Nadschaf, the tomb of Imam Ali

Nadschaf, together with Karbala, is the greatest destination for pilgrims of the Shia faith (like Santiago di compostella in the Christian world). Here, Imam Ali, the son in law of Allah, who was stabbed to death in front of a moshee to prevent him from taking up the succession from Allah, is buried. It was his death that triggered the schism in the Muslim faith between Sunnites and Shiites.
His shrine is visited by millions each year, coming from Iran, and far away locations such Pakistan.
We visited in the evening during prayer time. (Women separated from men) and had to go through nomerous check points when driving into town and then again three body checks when entering the holy area. (They are terrified of a repeat of what happened in Shiraz).
It was an experience I will never forget. Thousands of people praying with an Imam singing from the loud speakers while another with deep voice kept on repeating "ALLAH".
As I entered the shrine, hundreds of believers, in a religious trance, screaming and shouting, shoving their way into a small space to kiss and touch his tomb with their prayer chains.
Besides feeling panic rising in me, it was also the unstoppable religious energy in the space that made you realise that whoever harnesses this energy for a cause can not be stopped by any number of machine guns (as was the case when Khomeni started the Iranian revolution)
To feel this energy is terrifying. Margot , who experienced the women side of the tomb, reported the same.
In the middle of all this coffin bearers carried coffins (with content) around the shrine shouting "no god, except allah" (see video)
Apparently, the graveyard of Nadchaf is the largest and most expensive in the Arab world because everyone wants to be buried close to Ali. The grave yard occupies 1/3 of the city's surface.Read more