Huffington Post says Arbaeen world’s biggest pilgrimage

Muslim ritual of Arbaeen is the world’s largest religious gathering

An article published in the Huffington Post, an American news internet site, says the Shia Muslim ritual of Arbaeen is the world’s largest religious gathering and it dwarfs every other rally on the planet. 

The article added that not only does the congregation exceeds the number of pilgrims to Mecca for annual Hajj (by a factor of five, in fact), it is more significant than Hindu Kumbh Mela, since the latter is only held every third year. 

There is another unusual feature of Arbaeen. While it is a distinctively Shia spiritual exercise, Sunnis, even Christians, Yazidis, Zoroastrians, and Sabians partake in both the pilgrimage as well as serving of devotees, according to the article. 

This is remarkable given the exclusive nature of religious rituals, and it could only mean one thing: people regardless of color or creed see Imam Hussein, peace be upon him, as a universal, borderless, and meta-religious symbol of freedom and compassion.

The article mentioned Arbaeen should be listed in the Guinness Book of World Records in several categories: biggest annual gathering, longest continuous dining table, largest number of people fed for free, largest group of volunteers serving a single event, all under pending threat of suicide bombings.