Head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO) Masoud Soltanifar said the country plans to get the massive march of pilgrims on Arba’een inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
 

During a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Soltanifar emphasized that in coordination with neighboring Iraq, Iran is making efforts to place the massive march staged by millions of pilgrims for Arba’een on UNESCO’s World Heritage List as “an Islamic spiritual heritage”.

During the meeting, President Hassan Rouhani also pointed to the huge influx of Iranian pilgrims to Iraq, saying that throughout the history of Islam, the followers of Ahl-ul-Bayt (the family of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA)) have kept this tradition (Arba’een ceremony) alive.

He went on to say that in recent years, the Arba’een rites have been held with more glory and grandeur.

Each year, millions of pilgrims flock to Karbala, where the holy shrine of Imam Hussein (AS) is located, to perform mourning rites.

Last year, around 20 million pilgrims from all over the world gathered in Karbala to attend the mourning ceremonies marking Arba’een.