Western Media’s Censorship of Arbaeen Events
This is according to Suhail Asa’ad, a Lebanese Mubaligh (Muslim preacher), who, in a speech, deplored the West’s censorship of the Arbaeen events. Following are excerpts from his remarks:
The things that happen in Arbaeen are the result of pure intentions and that is why the West does not want them to be reflected in the media.
Pure Islam should be introduced to the world as a school that leads to the growth and development of humans and the society and creates civilizations.
This school is manifested in Arbaeen today. We do not go on Arbaeen pilgrimage only to say prayers and pay a visit to the holy shrine of Imam Hussein (AS) but to revive the school of Imam Hussein (AS) and tell the world that Muslims from various countries take part in this pilgrimage with the aim of creating an Islamic civilization based on Ashura and Imam Hussein (AS).
Today, the Arbaeen pilgrimage has manifestations that surprises the West.
I took a journalist with me on the pilgrimage. It was interesting for him to see the photos of martyrs and scholars on the path from Najaf to Karbala and said in Latin America, one would only see the photos of celebrities like football players and actors. These are modern world’s idols and are introduced as role models to people.
The main approach of the media is censoring Arbaeen events, although there are exceptions too.
If you go to Hollywood and say you’ll pay $5 million for making a film on Arbaeen, they won’t accept it.
I made a documentary about Arbaeen but they removed it from YouTube. We realized the importance of having strong media at the international level too late.
The enemies’ media outlets are unanimous in preventing the news of Arbaeen from spreading in the world while they report on even a small gathering in a corner of the world. Is the presence of 25 million people in the Arbaeen pilgrimage unimportant news?
The fact that they seek to censor news about Arbaeen shows the greatness of the event. I invited 5 renowned journalists to attend the Arbaeen event but they prevented the participation of four of them. So there is media censorship of Arbaeen.
Nonetheless, the culture of Arbaeen, Moukebs, mourning rituals, votive food offerings, etc are conveyed to the world and people in different parts of the world are learning about Arbaeen.
