Iranian Good-Iraqi Good; A Comparative Study of the Iranian and Iraqi Religious Good Activities during the Arabaeen Ritual March

The Arabeen Ritual March is one of the world’s greatest annual pilgrimage assemblies. In addition to the acquired religious experience through presentence in this march, participation in the voluntary gratuitous activates and services for the pilgrims is a referent of the concept of religious good. The manifestations of these activities and contributions to religious good have two spheres, i.e. Iranian and Iraqi. On the one hand, the Iraqis have the main contribution and render greatest chunk of services to the pilgrims, and, on the other hand, simultaneous with the increase in the number of Iranian pilgrims, their contribution to the services to the pilgrims too are increasing. Qualitative research method was employed and the necessary data was collected through interview and participative observation, including photos, films and field notes. The findings of the research indicate that despite similarities between the Iranian and Iraqi services and activities, there are basic differences between them regarding their management style, establishment of makeshift service stations (mokebs), role of government in organizing the executive affairs of the Arabaeen March, political and revolutionary incentives behind the religious good activities and the level of competition for rendering services. On the basis of the abovementioned findings, the connotations of the findings of this research have been discussed for suitable policymaking related to the way of government’s handling of the religious and good actions during the Arabaeen Ritual March.