A Phenomenological Study of Arbaeen Foot Pilgrimage in Iraq

This study shall investigate foot-pilgrims on the Arbaeen pilgrimage that attracts 20 million people annually, making it the world’s largest annual gathering in one place. At present, the pilgrim erudition literature embeds the religiosity aspect in a shallow fashion.

The paper analyzes motivations and experiences of foot-pilgrims in their journey to Karbala(Iraq) during the¹Arbaeen pilgrimage. The study deploys an interpretivist paradigm consisting of a phenomenological approach and incorporates the Shia Islamic worldview to synthesize the findings. Findings reveal that Arbaeen foot-pilgrim’s motives are driven by perpetual rituals practiced by the Shia community, and concern for society (umma). The ‘umma’ element recurred as a key motive for those who repeated the Arbaeen foot-pilgrimage. The experiential component emerging of the results indicate: religious; bodily; and hospitality/humanitarian aspects to be the significant elements of experiences. Managerial implications including future planning and policy are deliberated.

Bibliographic Information

Title: A Phenomenological Study of Arbaeen Foot Pilgrimage in Iraq

Author: UmmeSalma Mujtaba Husein

Published in: Tourism Management Perspectives 26 (2018)

 Language: English

Length: 10 pages

A Phenomenological Study of Arbaeen Foot Pilgrimage in Iraq