This memory I am going to share with you isn’t a common sun, sea or sand holiday, but a spiritual journey to get closer to God.

From the 21st of December 2021 to New Year, I went to Iraq for 10 days. This is the second time I had been to Iraq for pilgrimage, and I would like to share my experiences, and what happened in a city called Karbala. For some context, Muslims from all around the world come to pay their respects to the family of our beloved Prophet Muhammad and ask for their wishes to be fulfilled.

We hadn’t been to Iraq for pilgrimage in a few years, so my dad thought we ought to go if we can do so. When I was told that we are going to Iraq again, I was extremely chuffed, for the last year I had been nagging my dad repeatedly to think about taking us back. This is because the city of Karbala, ever since I visited for the first time in 2018, never left me. I regularly thought about my experiences in the shrine, the friends that I made with the people in my pilgrimage group, the kindness of the Iraqi people and the atmosphere of the city itself.
I never thought going to Iraq would happen so quickly, because earlier that year my dad had gone for two weeks to Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. I thought we would not have the money go to to Iraq the same year.

To give some more background, we travelled with a pilgrimage group called “Footsteps 2 Jannah (Heaven)”. The people who organised the group, offer the pilgrims going with them services such as workshops for both children and adults, and Islamic scholars who lead us along the way in terms of the history of the city and its significance to Islam and why we are here.

Now we fast-forward to being in Karbala (2 months later), a city in Iraq where the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (Hussain ibn-e-Ali), his family and companions were buried after being martyred, having fought bravely against the enemies of Islam, whose aim was to destroy the message of Islam, and humanity.

Before I got to the shrine, I had a good look at the beautiful city outside of the shrine. Everywhere you go, there are bazaars (stalls) that sell all kinds of different things. They sell fresh fruits, nuts, bags, toys and every other thing you can think of is sold there for half the price of what the UK
would sell it for. You could also get delicious food and drinks exclusive to Iraq.

Iraq is a hugely different country from Scotland. In Scotland, I’m used to shops closing at 10 pm. However, in Iraq, you could walk around the city at 4 am and shops would be open at your service. When I told my friends that I’m going to Iraq, they immediately thought about the war and terror footage they saw on the news. My friend asked why I would want to visit a war-torn country that is unsafe. However, I explained the Iraq you see in the media is not the real Iraq. I clarified, that Iraq is full of kindness, and generosity and it is completely safe now. I walked around the cities of Iraq without the fear of being mugged or hurt by anyone.

When I reached the shrine after walking several minutes from my hotel, I looked at my surroundings and was astonished at the sight of the buildings that were covered in gold and silver all around the shrine and even the outside of it. I wasn’t even in the actual part of the shrine, and I could just hear the people crying profusely, asking for forgiveness from God for their past actions in life.
At this point, the only thing on my mind was to just go in and be able to sit there and contemplate about how my life has been. Just like how people let out their feelings to a therapist when they feel uneasy, that is how I felt when I was going in. I wasn’t the only person who felt like this, chances are many people felt the same way when they went into the shrine. These Imams to Muslims in simple terms are like a shortcut to get you closer to God. You can ask God through the intercession of the Imam (Muslim Leaders), for your prayers to be answered and wishes fulfilled.

As soon as I got in, I had an instant sigh of relief rush through me, that I was finally here after all the planes and long bus travels to be here in the moment. At this point, it was me and my thoughts to express to God. I had so many things I wanted to say, so many things, and I wanted to stay there forever because I felt at total peace, something that doesn’t happen often with all the stress of module tests at school and wanting to do well. I knew that I had a chance to Thank God and to think about the blessings He has bestowed on me and my family. It was also a fantastic opportunity to be able to ask God to help us through hardship and to fix things that maybe aren’t going so well. This time was not just for my benefit, but for others that knew I was here and had asked to make special prayers for them.

At the time we went, this visit meant so much to me, partly because I hadn’t been to Iraq in a long time, but also because in S1 I was struggling to make many friends. I was new to the school, and I couldn’t fit into the friend groups from the junior school. I knew it was a good opportunity to ask God to make it easier to make friends. I knew from my strong belief in God and the Imam (Leader), that my wish would be answered one way or another.

I feel like I have learnt a lot from those ten days, I feel at ease that God has let us be able to go and do the pilgrimage of these Imams, who are especially important as to where they stand in their closeness to God and the contribution they made to preserve the message of Islam 1400 years after they lived.

I feel that Karbala in a way has recharged my “spiritual battery”, because of the scholars that helped me understand why we are here. Not just to pay respects to the Imams, but they also helped me refine my understanding of Islam in general, and what acts of Islam come before anything else you do to make you a better person in how you present yourself, but also in your piety.

For the last part of my essay, I would like to conclude with my farewell to the Holy Land of Karbala. We all went together with our group to give our final respects to the Imam before going back to Scotland. Leaving Karbala is not like leaving a holiday destination, where you miss the nice weather or the sunset. It is like leaving a part of yourself behind there, always longing for the return and remembering those blessed souls that you ever hardly see. This visit to Karbala is imprinted on my heart, and I can’t wait to go back and experience this again.