Ali Mohammad Fars, a Swedish national serving at a Mawkab (free stations for pilgrims to eat and rest), says currently there is a tendency in European countries, especially Sweden, to convert to Islam, reports IRNA.
Because of the same tendency, he says, Arba’een ceremonies can be the starting point for a move to get Imam Hussein and his uprising (the Ashura event) known across the globe.
Mawkabs are makeshift stations set up to offer food, drinks and other services to mourners walking toward Karbala to mark Arba’een, the fortieth day after the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the third Shiite Imam.
Fars, an Iraqi-born Swedish is seen serving mourners near the Imam Hussein holy shrine in Karbala. He is stationed at a Mawkab bearing the Swedish flag.
Since the downfall of former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein 14 years ago, Fars says, he has been attending Arba’een ceremonies in Iraq along with his family every year.
Europeans do not believe strongly in God and religion, but they are inclined to listen to the realities of Islam and Shiism. The Maryam Sura, one of the chapters of the holy Quran, is one of the divine signs which have changed their opinion about Islam. So, the clergy who go to Europe should know the language of the country they are travelling to, he added.
