The English traveler "John Asher", who arrived in Iraq in the fall of 1281 Hijri, 1864 AD, stated, "The influential and affluent Shiites could bury their dead in the Holy Shrine of Imam Hussein after paying the required fee, since the price of this privilege costs a very large sum at times."
"In some cases, it is possible to bury some people near the Holy Shrine after paying exorbitant sums, as the financial costs increase the closer the burial is to the holy shrine," he added.
However, it is common for funerals to make pilgrimage upon their arrival to Karbala, as they were carried around the Holy Shrine, and then taken for burial anywhere else in the known cemeteries.
The Ottoman government used to collect a small tax on funerals coming to Karbala at the city gate, where many attempts were made from time to time to evade paying this tax in various ways.
The Ottoman authorities in charge of the city gate did not allow a large number of funerals to enter Karbala at once, because they arrive in large numbers in some seasons, so many that their entry leads to the spread of diseases, and congestion of roads and alleys inside the city. One convoy sometimes coming from Iran could has a thousand funerals at one time with more than one relatives of the deceased in each funeral.
Source:
Mawsueat Karbala Al-Hadharia "Karbala Civilizational Encyclopedia".
A publication of Karbala Center for Studies and Research
Historical Axis, Department of Modern and Contemporary History, [Vol. 1, Pg. 85].
