Travel to Karbala; A mixture of Tourism and Spirituality

Individual and collective trips to the land of Karbala are one of the long-standing traditions and customs of the followers of the Shiite religion in Afghanistan, which may be as old as the history of Karbala. In recent years, this matter has taken a wider form, and every year, especially during the days of Muharram and Arbaeen, more Afghan citizens go to Karbala.

At the same time as the pilgrimage caravans are being sent to Karbala, a number of people who consider themselves “enlightened” are criticizing and condemning these group trips. The most important and prominent reason that forms the basis of these criticisms is the chaotic economic situation of Afghanistan and especially the Shia community, which according to them, the exorbitant and heavy expenses that are spent on traveling to Iraq and Iran, from an economic point of view, cause a lot of damage to families and society. Another aspect of critics’ criticism is the nature of the expense involved in traveling to Karbala. According to them, this cost is a type of extravagance that instead of being spent abroad, which has no benefit to the society and the people, it should be spent on development, services, and the construction of infrastructure and life facilities in different sectors, so that the society can move towards development.

Of course, some of these criticisms may be reasonable and acceptable, because some people choose to travel to Karbala with illogical goals. Seeking fame, hypocrisy, boasting, showing off money and wealth, etc. are the things that constitute the goal of some of the travelers of Karbala. In this case, the expenses that are made are definitely irrational and show extravagance in the true sense of the word. This approach, in addition to taking huge amounts of money out of the country and helping to boost the economic cycle of foreign countries, also causes a lot of spiritual damage to the society and its religious and human culture. This means that pretending to be religiosity by pursuing goals contrary to religious and human values ​​damages cultural and spiritual values ​​and causes chaos in the society.

Nevertheless, one cannot ignore the spiritual values ​​and psychological effects of a pilgrimage to Karbala. Apart from the religious aspect of this trip, which critics say, if we leave it aside, its recreational and tourist aspect is something that cannot be hidden and ignored with any argument. Recreation, travel and tourism are important for every person of human society as one of the most urgent necessities of life. Therefore, the critics, who mostly live in foreign countries and spend a lot of time and money on entertainment, cannot reject it with any logic or argument.

The vast majority of people who go to visit Karbala are old people who have been strangers to entertainment and tourism all their lives, and visiting Karbala is the only long trip and entertainment of their life that can have deep positive psychological effects for them. Finally, for this group of people, this trip will remain as the greatest memory of their life forever and they will always remember it as a bright spot in their life.

Meanwhile, the critics have never criticized such expensive trips to Dubai, Thailand, Tajikistan, Europe, etc. and will never criticize them.

The final word is that if there is no intention behind what the critics say, as intellectuals who believe in individual freedom, they should give all people the right to choose how to live, where to travel and travel, regardless of their beliefs, where should they go or spend their money. The main condition of freedom is that it does not harm others, and there is no limit for it.