Arbaeen Quranic Booths Start Activities in South of Iraq

SHAFAQNA-

According to Qaaf news agency, the Quranic activities of the booths started in cooperation with Iraq’s Union of Quranic Associations at the beginning of the month of Safar (the second month in the lunar Hijri calendar).

Mahmoud Khalil Mansouri, executive director of the Quranic plan, said that it began in Ra’s Al-Bisha, southeast of Basra Province.

He said that the council has set up the Qurainc booths in 13 provinces of Iraq and that members of the council have so far visited the booths in Basra, Dhi Qar and Maysan provinces.

Ali Radhi, supervisor of the booths in Basra, said that 10 Quranic institutes affiliated to the Association of Basra Quranic Activists have cooperated in implementing the plan and setting up 33 Qurainc booths in various parts of the province.

There are separate Quranic booths for men and women which offer Quranic activities like teaching small Surahs of the Quran to the pilgrims and correcting their Quran reading.

Last year 300 Quranic booths were set up on the path of the pilgrims.

Arbaeen, which is one of the largest religious gatherings in the world, comes 40 days after Ashura, the martyrdom anniversary of the third Shia Imam, Imam Hussein (AS).

Each year, a huge crowd of Shias flock to Karbala, where the holy shrine of Imam Hussein (AS) is located, to perform mourning rites. Many of them also visit Imam Ali’s (AS) holy shrine in Najaf.

In the past few years, around 20 million pilgrims from all over the world, including Iran, took part in the mourning ceremonies in the Iraqi holy cities marking Arbaeen.

This year, Arbaeen falls on Thursday, November 9.