An article on the political aspect of the Shi’a pilgrimage to Iraq was published with the support of the Ibn Sina Foundation in the “Religion And Society in the East” yearbook (http://religion.ivran.ru/).
The article entitled “The influence of pilgrimage on Iran’s regional politics and its relationship with the modernized Iraq” written by the Iranian scholar Nafise Waez was published in the “Religion and Society in the East” yearbook in the context of ongoing cooperation between the Ibn Sina Foundation and the RAS Institute of Oriental Studies.
In recent years, we have been witnessing the tragic events happening in the Middle East. However, the relations between Iran and Iraq, two neighboring states, became complicated since as early as 1980 (the beginning of the Iran-Iraq war). There are two places on Iraq that are considered sacred by Shi’a Muslims, that is Najaf and Karbala. There is a large Shi’a community in Iraq. Every year thousands of Iranians visit Iraq for pilgrimage. Taking into account the tension between Iraq and Iran, this pilgrimage can be considered not only as a religious action, but also as an important geopolitical factor that impacts the entire region.
