Mwkb Abasalh Almhdy(j) Shhrstan Aqlyd

Among the pilgrim processions that move through Karbala, this Mawkib dedicated to Aba Salih al Mahdi offers rest, hot meals and spiritual comfort to the millions of visitors who arrive each year to honour the memory of Imam al Husayn ibn Ali, may God be pleased with him, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his family. The title Aba Salih is one of the honorifics for the awaited Mahdi whose arrival believers anticipate as a restoration of divine justice on earth, and a mawkib named in his honour is typically a large hospitality tent or hall set up by devotees from a particular region. This mawkib is affiliated with believers from the Iqlid district of Fars province in Iran, and it offers visitors from the highland plateaus of Iran a home away from home during their long pilgrimage.

Karbala itself is a sacred city whose central shrines of Imam al Husayn and his brother al Abbas, may God be pleased with them, draw immense crowds especially during the Arbaeen walk that fills the roads between Najaf and Karbala every year in Safar. Mawkibs line both sides of those roads and populate neighbourhood plots within Karbala, providing water, tea, dates, rice and soup to walkers weary from their journey. This Aba Salih al Mahdi mawkib is a plainly constructed single storey building of cinder block and plaster, decorated externally with banners in black and green carrying verses praising the Mahdi and images of the shrines of Karbala and Mashhad.

Inside, a long carpeted hall with low padded benches along the walls welcomes arriving pilgrims. Samovars of tea simmer at one end, and volunteers ladle out plates of chelo kebab, polo ba gusht and aromatic barberry rice flavoured with saffron, all donated and cooked by families back in Iqlid who sent their sons and daughters to run the mawkib each year. A small prayer area at the rear is carpeted in deep red and oriented toward Mecca, with a simple hanging curtain separating women's and men's spaces. Evening gatherings feature ziyarat recitations, majalis recalling the events of Ashura and songs in praise of the Mahdi composed by contemporary Iranian poets.

Travellers from Iraq, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, India and beyond often find themselves welcomed here for an hour's rest, a plate of food and a warm smile that lifts the tiredness of the pilgrim road before they continue to the gates of the shrine.