Arbaeen and the Paradigm of Karbala in the global struggle for liberty

Revolutions have had a long-lasting impact on society’s conditions. Institutions like political parties and social groups were all torn down and replaced by new structures built on the ideals and aspirations of the revolutionaries.

All revolutions, social movements, and upheavals have had a vibrant and permanent revolutionary spirit as their source of intellectual dynamism throughout history.

The tragedy of Karbala, a unique scene of the struggle for justice, has sparked a plethora of revolutionary movements in the past millennium. A primary goal of Imam Husayn was to resist tyranny and tyrannical governments, and no movement in history has had the same impact on hearts and minds as Imam Husayn Ibn Ali’s revolt rekindled the spirit of freedom in different civilizations.

The day of Arbaeen, the commemoration of the martyrdom of the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad [PBUH], is one of the most extraordinary outpourings of Islamic unity to be seen in the world.

Arbaeen’s million-strong pilgrimage illustrates Ahl al-Bayt’s eternal revolutionary influence. The Arbaeen March has a long tradition in the Middle East. The Arbaeen march was revived in Iraq after the Ba’ath Party’s collapse in 2003, and it has grown in popularity since then, spreading beyond Iraq’s borders.

Arbaeen’s spiritual journey evolved into a symbolically laden political movement that is a unique event. Although the political connotations of the Arbaeen pilgrimage were less evident in the past, the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979 enabled the march to take on strong political overtones. The millions of pilgrims in the Arbaeen march keep the Islamic world from falling prey to NATO’s cultural schemes.  The western ill-wishers, Takfiris, and those craving to undermine Islam can not and shall not be able to eclipse the magnitude of the Arbaeen pilgrimage.

Iran’s Islamic Revolution is widely considered the most remarkable political miracle of the 20th century, embodying Imam Husayn’s ideals. The Islamic Revolution in Iran began and flourished during the months of Muharram in 1963 and 1979, when the Iranian nation’s solidarity reached its pinnacle. Sunnis, Christians and Jews who attend the Arbaeen pilgrimage, show the breadth and importance of Ahl-school Bayt’s thought among all ethnic and religious communities. Following the example of Imam Husayn, Iran’s revolutionary nation, headed by the late Imam Khomeini, staged the most glorious revolution in modern Iranian history, one that continues to inspire the Islamic world.