Tehran, Dec 4, IRNA � Foreign Minister, Mohammad-Javad Zarif, expressed gratitude to the Iraqi government and nation and the religious leadership for their hospitality during the Arbaeen mourning ceremonies.

In his statement released on Friday, he admired Iraqi government and nation for good planning of the religious event.

Zarif wished prosperity for the Iraqi nation and government.

Iranian First Vice-President, Eshaq Jahangiri, had also appreciated the Iraqi government for helping maintain the safety of the Iranian pilgrims, taking part in the Arbaeen rallies, marking the 40th day of mourning for Imam Hossein after he was martyred on the day of Ashoura more than 13 centuries ago.

'The Arbaeen mourning ceremony is one of the largest religious gatherings in the world and we thank the Iraqi government for successful holding of the event,' Jahangiri told reporters in the holy city of Najaf on Wednesday.

Nearly 20 million Muslims from across the world, including Iran, attended the 100-km rally, while hundreds of thousands more joined them on the way to Karbala and to the holy shrine of Imam Hossein (PBUH).

Imam Hossein (PBUH) was martyred in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the Imam's holy shrine.

In the battle, Imam Hossein (PBUH) was decapitated and his body mutilated by Yazid's armies. All of Imam Hossein's male family members, relatives, friends, soldiers who all together formed a 72-member army were beheaded in an unequal war with a 30,000-strong army of the enemy in the desert of Karbala.

The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson for the Shiites.

Imam Hossein's martyrdom - recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song - remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to Shiites, who make up a majority of the Muslim population in Iran, Pakistan, Iraq and Bahrain.

By IRNA