by mistake they would
come back to you to apologize for it and give you a hug. It was like the perfect
world where the fellow next to you who doesn’t speak your language, whose skin
color is different from yours, who doesn’t know you offers you food before he
has his own meal.
It is
like the world of Utopia where the human next to you cares for you before he /
she cares about his/her own need irrespective of the Skin Color, Nationality,
Language or Culture. I am very happy to say that more and more people from
other faiths are traveling to Arbaeen to experience this and realizing that
this event is not just for any single religion it is indeed for every human who
believe in Justice.
One
can fathom the vibe and energy their by the fact that my mother who usually
needs a day’s rest even if she has to stand a few hours in a day, walked 55 Kms
in 3 days.
I am
posting a few of the photos and videos from this trip, though no photos or
videos can ever truly justify the experience.
I
would really encourage all my friends from all faiths to visit Arbaeen atleast
once to see what the world could be if everyone just believed in Justice.
Arbaeen
gives me hope that all is not lost.
Labbaik
Ya Hussain !
