The head of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) Assembly of Iraq stated, “This year, we set up the Mowkeb of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) Assembly in the pillar 833 in “Tariq Ya Hussain” (Najaf-Karbala Road of the Arbaeen Great Walk), as well as the Mowkeb of the Ashura International Foundation next to it.”
On the eve of the Arbaeen, this year, like previous years, Iraqi religious, preaching, relief, health, service and security centers and organizations are trying hard to provide the necessary services to millions of pilgrims of Imam Hussain (a.s.).
AhlulBayt (a.s.) Assembly of Iraq - one of the local Assemblies associated to the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly - is one of these centers that every year carries out many activities in different parts of the country to serve domestic and foreign pilgrims.
In an interview with ABNA correspondent in Iraq, on this year’s activities, the head of the Iraq’s Assembly stated, “Under auspicious of Imam Mahdi (a.s.), this year also we had success to serve the Arbaeen 1444 AH. (2022) pilgrims in various cultural and service sectors.”
“This year, we set up the Mowkeb of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) Assembly in the pillar 833 in “Tariq Ya Hussain” (Najaf-Karbala Road of the Arbaeen Great Walk), as well as the Mowkeb of the Ashura International Foundation next to it,” he added.
“So far, thousands of pilgrims have come to our two Mowkebs. They spend one or two nights here and then go to Karbala. Some of the cultural services that these two Mowkebs offer to the pilgrims are the distribution of the Arbaeen pilgrimage letter along with religious and cultural brochures, preaching activities of clerics, shedding light on the philosophy, goals and results of the uprising of Imam Hussain (a.s.), as well as answering doubts and religious questions,” Behbahani continued.
Referring to the welfare services of these two Mowkebs, Mr. Behbahani said, “This year, considering the participation of millions of pilgrims from different countries, we faced a real crisis, which was the dire need for drinking water. In the previous years, Mowkebs used to start their activities between the 8th and 10th of Safar. But this year, due to the large number of pilgrims, they started their activities on the first day of Safar. Therefore, access to drinking water became a big crisis. Consequently, in cooperation with the Ashura International Foundation, we purchased a large amount of packaged drinking water, and distributed several thousand boxes of them to pilgrims and various Mowkebs.”
Regarding the servants active in the two Mowkebs of the Assembly and the Ashura Foundation, he said, “About 70 members of the Hey’at Al-Zahra of Tehran headed by Mr. Reza Almasi are present here and despite the difficult conditions and limited facilities, provide services to Arbaeen pilgrims.”
The head of AhlulBayt (a.s.) Assembly of Iraq also mentioned the cooperation with the “Mowkeb the Call of Al-Aqsa”, and added, “Our two Mowkebs are located next to the central building of AhlulBayt University of Karbala. In addition to welcoming the Arbaeen pilgrims, this university hosts the Mowkeb the Call of Al-Aqsa” of Sunni muftis and activists who have come from Palestine, Lebanon and Syria to serve their Shiite brothers in the Arbaeen pilgrimage of Imam Hussain (a.s.).”
“Ayatollah Ramazani, Secretary-General, Ayatollah Akhtari, Supreme Council Chairman, and Ayatollah Dorri-Najafabadi, Vice Chairman of the Supreme Council of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly are scheduled to attend the “Mowkeb the Call of Al-Aqsa” and give speech. We are also going to use the activities of AhlulBayt International University (a.s.) in pillar 833,” Hojat al-Islam Behbahani said in the end.
The Ahl al-Bayt World Assembly is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) that was established by a group of Shiite elites under the supervision of the great Islamic authority of the Shiites in 1990 to identify, organize, educate and support the followers of Ahl al-Bayt.