IRAQ: HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE CONGREGATE AT NAJAF SHRINE TO MARK THE DEATH YEARS AGO OF A SHIITE MUSLM IMAM

Record ID: 648364

  • Title: IRAQ: HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE CONGREGATE AT NAJAF SHRINE TO MARK THE DEATH YEARS AGO OF A SHIITE MUSLM IMAM
  • Date: 5th November 2004
  • Summary: (W3) NAJAF, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 5, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. LV PEOPLE GATHERED AT THE SITE OF THE SHRINE 0.05 2. SV MEN CHANTING AND CLAPPING (2 SHOTS) 0.20 3. SLV PEOPLE WALKING DOWN THE STREET 0.26 4. MCU WOMEN BEATING THEIR CHESTS 0.34 5. SV MEN QUEUING OUTSIDE THE SHRINE 0.42 6. SLV MEN PARADING DOWN THE STREET 0.50 7. SLV/SV MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND DRUMS BEING BEATEN BY PARADING MEN; MEN BEATING THIER BACKS (6 SHOTS) 1.36 8. SV PEOPLE GATHERED IN THE COURTYARD OF THE INNER SANCTUM OF ALI'S TOMB/MEN BEING CHECKED (2 SHOTS) 1.50 9. SV MEN KISSING THE DOOR 1.58 10. LV LARGE CROWDS GATHERED OUTSIDE THE SHRINE 2.04 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 20th November 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NAJAF, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAYLX3NWAYQ3U5FRKY95B34CIR
  • Story Text: Hundreds of thousands of people congregate at Najaf
    shrine to mark the death years ago of a Shiite Muslim imam.




    Praying, chanting and beating their chests, waves
    of Shi'ites thronged the city to pay homage to Imam Ali,
    cousin and the son-in-law of Prophet Mohammed who died on
    the 21st day of Ramadan, in the year 663 AD, aged 63.

    The gold-domed tomb of Imam Ali has for centuries made
    Najaf, 180 kilometres (110 miles) south of Baghdad, a place
    of pilgrimage for Shiites.

    Devoted Shi'ites thronged the courtyard and the
    breathtaking inner sanctum of Ali's tomb, which is lined
    with a mosaic of painted tiles and mirrors, gleaming in the
    light. The tomb itself is clad in panels of heavy gold and
    delicate silver filigree, spelling out prayers from the
    Koran.

    Praying, chanting and beating their chests, the
    pilgrims had walked 80 kilometres from Karbala. Some
    marched 170 kilometres from Baghdad, waving green and black
    banners.

    People began marking the event on Thursday, which was
    the anniversary of the night Imam Ali is believed to have
    been struck on the head with a poisonous sword while
    praying at a mosque in Kufa, Iraq. He died two days later.

    Imam Ali was then buried in nearby Al Najaf Mosque,
    which is one of the most visited places in the country. He
    was born inside the Ka'aba, in Mecca, on the 13th day of
    the Islamic month of Rajab, 600AD. He is said to be the
    first and only person to be born inside the Ka'aba.

    At the festival's peak on Friday large groups of men
    and youths squeezed their way through the throng to pass
    three times around the inner sanctum beating their chests
    in violent ecstasy in unison with chants.

    The Shrine was a refuge for fighters of the Mehdi Army,
    loyal militia to the radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr
    during fierce fighting with the government forces backed by
    U.S. forces. A deal brokered by Iraq's most revered cleric
    Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani on August 27 helped end the
    fighting and Sadr agreed to withdraw his militia from a
    contested shrine and other parts of the city of Najaf after
    three weeks of fighting.

    Saddam severely restricted the annual Shiite festivals
    at Karbala and Najaf because he feared that mass
    outpourings of religious fervour could turn into mass
    demonstrations of dissent.

    About 60 per cent of Iraq's estimated 24 million people
    are Shi'ite Arabs, but under Saddam's minority Sunni regime
    they were violently suppressed - at least 250,000 are still
    "missing" after an abortive rising in 1991, spurred on and
    then abandoned by the US.



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