The al-Abbas's (p) Holy Shrine launches the Cultural Festival of the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) in the Indian city of Kargil.

In beautiful atmosphere filled with mercy and blessings as well as the love of the Imams of Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) and within the celebrations of the birth anniversary of the Commander of the Faithful Ali Ibn Abi Taleb (peace be upon both of them), the al-Abbas's (p) Holy Shrine launched for the sixth year in a row on Thursday morning 18th of Rajab 1439 Ah corresponding to April 5, 2018 the Annual Cultural Festival of the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) in the Indian city of Kargil, under the slogan "The Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him), first of worshippers and the most ascetic of all" with the participation of the holy shrine of Imam al-Hussayn (peace be upon him) and of Imam al-Hadi and Imam al-'Askari (peace be upon both of them) in the Ithna Ashari Hawza in the mentioned city for three days.

The opening ceremony started by raising the flags of the holy domes of the shrines of Imam al-Hussayn and his brother Aba al-Fadl al-Abbas and Imam al-Hadi and Imam al-'Askari (peace be upon them) at the entrance to the hawza. The attendees then went to the central courtyard to start the festival, which was attended by scholars and religious, hawza and academic figures as well as a large crowd from the lovers and followers of Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) from inside and outside the city. And after the recitation of verses from the Holy Quran followed by the reader of the al-Abbas's (p) holy shrine Laith al-Ubaidi there was a word of the holy shrines in Iraq delivered by the Head of the delegation of the al-Abbas's (p) holy shrine Sayed. Aqeel Abdul-Hussein al-Yasiri.

Then Sheikh Nadher Mahdi Mohamadi gave a speech on behalf of the host hawza of the festival, followed by the speech of the Ahl al-Sunna of the Kargil city delivered by Sheikh Taslim Aref, and then the speech of the people of Lahla Dar delivered by the President of the Council of its scholars; Sheikh Nadhir Ahmad Sharif, then the speech of the president of the Assembly of Imam Saheb al-Zaman (may Allah hasten his holy reappearance) Sheikh Sadeq Balaghi. And finally the speech of the Sufi community in the city delivered by Sheikh Mohamad Baqer Shah.

The ceremony included also poems recited by Hussayni Radoods as well as the establishment of a unified congregation prayer led by Sayed Ibrahim Fadel from the holy shrine of Imam al-Hussayn (peace be upon him) and the distribution of the launch meal in the name of the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) to the people of the city and their guests. Then the delegations of the holy shrines were honored by the Hawza of Ithna Ashari Imams, the host of this festival.