Shafaq News-Baghdad
For much of theworld, a new year carries connotations of celebration and renewal. In Iraq, theopening of the Islamic Hijri New Year, marked by the arrival of Muharram, thefirst month of the lunar calendar, unfolds in a different register entirely.
Markets shifttheir displays to black fabric and mourning banners. Kitchens begin preparingcommunal meals for the needy. Husseiniyas, the dedicated halls where ShiaMuslim communities hold religious and commemorative gatherings, open theirdoors and arrange their halls for weeks of mourning councils. Volunteers begincollecting donations. The country, in measured but visible ways, prepares forone of the most consequential religious seasons on earth.
A CountryShaped By Faith
Iraq'spopulation is approximately 95 to 98 percent Muslim. Of that majority, anestimated 64 to 69 percent are Shia Muslims, with Sunni Muslims comprising 29to 34 percent. The remainder includes Christians, Yazidis, Mandaeans, and othercommunities who have inhabited this land for centuries. Iraq is, in short, acountry where Islam, and specifically Shia Islam, shapes the religious lifecalendar, commerce, and public space.
Globally, ShiaMuslims number between 320 and 400 million, representing roughly 20 percent ofthe world's Muslim population. The majority are concentrated in four countries:Iran, Pakistan, India, and Iraq. Iraq holds a singular place among them becauseit is home to the event that defines the Shia calendar, Karbala.
What KarbalaMeans
In 680 CE,Hussein bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and the third Imam(spiritual leader) recognized by Shia Muslims, was killed alongside his familyand companions at a site in central Iraq, then as now called Karbala, afterrefusing to pledge allegiance to the Umayyad Caliph Yazid ibn Muawiya. For ShiaMuslims across fourteen centuries, it represents the definitive act ofsacrifice in the face of injustice, a moral compass that continues to governreligious identity, political expression, and communal life.
Karbala, a citytwo hours south of Baghdad, is home today to the shrines of Imam Hussein andhis brother Al-Abbas, and to a living tradition of pilgrimage that has grownsteadily each year.
The Scale OfObservance
In 2024, theArbaeen pilgrimage —held forty days after Ashura to mark the end of themourning cycle— drew more than 22 million visitors to Karbala, according toIraq's Ministry of Interior, making it the largest annual religious gatheringon earth, surpassing even the Hajj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca. Attendance figures have grown steadily: from 11.2 million in 2016 to 16.3million in 2021 to over 22 million in recent years.
Ashura itself—the tenth day of Muharram and the climax of the mourning period— drawsmillions to Karbala from across Iraq and from Iran, Lebanon, the Gulf states,Pakistan, and beyond. In 2024, over 3.4 million foreign pilgrims entered Iraqspecifically for the Arbaeen pilgrimage alone.
What MuharramLooks Like On The Ground
The seasonbegins to take shape before the first day of Muharram arrives. In Baghdad'shistoric commercial districts, Al-Shorja, Al-Kadhimiya, Al-Sadr City, andAl-Kifah, shop displays shift. Black clothing, mourning banners, flags, andceremonial fabric move to the front. Demand for black garments, particularlyfor women and children, rises sharply and, according to traders, exceedscommercial activity during the Eid holidays.
Food becomespart of the same mobilization. Mobile mourning caravans, known in Arabic asmawkib (singular: mawkib— a procession or organized group that provides food,water, and service to pilgrims and mourners), begin preparing communal mealsfunded by year-round donations. Free distribution of food, such as bread, tea,rice dishes, and prepared meals, is a defining feature of the season, rooted ina tradition of public service tied directly to the memory of Karbala.
In Al-Hilla, acity south of Baghdad with deep artisanal heritage, blacksmiths' workshopsreturn to activity before Muharram begins, producing drums, flags, andceremonial blades for Husseini processions. The month ties inherited crafttraditions as firmly to religious observance as it ties ritual to commerce.
Across Iraq,Husseiniyas prepare their halls, sound systems, and seating for nightlycouncils of mourning, where reciters —religious poets and chanters trained inthe oral tradition of commemorating Karbala— lead congregations in lamentationand reflection. These councils run for ten days through Ashura and, in manycommunities, for forty days until Arbaeen.
Who Observes —And How
Muharram is notexclusively a Shia affair. Sunni Muslims also observe Ashura, the tenth day ofMuharram, as a day of optional fasting that commemorates separate events inIslamic and biblical history, including, according to tradition, the day theProphet Muhammad himself fasted. Both Sunni and Shia Muslims regard Ashura as aday of deep importance and reflection, though they observe it through distincttheological and historical frameworks.
In Iraq, whereSunni and Shia communities have historically coexisted across the same citiesand regions, most Sunni Muslims also mourn Hussein's death, though lesspublicly and with less ceremonial elaboration than their Shia neighbors. IraqiChristians and members of other minority communities observe the season'ssocial norms, abstaining from celebratory events, respecting the sombercharacter of the period, as a matter of civic and neighborly custom.
What this meansin practice for visitors, diplomats, and foreign officials is straightforward:weddings, public celebrations, and festive social events are considered deeplyinappropriate during Muharram, particularly in the ten days leading to Ashura. Music in public spaces recedes. Storefronts reflect the season. The socialatmosphere is one of collective mourning and public service, not festivity.
Tourism AndStrategic Importance
Iraq hasinvested substantially in the infrastructure surrounding these religiousseasons. Thousands of doctors and nurses from Iraq and abroad serve pilgrimsduring the period. Security deployments, crowd management systems, missingpersons units, and multilingual guidance materials are coordinated acrossprovinces and border crossings.
For foreigngovernments, Muharram is a period during which diplomatic scheduling,commercial delegations, and public engagements in Iraq require awareness of thecalendar's significance. Events that conflict with the ten days of Muharram, orthat fail to acknowledge the season, risk misreading the social and politicalenvironment in which they are operating.
Karbala's PlaceIn The World
Whatdistinguishes Iraq from other countries with significant Shia populations isthat the event being commemorated happened here, on Iraqi soil, and the shrinesthat embody it remain here. Pilgrims do not travel to Iraq to observe Karbalafrom a distance. They travel to Karbala itself: to stand at the tomb of ImamHussein, to walk the same ground, to participate in a tradition that, for ShiaMuslims worldwide, constitutes one of the most direct acts of faith availableto them.
By the timeMuharram arrives each year, Iraq is doing what it has done for more thanthirteen centuries: hosting the world's largest act of collective mourning, onthe ground where that mourning began.
: Discover Iraq: Karbala, where memory breathes and future beckons
Written andedited by Shafaq News staff.