Cemetery, mosque and shrine

Nasiriyah to Najaf

As we were somewhat ahead of plan, and in consideration of only a 3h ride to Najaf today, we took things easy this morning.  We left our packing till this morning and left the hotel at 1015 for the garage.

We made our way through traffic to the garage and waited for the van to fill, finally departing at 1045.  We then backtracked in the direction of the hotel and didn’t attain a high-speed run till around 1115 on a highway through the desert.

We took a 25 min break at a restaurant that served really enticing food, especially since we haven’t had a good meal for 5 days already.  But we didn’t feel that we could enjoy eating during such a short stop.

Arriving into Najaf around 1440, we were caught in horrendous traffic.  It didn’t seem worthwhile to try get a taxi to our proposed hotel, so we braved a 30 min walk plus some extra time for security checks nearer to the shrine area.

My selected hotel, which looked pretty good online at a good price, turned out to be full.  The one opposite wasn’t very nice and another one around the corner was filthy.

Fortunately, my other choice chosen from online information, the Al Nakhla Hotel turned out good and reasonable too.  It was back to the old-fashioned practice of them holding on to our passports till check-out time.

It was around 1550 by the time we got into our hotel room.  So much for the easy day that I had expected.

Wadi al Salam cemetery

The sun was already disappearing, so I felt it was important to get out ASAP to explore Wadi al Salam cemetery.  Fortunately, it was just across the road from the hotel.

Najaf’s Wadi al Salam cemetery is the world’s largest cemetery at over 600 hectares​ with 6 million bodies and counting. ​

Many Shias (including from foreign lands) have a final wish to be buried here to rest eternally close to Imam Ali.  We had already seen a steady number of coffins being carted around in town during our walk to the hotel.

The entire cemetery area is criss-crossed by small roads.  One needs a drone (or satellite imagery) to fully appreciate the scale of the cemetery but from the ground, it’s more of the same as we walked from one area to the next.  To ensure good use of our short time in Najaf, we decided to move on to Kufa by taxi.

A small section of the Wadi Al Salam cemetery.

The Great Mosque of Kufa

The Great Mosque of Kufa, near Najaf, is built at the site where Imam Ali was assassinated in 661 AD.

We explored the two courtyard areas and the prayer areas.  There appeared to be four shrines located in the main complex.  The most significant personalities to the Shia religion are enshrined back in central Najaf and also in Karbala, so I did not focus too much on whose shrines they are here in Kufa.

As we left the main complex, we took a brief look at Imam Ali’s house and Khadija’s Shrine.  The latter is the daughter of Imam Ali, a different person from the Khadija that is Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) first wife.

Main courtyard of the Great Mosque of Kufa.

Imam Ali’s shrine by night

We took a taxi back to Najaf and finally had our first kebab dinner in Iraq this trip.

We made our way to the shrine area of the city.  Entering through the main entrance of Imam Ali’s shrine, nothing could have prepared me for grandeur of the two golden minarets.  In between them was a black fabric hanging with red calligraphy.

Imam Ali was the first imam of the Shias.  He was the cousin and son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

Entering the shrine proper, I was awe-struck once again at the sight of the shrine and the fine mirrored-mosaic ceilings.  The shrine here is believed to also house the remains of Adam and Noah.