Iowa Public Television

Pilgrimage to Karbala, A Wide Angle Special

Pilgrimage to Karbala, A Wide Angle Special

For 12 days during the summer of 2006, while the Iranian-backed
Hezbollah fought off Israelis in Lebanon and President Ahmadinejad faced
down President George Bush, "Wide Angle" followed a bus full of Iranian
pilgrims through the sacred cities of Iran to the holy sites of Iraq -
Karbala and Najaf. At a time of vitriolic rhetoric and violent tension
between Sunnis and Shias, these sites are more dangerous than ever.
Pilgrimage to Karbala is a breathtaking journey into the hidden
heartlands of Shi'a Islam, revealing how two ancient crimes -- the murder
of Mohammed's grandson and the disappearance of a six-year-old boy --
became the founding legends of Shi'ism and still shape events in the
Middle East today. The film is followed by a Daljit Dhaliwal interview
with a prominent foreign policy figure.