2026-07-09T11:50:29+00:00
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Shafaq News-
Karbala
More than four
million joined the funeral procession of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali
Khamenei in Iraq this week as his body passed through the Iraqi holy cities of
Najaf and Karbala, a journey that reflects a centuries-old Shiite tradition of
seeking proximity to sacred shrines in both life and death.
For Shiite
Muslims, burial near the shrines of the Imams is among the most profound acts of
devotion a believer can undertake. The tradition holds that resting near these
sacred sites carries spiritual merit and intercession on the Day of Judgment, a
belief that has drawn the devout, the learned, and the powerful to these cities
for more than a thousand years.
Read more: Discover Iraq: Najaf, a city of dust and divinity
Karbala holds a
singular place in Shiite consciousness. The city is home to the shrines of Imam
Hussein bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and the third Imam of
Shia Islam, and his brother Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas, both killed in the Battle of
Karbala in 680 CE, an event that defines Shiite identity and is commemorated
annually during Muharram, culminating in Ashura on the tenth day of the month
and the Arbaeen pilgrimage forty days later, which draws tens of millions of
visitors and constitutes the largest annual human gathering on earth.
“Funerals
and burials in holy places are among the religious traditions inherited over
long centuries,” historian and Karbala researcher Saeed Rashid Zumaizim
told Shafaq News. The city’s exceptional status, he said, stems from its role
as the final resting place of Imam Hussein and al-Abbas, making it a
destination for those who wish to be buried near the sacred shrines.
Over its
history, Karbala has received the bodies of hundreds of religious, scholarly,
and literary figures from across the Islamic world, Zumaizim said. Among the
most prominent were Sheikh Yusuf al-Bahrani, al-Wahid al-Bihbahani, and
Mohammed Taqi, a leader of Iraq’s 1920 Revolution against British rule. Many
others left instructions to be buried in Karbala, and some were transferred
from other cities specifically for that purpose, including al-Sharif al-Radi
and al-Sharif al-Murtada, whose remains were brought to the city in different
historical periods.
Read more: Discover Iraq: Karbala, where memory breathes and future beckons
The shrines of
Hussein and al-Abbas and their surroundings have also served as burial grounds
for royalty, according to Zumaizim.
Around 17 kings, princes, and rulers from India, Kashmir, Pakistan, and Iran
are buried in Karbala, drawn by the city’s spiritual weight.
Beyond its role
as a pilgrimage destination, Karbala has evolved over the centuries into a
spiritual, scholarly, and cultural center that attracted clerics, students of
religious sciences, and visitors from across the Muslim world, “Thousands of
funeral processions arrive in the city each year from inside and outside Iraq,
continuing a religious, social, and historical legacy rooted in the collective
memory of Muslims across generations.”
Khamenei’s
funeral procession in Karbala and Najaf on Wednesday was attended by Iraqi
officials and political, religious, and tribal figures. His burial is scheduled
for Thursday, July 9, at the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, his birthplace in
northeastern Iran, another of Shiite Islam’s holiest sites, in accordance with
his will.
Read more: Wadi Al Salam: Najaf’s ever-growing city of the dead
