The holy city of Najaf

ID:   30987   08/10/2013

Imam at his residence in Najaf

Najaf [1] is a holy city in Iraq and the burial place of Imam Ali (as), the first Imam of Shi'a Muslims. Geographically, Najaf is located 160 kilometers south of Baghdad, which is the capital city of Iraq. It is the holiest site for Shia people around the world. Najaf is also very close to the city of Kufa and it is not possible to separate these cities from each other.

One must note that prior to the establishment of schools in Qom, founded by Ayatollah Abdul Karim Ha'eri, students used to travel to Najaf to study Islamic studies. Religious scholars such as Sayyid Abul Qasim Al-Kho'ei, Ayatollah Hakim, Muhammad Baqir Sadr (senior) and Sadr (junior) were educated and taught there. At present, Ayatollah Sistani, who is a great religious authority, lives there.

What Significance does Najaf have in Imam Khomeini's life?

Imam Khomeini and his son, Mustafa Khomeini, were forced to leave Bursa on the 4th of October 1965. From there, they migrated to Iraq. They visited the holy cities of Kadhimain, Samara, and Karbala. However, they decided to stay in the sacred city of Najaf, where they stayed for a further thirteen years.

[1]Najaf has a long historical background. Following his martyrdom and murder at the hands of Ibn Muljim, Imam Ali (as) was buried in an unknown area near Kufa as in accordance with his last will. Later, the Imam's burial site was made known to his followers by his successors, the blessed imams. Thus the burial place became home to his devotees and was later called Najaf.
According to legend the dead body of Imam Ali (as) was placed on a camel which was driven from Kufa. The camel stopped a few miles west of the city and here the body was secretly buried. No tomb was raised and nobody knew of the burial place except for a few trusted people.
It is narrated that more than a hundred years later the Abbasid Caliph, Harun al-Rashid, went deer hunting outside Kufa and the deer sought sanctuary at a place where the hounds would not pursue it. On inquiry as to why the place was a sanctuary Harun al-Rashid was told that it was the burial place of Imam Ali (as). Harun al-Rashid ordered a mausoleum to be built on the spot and in due course the town of Najaf grew around the mausoleum.
Under the rule of the Ottoman Empire Najaf experienced severe difficulties as a result of repeated raids by Arab desert tribes and Persian army and acute water shortages caused by the lack of a reliable water supply. The number of inhabited houses in the city had plummeted from 3000 to just 30 by the start of the 16th century.
When the Portuguese traveller Pedro Texeira passed through Najaf in 1604, he found the city in ruins, inhabited by little more than 500 people.
The city was besieged by the Wahhabis in the late 18th century, which prompted the clergy of the city to arrange for the construction of a wall around the city and under-ground tunnels as a refuge for the women and children if the wall was over-run. These fortifications successfully repelled a Wahhabi siege later on. The water shortages were finally resolved in 1803 with the construction of the Hindiyya canal, following which the city's population rapidly doubled from 30,000 to 60,000.
This city is also popular for its religious schools. Prior to the establishment of schools in Qom, founded by Ayatollah Abdul Karim Ha'eri, the students used to travel to Najaf to study Islamic studies. Despite the establishment of many schools in various cities, Najaf is still known as the center of religious education. The religious scholars such as Sayyid Abul Qasim Al-Kho'ei, Ayatollah Hakim, Muhammad Baqir Sadr (senior) and Sadr (junior) were educated and taught there. At present, Ayatollah Sistani, who is a great religious authority, lives there.
The Ottomans were expelled in an uprising in 1915, following which the city fell under the rule of the British Empire. The clergymen of Najaf rebelled in 1918, killing the British governor of the city and cutting off grain supplies to the Anaza, a tribe allied with the British. In retaliation the British besieged the city and cut off its water supply. The rebellion was put down and the rule of the clergymen was forcibly ended. A great number of the Shi'a scholars were expelled into Persia/Iran where they set the foundations for the rise of the city of Qom as the center of the Shia learning and authority.

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