- Title: One step at a time, Shi'ite pilgrims march towards Kerbala ahead of Arbaeen
- Date: 27th September 2021
- Summary: BAGHDAD, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 25, 2021) (REUTERS) (PART MUTE) VARIOUS OF AERIALS SHOWING SHI'ITE PILGRIMS WALKING ON MAIN ROAD TOWARDS KERBALA (MUTE) VARIOUS OF SHI'ITE PILGRIMS, HOLDING RELIGIOUS FLAGS, WALKING TOWARDS KERBALA FEET OF 69-YEAR-OLD MECHANIC FROM BAGHDAD, LATIF HAYAL, WHILE HE IS WALKING / HAYAL SEEN FROM BEHIND WHILE WALKING HAYAL WALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MECHANIC FROM BAGHDAD, LATIF HAYAL, SAYING: "As far as we are concerned, this is our ideology. There are no interests involved, we don't interests. We visit Abu Abdullah, the son of the Messenger of God. Some people get attached to a tree, the branch of a tree, but this is the ancestor of the prophet peace be upon him we're talking about." VARIOUS OF HAYAL PRAYING ON ROAD SIDE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MECHANIC FROM BAGHDAD, LATIF HAYAL, SAYING: "For us, back in the days, we would agree to meet secretly. We would agree on meeting in secret at two in the morning, and we would look for someone in Latifiya, in Mahmudiya, in Yusufiya, in Iskandiriya or in Msayyab (areas on the way to Kerbala), maybe he would host us. He would host us in the end of the night, during cold winters amid snow and rain. Now there is no snow and rain. Maybe he would hosts us, gives us warm shelter to sleep. And during the day, we would not walk (to not be caught by Saddam Hussein's security forces)." VARIOUS OF PILGRIMS WALKING VARIOUS OF 65-YEAR-OLD OWNER OF A GRAIN MILL, SALWA ABDEL MEHDI, STIRRING EGGS IN A LARGE PAN PLACED AT THE EDGE OF THE ROAD MAN SERVING EGGS TO A PILGRIM PASSING BY (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) OWNER OF GRAIN MILL, SALWA ABDEL MEHDI, SAYING: "Before, we could not do this, they would attack you. They would not kill you in front of people but at night they would come to you, telling you "what is this nonsense?". Now, no. We do everything, no one is preventing you." VARIOUS OF PILGRIMS WALKING AERIAL SHOTS SHOWING SHI'ITE PILGRIMS WALKING ON MAIN ROAD (MUTE) TIME-LAPSE SHOWING PEOPLE WALKING, AS SEEN FROM ABOVE (MUTE) NAJAF, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 24, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PILGRIM FROM NAJAF, ALI QASSEM, WALKING TOWARDS KERBALA WITH RELATIVES AS THE SUN IS SETTING QASSEM STANDING AND CARRYING A FLAG SHOWING IMAM HUSSEIN (NIGHTSHOT) QASSEM WALKING TOWARDS PRAYER ROOM VARIOUS OF QASSEM PRAYING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PILGRIM FROM NAJAF, ALI QASSEM, SAYING: "It is a blessing from God and from Abu Abdallah al-Hussein, for the one who did not have a child (and wants one), for the one who recovered. We feel that we receive a lot from Abu Abdallah al-Hussein when we are walking." NAJAF, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 25, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF QASSEM AND HIS FAMILY HAVING BREAKFAST IN A TENT NAJAF, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 24, 2021) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SISTER OF ALI QASSEM, UMM MOHAMMED, SAYING: "We walk along with Zeinab, peace be upon her, we console her. Next to Al Imam al-Hussein, peace be upon him and her sisters. She got captured along with the children, the girls, and she got tired walking from Kerbala until Damascus." KERBALA, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 26, 2021) (REUTERS) QASSEM AND RELATIVES WALKING / QASSEM PUSHING HIS RELATIVE'S WHEELCHAIR PILGRIMS WALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PILGRIM FROM NAJAF, ALI QASSEM, SAYING: "We don't interrupt our path, it continues, and God willing, generation after generation, we teach them about this and about who Hussein is, the pillar of religion." VARIOUS OF QASSEM AND RELATIVES ARRIVING IN KERBALA VARIOUS OF QASSEM RECITING RELIGIOUS VERSES QASSEM DOING ABLUTION VARIOUS OF QASSEM PRAYING BY THE EDGE OF THE ROAD LEADING TO THE SHRINE OF IMAM HUSSEIN
- Embargoed: 11th October 2021 13:17
- Keywords: Arbaeen Iraq Pilgrimage Religion Shi'ites Walking
- Location: BAGHDAD, NAJAF AND KERBALA, IRAQ
- City: BAGHDAD, NAJAF AND KERBALA, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Middle East,Religion/Belief,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA001EWHX2L1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: One step at a time and over the few last days, Shi'ites from all over Iraq walked towards the holy city of Kerbala to participate in the annual religious festival of Arbaeen, which will peak on Tuesday (September 28).
They find respite in one of the many stands lining the road, where volunteers offer food, water and shelter at the end of the day.
Hundreds were seen walking in Baghdad including Latif Hayal, a 69-year-old pilgrim who remembered the days when the pilgrimage was forbidden by Saddam Hussein's regime.
"Back in the days, we would agree to meet secretly", he told Reuters during a praying break.
Hayal and other pilgrims used to then walk throughout the night. In the early morning hours, they looked for someone living along the way and ready to offer them shelter, a precious help especially when the pilgrimage would fall during winter months.
Nowadays things are different, a volunteer cook and the owner of a grain mill Salwa Abdel Mehdi said, while stirring eggs in a large pot placed by the side of the road.
"No one is preventing us", she added, while a member of her team handed out omelette sandwiches to passers-by.
In 2020 and due to the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis, authorities had barred entry to most foreign pilgrims, including some three million Iranians.
This year, several thousands have been allowed to enter Iraq and many Iranians are this year walking alongside Iraqi Shi'ites, all holding banners with depiction of Imam Hussein and driven forward by the uninterrupted flow of pilgrims and the sound of religious chants.
Ali Qassem, an employee at Najaf's directorate of water, is accompanied by several of his relatives, including his mother whose wheelchair he pushed for about 80 kilometres all the way from Najaf to Kerbala, while he himself wore only slippers.
"It is a blessing from God" he said, referring to the spiritual journey on foot many believe will bestow good health and recovery on pilgrims.
Around his neck, Ali Qassem wears a print-out of pictures of two of his brothers he said died as martyrs.
He is symbolically taking them with him to the holy shrine of Imam Hussein, along with their sons now without a father.
"Generation after generation, we teach them about who Hussein is, the pillar of religion", Qassem said before arriving in Kerbala.
With the holy shrine of Imam Hussein now in sight, Qassem stopped to take a moment after three days spent on the road. He lined up by the side of the road, shoulder to shoulder with fellow pilgrims, and knelt down to pray.
In a normal year, up to 20 million mostly Shi'ite Muslims take part in the Arbaeen pilgrimage to commemorate Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, who was slain in battle in 680 by the Muslim Caliph of the day.
(Production: Maher Nazeh, Alaa al-Marjani, Thaier al-Sudani, Charlotte Bruneau) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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