British photojournalist reflection on Arbaeen walk

by Abbas Adil

In 2017 and 2018, British photojournalist Emily Garthwaite walked the Arbaeen pilgrimage, sharing her experiences on the road to Arbaeen.

Arbaeen is the world’s largest annual pilgrimage and yet little known to the rest of the world. Up to 25 million pilgrims walk in peace to the shrine of Imam Hussein [Prophet Mohammed’s grandson] in Karbala every year. The Arbaeen Pilgrimage marks the end of a 40-day mourning period following Ashura, the religious ritual that commemorates the death of the Prophet Mohammad’s grandson Imam Hussein.

Imam Hussein became a martyr during the Battle of Karbala [680CE] where he fought against the Yazid armies. Arbaeen is the largest number of people fed for free and the largest group of volunteers serving a single event in the world. Millions of pilgrims make the 75km journey from Najaf to Imam Hussein’s shrine in Karbala, while some walk 700km from Basra in Southern Iraq, she wrote in an open letter to The Leica camera Blog editor Pete Littlewood.

Arbaeen offers a positive narrative of resilience, solidarity and faith. Surprisingly, Arbaeen remains almost unknown to the world, and there continues to be widespread criticism of the media blackout surrounding it, she added.

She said that “In 2017, an Iranian documentary team asked me to present a documentary on Arbaeen. I agreed almost instantly and within a matter of weeks found myself in Najaf, the home of Imam Ali’s Shrine, where the pilgrimage traditionally starts. This experience led me to return in 2018 with the documentary producer, Farzan Nikpour. He’s more than a colleague or friend – I consider him my second father. I call him Baba, which is Persian for father. There are many memories that we share, but it was the quiet moments of contemplation I will always remember. We walked through Al-Hillah, a rural region lush with date palm, and discussed faith and its many shades, and how, even though we were from different walks of life, ages, religion, experiences, we had a shared love of people”.

Farzan and I decided to use the power of social media. I started to share Instagram stories from Iraq – we even live-streamed from people’s homes. I wanted people to join me on the journey, and to show them the other side of Iraq.Social media is a strange one. I keep my online voice clear, and open. I will not adapt to my audience, and I will not change my work or who I am. It’s a liberating feeling to be yourself, and I have, only in the past two years, found my voice.

I am happy to lose followers if it means I keep my integrity. People should value their work more than the number of followers they have. I try to find joy in social media, and to make my account a positive space. I share my world online, and many intimate moments – and I do it on my terms. We must trust our instincts above all else. There are always challenging moments on assignments, but I show the beauty in my day and let the negatives dissipate, Emily Garthwaite wrote.

She said there’s so much more I want to tell you, but I’d like you to know I will be proudly walking it again. In 2019, I returned for Ashura too. I hope to walk Arbaeen every year if I can, according to Sonder and Tell.

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