The anniversary of Imam Reza’s martyrdom falls on Sunday, August 24, 2025—a national holiday in Iran known as the 30th of Safar in the Islamic calendar.

In recent years, millions have participated in this pilgrimage. In 2024, more than five million mourners converged on Mashhad to pay their respects.

The tradition typically includes walking processions from nearby towns and provinces, with hundreds of thousands completing the journey on foot.

Imam Reza, the eighth Imam in Twelver Shiʿa Islam, was poisoned by the Abbasid Caliph Al-Ma’mun in the year 818 CE. His shrine in Mashhad—built at the site of his burial—has since become one of the world’s most visited pilgrimage centers.

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