Large Number of Mourners Participate in Tuwairaj Procession in Karbala on Ashura
The Rakdha Tuwairaj ritual annually takes place in Karbala on the day of Ashura.
In this ritual, pilgrims run through the streets about 2–3 kilometers to the Imam Hussein (AS) holy shrine in honor of the run that maternal cousins of Hazrat Abbas (AS) did from the village of Tuwairaj (today known as Al-Hindiya) to Karbala after the Battle of Karbala.
During this year’s procession, hundreds of thousands of mourners entered the holy shrines of Imam Hussein (AS) and Hazrat Abbas (AS) while running and chanting the slogan ‘Labbayk Ya Hussein’.
One of the notable points in this year’s grand Tuwairaj mourning ceremony was the presence of numerous pictures of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, alongside Grand Ayatollah Sistani, the religious authority of Iraqi Shias, in the hands of Husseini mourners.
To participate in this mourning ritual, pilgrims gather in the Qantara al-Salam area in the village of Tuwairaj near Karbala and then jog towards the holy shrine of Imam Hussein (AS).
This path is about 2 kilometers long, and mourners shout ‘Labbayk Ya Hussein’ along the way; a symbolic response to the call of Imam Hussein (AS) on the day of Ashura: “Hal min Nasirin Yansurna (is there anyone there to help me?)”
Historians have said that this mourning ceremony was first held in 1855 or 1872 AD, and was organized by a person named Mirza Saleh Qazvini, who held mourning ceremonies in his home in the Hendiyeh or Tuwairaj area during the first ten days of Muharram, and on the day of Ashura, mourners would leave his home and head to the holy shrine.
Shia Muslims, and others around the world, commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS) every year during the lunar Hijri month of Muharram, which started on June 27 this year.
The third Shia Imam (AS) and a group of his family and companions were martyred in Karbala on the 10th of Muharram (Ashura), 680 AD, by the army of Yazid bin Muawiya.
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