Hawzah News Agency- Ayatollah Mousawi pointed to the deep historical roots of the pilgrimage, tracing it back to the return of the Prophet’s household to Karbala and the visit of Jabir ibn Abdullah al-Ansari to Imam Hussein’s (PBUH) shrine. However, he stressed that its true philosophy transcends a single historical event, embodying the school of sacrifice, martyrdom, and the struggle against injustice.
The senior cleric noted that Imam Hussein’s shrine has historically been a center for uprisings against oppressive regimes, adding that the 1977 uprising in Iraq was a clear example of this. At that time, Saddam Hussein’s Baath regime banned the Arbaeen pilgrimage, but the people of Najaf and thousands of pilgrims rose up in defiance, only to be met with brutal repression, killings, and mass arrests.
Following the fall of the Baath regime in 2003, al-Moussawi said, the Arbaeen pilgrimage revealed its national role as millions marched while Washington pushed for an American-appointed committee to draft Iraq’s constitution. He noted that Iraq’s top religious authority, led by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, insisted the constitution be drafted by the Iraqi people and ratified through a public referendum. Al-Moussawi cited the memoirs of Paul Bremer, the US civilian administrator in Iraq at the time, who acknowledged that witnessing the mass movement toward Karbala convinced him that ignoring the will of the religious authority and the Iraqi people risked a massive social explosion, forcing Washington to back down and accept the referendum.
The Baghdad Friday prayer leader described the Arbaeen march as a global declaration of loyalty to Imam Hussein (PBUH), a symbol of opposition to occupation, dictatorship, and oppression, and a sign of the unity and cohesion of the Islamic Ummah.
He also addressed the attack on Arbaeen pilgrims near the Shalamcheh border crossing, stating that the area serves exclusively as a crossing point for pilgrims with no military installations present. He therefore described the targeting of pilgrims as a deliberate attack on the Hussaini rites.
Ayatollah al-Moussawi asserted that while the United States views Shia rites as a source of public awakening, justice-seeking, and resistance against oppression, the project of Imam Hussein (PBUH) is not a political project tied to any specific faction. He described it as a divine plan connected to the guidance of Imam Hussein and Imam al-Mahdi, which is why all efforts to halt or constrain it have failed.
He criticized remarks by certain Iraqi officials regarding US cooperation with Iraq in the fight against Daesh, calling such statements the result of a poor understanding of political realities. He maintained that American forces supported Daesh, whereas it was commanders and advisors from the Islamic Republic of Iran, including martyrs such as Hamid Taqavi and other IRGC commanders, who came to Iraq’s aid and gave their lives defending Iraq and its people.
In conclusion, Ayatollah al-Moussawi declared that just as Saddam’s regime failed to eliminate Hussaini rites, all American efforts to contain or politically exploit the Arbaeen pilgrimage will likewise end in failure. He stated that the nations of Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, the Persian Gulf states, and the Levant stand as a single Ummah against a common enemy, and the future of this Ummah is one of victory and triumph.
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