- Title: IRAQ: MUSLIMS IN NAJAF CELEBRATE THE ISLAMIC FESTIVAL OF EID
- Date: 26th November 2003
- Summary: (W5) NAJAF, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 26, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF MEN PRAYING AT IMAN ALI HOLY SHRINE IN NAJAF CITY 0.06 2. SLV OF PEOPLE PERFORMING PRAYERS AT IMAM ALI HOLY SHRINE IN NAJAF CITY 0.11 3. SCU OLD MAN WITH ARABIC HEADRESS PRAYING 0.15 4. SMV MEN WITH THEIR HANDS HELD OUT IN PRAYER 0.19 5. VARIOUS OF MEN BOWING IN PRAYER AND THEN STANDING UP (3 SHOTS) 0.29 6. WIDE OF MEN KNEELING DOWN IN PRAYER 0.37 7. WIDE OF MEN PRAYING WITH DOME OF MOSQUE IN THE BACKGROUND 0.42 8. WIDE OF SHEIKH SADRALLDIN QUBANCHI DELIVERING SERMON 0.46 9. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) QUBANCHI, SAYING: "I will seize this blessed opportunity to call on myself and my Muslim brothers to join hands for the liberation of Iraq, for the stability of Iraq, for the security of Iraq. Iraqis, our enemy in this stage is one. It is that who does not want Iraq to be secure and stable. Iraq's enemies are those who are working to destroy Iraq, they are the Baathists, the followers of the old regime and the extremist Wahabis." 1.32 10. SCU MAN LISTENING TO THE SERMON AND CRYING 1.37 11. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE PRAYING (2 SHOTS) 1.48 12. SLV PEOPLE LEAVING THE HOLY SHRINE AFTER END OF EID PRAYERS 1.54 13. SLV PEOPLE VISITING THE CEMETERY 2.01 14. SLV WOMEN CLAD IN BLACK CHADOR CRYING BESIDE GRAVES OF LOVED ONES 2.07 15. SLV WOMAN READING KORAN BESIDE GRAVE 2.11 16. VARIOUS PEOPLE AT CEMETERY VISITING GRAVES (2 SHOTS) 2.18 17. CLOSE OF ARABIC INSCRIPTION ON GRAVE 2.21 18. WIDE OF WOMEN IN BLACK CHADOR'S VISITING GRAVES 2.26 19. WIDE OF PEOPLE WALKING AMONGST GRAVES IN CEMETARY 2.32 20. WIDE OF STREET SCENES OF NAJAF CITY 2.40 21. SLV WOMEN IN STREET/ ONE WOMAN CARRYING LARGE CONTAINER ON HER HEAD 2.45 22. WIDE OF BUSY STREET IN NAJAF 2.50 23. SMV STREET TRADERS 2.51 24. VARIOUS OF DONKEY CARTS DRIVING THROUGH RAINY STREET OF NAJAF CITY 3.07 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 11th December 2003 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NAJAF, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA4FFZTXU7VBX99YQYXBI5E7S7M
- Story Text: Muslims in Najaf celebrate Eid festival.
Iraq's majority Shi'ite population, especially
people of the southern holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala on
Wednesday (November 26) observed their first day of Eid
al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy fasting month of
Ramadan.
The celebration in Najaf followed a declaration by
Iraq's senior Shi'ite cleric Ayatollah Sayyid Ali
al-Sistani that Wednesday would be the first day of Eid for
Shi'ite Muslim in Iraq. Other Muslim communities celebrated
the start of the Eid on Monday (November 24) and Tuesday
(November 25).
In an address to thousands of Shi'ites worshippers,
who packed Imam Ali shrine in Najaf to perform Eid al-Fitr
prayers, Sheikh Sadralddin al-Qubanchi called upon Iraqis
to join hands to end the occupation of Iraq and get rid of
its enemies.
"I will seize this blessed opportunity to call on
myself and my Muslim brothers to join hands for the
liberation of Iraq, for the stability of Iraq, for the
security of Iraq, said Qubanchi in his Eid el-Fitr sermon.
He blamed loyalists of ousted president Saddam Hussein
and members of his Baath Party, the Islamic fundamentalists
Wahabi group for the lack of stability and security in Iraq.
"Iraqis, our enemy in this stage is one. It is that who
does not want Iraq to be secure and stable. Iraq's enemies
are those who are working to destroy Iraq, they are the
Baathists, the followers of the old regime and the
extremist Wahabis," Qubanchi said.
Following Eid prayers, Iraqis headed to the cemetery
where they recited prayers before the graves of their loved
ones.
On Wednesday, al-Sistani, widely revered as Iraq's most
influential Islamic leader, had expressed misgivings about
U.S. plans for transferring sovereignty to Iraqis as
incomplete and insufficiently Islamic.
Sistani rarely makes public pronouncements on politics
but his status means that any criticism of the timetable
for the transfer of power could mean many Shi'ites reject
the plan.
The Shi'ite south remains far more quiet than the north
and west of Iraq, where a violent campaign against U.S.
troops has escalated. In Najaf gratitude to U.S. forces for
toppling Hussein remains and few call for a departure of
U.S.-led troops, fearing chaos would ensue.
A large number of Iraqi Shi'ite Muslims were killed by
Saddam after crushing their uprising in the wake of the
1990 invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi forces.
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