IRAQ: FLAG WAVING IRAQI SHIITE PILGRIMS FLOCK TO HOLY CITY OF NAJAF FOR RELIGIOUS PILGRIMAGE

Record ID: 647678

  • Title: IRAQ: FLAG WAVING IRAQI SHIITE PILGRIMS FLOCK TO HOLY CITY OF NAJAF FOR RELIGIOUS PILGRIMAGE
  • Date: 18th April 2003
  • Summary: (W7) NAJAF, IRAQ (APRIL 18, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GROUP OF IRAQI SHI'ITE MUSLIMS WAVING BLACK FLAG ON THEIR WAY TO CELEBRATE RELIGIOUS PILGRIMAGE BANNED FOR A QUARTER OF A CENTURY UNDER SADDAM HUSSEIN 00.54 2. GROUP OF WOMEN WEARING BLACK CHADORS ALONG WITH FLAGS 01.00 3. LV PEOPLE WALKING WITH FLAGS IN FIELDS 01.04 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 3rd May 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NAJAF, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAE78F4YRXMS5V6F5J4D0BUI62O
  • Story Text: Flag-waving Iraqi Shi'ite pilgrims have flocked to the
    holy city of Najaf for a religious pilgrimage.



    Thousands of Iraqi Shi'ite Muslims beat their chests
    with their hands and waved black and green flags on Friday
    (April 18) in a passionate celebration of a religious
    pilgrimage banned for a quarter century under Saddam Hussein.

    Men in robes and women draped in flowing black chadors
    streamed along narrow lanes and through palm tree orchards
    from
    towns and villages in southern Iraq to Najaf, from where they
    will go on to the city of Kerbala to mark one of the holiest
    events in the Shi'ite calendar, on April 23.

    The U.S.-led war on Iraq which ended Saddam's rule opened
    the way for the pilgrimage.

    Villagers have set off days in advance to make sure they
    reach the two holy cities and visit their domed mosques,
    coated
    with intricate mosaics and tiles.

    Youths rode bicycles with black flags fluttering from
    their handlebars. Others went by bus or on foot in large
    groups,
    chanting and beating their chests as they crowded the roads to
    the holy cities.

    A pilgrim said that under Saddam Hussein, pilgrims had to
    go undercover to celebrate, and could not gather in big groups
    for fear of getting thrown into jail.

    The roots of Shi'ism date back to the deaths in 661 of
    Imam Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammad and first leader
    of the
    Shi'ites, and that of his son, Imam Hussein, 19 years later
    -both at the hands of Sunni Muslims.

    Imam Hussein was killed in a battle in Kerbala, 75 km (50
    miles) south of Baghdad, and the climax of the pilgrimage --
    Arbaiin -- marks the 40th day after his death.

    Hussein is a symbol of martyrdom for pious Shi'ites and
    his cause has been exploited in the past for political
    purposes in
    Iraq, the reason Saddam repressed the pilgrimage.

    Shi'ites in Iraq, the majority of the population, were
    oppressed by the secular Baath party government of Saddam
    Hussein, a Sunni Muslim from north of Baghdad.

    Shi'ites speak of being thrown into prison for saying
    special Shi'ite prayers, or remember relatives who are
    missing.

    The pilgrims marched past, parting every now and then to
    let through U.S army vehicles.

    They carried the black flag for mourning and the green
    flag to commemorate the colour of Hussein's headdress.

    The U.S. military has said it will take "appropriate"
    security measures next week when hundreds of thousands of
    Shi'ites converge on Kerbala.

    In Najaf, the pilgrims settled on lawns outside the walled
    mosque compounds and hung up banners. One called on U.S.

    President George W. Bush to help find missing Iraqi Shi'ites.

    Some said that while they were relieved to express their
    religious feeling freely in large groups, they were not so
    keen
    on having the United States govern Iraq, in any form.


    clv/

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