Every year, millions of pilgrims walk from the deserts of southern Iraq to the holy city of Karbala for Arbaeen, one of the largest annual pilgrimages in the world. A death that shaped a traditionTo understand Arbaeen, one has to return to the plains of Karbala in the year 680. It showed me how the story of Husayn’s sacrifice continues to inspire extraordinary hospitality in the direst of circumstances. Under Saddam Hussein, public Shiite mourning was tightly restricted, and the Arbaeen walk was effectively banned during the years of his rule (1979-2003). Husayn’s sacrifice has shaped not just religious devotion, but politics as well.