Waving colorful flags while chanting devotional praises, thousands of Shia Muslims streamed down a street in Dearborn. They gathered at a park to mark an annual religious holiday that has become the largest of its kind outside of Iraq.
Organized by Iraqi Americans, the 23rd annual Arbaeen procession drew worshippers on Sunday, Aug. 2, from across Michigan and the country, transforming part of Dearborn into a sea of families and friends walking together, their kids pushed in strollers and buggies, with some elderly in wheelchairs rolling along, assisted by family members. Most were dressed in all black clothing as a symbol of mourning, remembering the 40th day after the slaying of Imam Hussain, a grandson of Prophet Mohammed who was killed fighting an unjust ruler in the 7th century. “Arbaeen” is the Arabic word for the number 40, referring to the 40th day of the Islamic year.
The march started at the Karbalaa Islamic Educational Center, a Dearborn mosque named after the Iraqi city where Imam Hussain was killed, and traveled down Greenfield Road to Ford Woods Park. On the main stage was a large banner that read “Annual March for Imam Hussein, Stop War, Start Peace,” with drawings of doves on either side.
“We’re using this event for justice and to make the people in the world avoid using violence, to be a commemoration of peace instead of violence and killing,” Imam Husham Al-Husainy, who leads the Karbalaa center in Dearborn and organized the march, told the Detroit Free Press.
This year, there were many American flags seen on display, some wrapped around backs, others mounted on poles at the park and near a stage where speakers addressed the crowd. There were close to 100 booths and stands serving food and beverages, known as mawkib, which reflect Iraqi and Shia traditions of hospitality and caring for those in need. Slices of fresh fruit, snacks, sandwiches and glasses of juice were handed for free to the worshippers as they walked by. At Ford Woods Park, there were three rows of tents set up for the mawakib, each named after and honoring a Muslim leader or in remembrance of the dead. One mawkib remembered the children killed in an elementary school in Iran earlier this year. The march was open to all faiths and denominations. One of the booths at the event was with an evangelical Christian congregation in Dearborn Heights, offering free literature on Christianity.
“Arabeen is about respect, freedom of speech, wisdom and sacrifice,” Ali Al-Baghdadi explained to the Detroit Free Press, standing next to a mawkib named after an uncle of Prophet Mohammed and the father of Imam Ali. “Imam Hussain sacrificed himself for the rights and freedom of all people, not just the Shia Muslims.”
Al-Baghdadi used to live in Dearborn and was at the first Arabeen procession in Dearborn in 2004, which took place the year after Saddam Hussein was removed from power in Iraq. Al-Baghdadi and many others in Dearborn’s Iraqi American community fled Iraq in the 1990s after Hussein crushed an uprising by Shias and others against his tyranny. They arrived in metro Detroit as refugees, hoping one day that they would see justice in their motherland. Al-Baghdadi, who said he had four uncles killed by Saddam Hussein’s security forces, moved back to Iraq in 2011 and is now working for Iraq’s deputy speaker in the parliament.
Dearborn City Council President Pro Tem Kamal Alsawafy attended the Arabeen procession, saying the lessons of Karbala apply today.
Imam Hussain “fought not for power, but for reform, justice and doing what’s right,” Alsawafy told the Detroit Free Press while on Greenfield Road. “He rose up against the evils at the time, corruption. We’re here to emulate what Imam Hussain did when he stood up for justice.”
There appeared to be a few thousand people who took part in the procession and gathering at the park. The size of the crowd this year appeared to be smaller than in 2025, perhaps because of the rain that fell at the start of the event, but it turned into a drizzle and then disappeared during the walk. This year, the city of Dearborn toughened its regulation of the event, restricting some of the cooking to comply with city ordinances, which had intially drawn concern from Iraqi Americans who protested at a city council meeting. The layout this year for the food booths and stands was in a central spot and less spread out.
At the park, the smells of grilled chicken kabobs and meat stews wafted in the air as volunteers fanned smoke from charcoal grills. Others blended milk shakes and yogurt drinks to hand out to passersby. And flags were everywhere, mostly religious ones with the phrase “Ya Hussain,” honoring Imam Hussain, as well as the flags of various nations: the United States, Iraq, Lebanon, Iran, Palestine, among others.
After a separate Shia Muslim procession in June led by Lebanese Americans for the holiday of Ashura, some conservatives wondered why there were no American flags at the march. U.S. Rep. John James of Michigan, a military veteran who fought in Iraq, criticized the Ashura procession, telling Newsmax on June 29: “I didn’t go and fight extremists to have them on our doorstep here. Under no circumstances will we be a home in Michigan for extremism.” James’ remarks were criticized by Muslim leaders and others for unfairly attacking a religious procession that promoted peace and justice. Ironically, James fought in the Iraq war at a time when the U.S. was allied at the time with many Shias who take part in religious processions like the ones in Dearborn.
Police officers and private security patrolled the event, which appeared to be peaceful except for an incident involving right-wing agitator Jake Lang, who appeared to be attacked by a couple of people while he was protesting the event by shouting on a megaphone about “illegal immigrants,” videos posted by Lang on X show. Lang then went into the back of a police car.
The walk took place after a year of turmoil for many Shias around the world, especially in Iran and Lebanon. Some participants had posters remembering the children killed in a school in Iran on Feb. 28, while some speakers mentioned Israel’s attacks in Shia villages in southern Lebanon.
With the primary elections two days away, politics was a topic for some of the speakers, who urged people to vote in the election. Among the speakers were Arab American activists Suehaila Amen of Dearborn Heights and Linda Sarsour of New York City; State Senate candidate Abbas Alawieh of Dearborn, cofounder of the Uncommitted movement in 2024; an Iraqi consular official; and Hussein Hachem, owner of What’s Up Media in Dearborn. The march was non-partisan, but some of the speakers expressed support for candidates such as U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, whose campaign had a booth at the event.
“We remember a man who stood up for justice … and who chose principle over power,” Amen told the crowd. “His message was timeless. … Today, our battlefield is different, but our responsibility is the same. … We are called to use every peaceful means available to uphold justice. One of those means is our vote. To vote … is a moral responsibility.”
Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com, X @nwarikoo, Facebook @nwarikoo
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Thousands walk for peace in Arbaeen religious procession in Dearborn
Reporting by Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
