Ask anyone who has walked to Karbala what stayed with them, and they rarely mention the distance. They mention the mawakib — the volunteer camps that turn an 80-kilometre road into one continuous act of welcome.
More than 3,500 camps
For Arbaeen 2026, over 3,500 mawakib have been set up across Iraq and Iran to serve pilgrims, according to ABNA. They stand shoulder to shoulder along the route, so that a walker is almost never out of reach of a cup of tea, a plate of rice, a place to sleep, or a hand with a blister.
What a moukib offers
Each camp — a moukib — is run by a family, a neighbourhood, a workplace or a community, often from the same spot every year. Between them they provide, entirely free of charge:
- Hot meals and endless tea, day and night
- Cold water and shade in the fierce August heat
- Mats and rooms to rest and sleep
- First aid, foot care and basic medicine
- Charging points, washrooms and a friendly face when you are far from home
You can see many of these camps mapped, in the order you would meet them, along the Mawakib Line.
An economy built on giving
What makes the mawakib remarkable is not their scale but their spirit. Families save throughout the year to host strangers they will never see again, considering it an honour rather than a burden. Local officials support the effort too: the governors of Najaf and Karbala pledged fuel allocations and logistical help to keep the camps supplied through the peak, as noted in coverage of this year’s preparations.
Strangers feed you, shelter you, and ask nothing.
For newcomers, this is often the first real surprise of Arbaeen: a place where hospitality is not a transaction but a devotion. It is the living answer to who Imam Hussain (as) was, and what his stand still asks of people today.
Serving, wherever you are
You do not need to be in Iraq to be part of this. Communities around the world run their own mawakib — in car parks, community halls and front gardens — offering food and water in the same spirit. If your community runs one, you can add it to our directory so pilgrims and volunteers can find it.
Twenty-two million people will be fed, sheltered and cared for this Arbaeen without a bill changing hands. In a world that counts everything, the mawakib quietly refuse to. That, as much as anything, is why the road to Karbala moves people who never expected to be moved.