Iraq declares Thursday a public holiday for Ashura

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Cabinet has declared Thursday a public holiday across all ministries and government institutions to mark Ashura, the 10th of Muharram, it said Saturday.

The holiday falls on June 25, coinciding with the observance. Ashura is one of the most significant days in Shia Islam, marking the killing of Imam Hussein ibn Ali, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, at the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE, when he and many of his family and companions were killed by the forces of the Umayyad Caliph Yazid. Arbaeen, meaning “forty” in Arabic, falls 40 days later and marks the end of the mourning period.

Each year millions of pilgrims from inside and outside Iraq travel to Karbala for mourning processions and commemorative events leading up to and on Ashura, one of the country’s largest annual religious gatherings. The Interior Ministry has completed a security and service plan for Muharram, committing “all its human, technical and logistical capabilities” and coordinating with security, intelligence and service agencies as well as procession organizers and mosques. On Saturday, the Zurbatiya border crossing in Wasit governorate began receiving thousands of pilgrims from Iran heading to Karbala for the commemoration.