A Study on the Perception of Participants in the Arbaeen Mega Event: A Phenomenon of Religious Tourism in Today’s World

Given the significance of the Arbaeen event as one of the most important religious tourism events for Shiites, the present study aims to explore the contexts and reasons for the enthusiastic participation of Iranian Shiites, as well as their experiences and perceptions of this activity, using a social interpretive approach. The research methodology is qualitative. Data was collected using conventional methods in ethnography and analyzed through grounded theory. The research results indicate that factors such as the inefficiency of the internal decision-making system, due to the government’s and administrative system’s encounters with various crises in political, economic, social, and cultural domains, and social inequality, play roles in the participation in this event. This inequality is interpreted by participants as a sense of religious discrimination and a lack of rights. The semantic reconstruction of the pilgrims’ experience and understanding of participating in this event serves as a channel for social participation and solidarity, cultural change, and a communication bridge between stakeholders and executive officials. The core category suggests that the Arbaeen pilgrimage event acts as an alternative to existing constraints.