'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎350r] (702/862)

PORTS AND INLAND TOWNS 545
Najaf. 31 0 59' N., 44° 19' E.; alt. c. 120 feet. Pop. 42,000. Qadha cap.,
Karbala Liwa.
Najaf or Mashad All, ‘the martyrdom of AH’, on the desert fringe 7 miles
west of the Euphrates and 48 miles south-south-east of Karbala, is built on
a ridge (Najaf) of reddish sandstone gravel overlooking the marsh called
Bahr Najaf from the north-east, 40 feet below the ridge. The Bahr,
which is dry towards the town and contains several date-groves and market-
gardens, forms a green valley by contrast with the desert plateau. The
Hamadiya canal passes along the foot of the ridge. Najaf is one of the prin
cipal shrines of the Shia world. Of its native population a quarter are
Persian and three-quarters Arab, apart from a few thousand Indians, all
are Shias, except a very few government officials. In addition a large
number of pilgrims are usually present (photo. 209).
History
Najaf contains the tomb of Ali, founder of the Shia faith (p. 240). The
first shrine was built, according to Arab chronicles, by the Caliph Harun
ar Rashid in a.d. 791, who discovered the neglected site while out hunting,
though an alternative tradition located the burial place of Ali in the Great
Mosque of Kufa. It was only in the tenth century that a town grew up
around the shrine under the favouring influence of the Buwayhid dynasty
(p. 245), several of whom were buried in Najaf. The splendours of the
shrine seem to date from the II Khan domination and the revival of Persian
influence during the Ottoman period. Najaf, like Karbala, was a lasting
temptation to the more aggressive Shahs and benefited from their erup
tions into Iraq. The town suffered much from the raids of Sunni beduin
tribes, which culminated in the great Wahhabi raid of 1810 (p. 262). Under
the leadership of the religious leaders or mujtahids (p. 327) and of the
kiliddar, or guardian of the shrine, Najaf enjoyed virtual independence
from Turkish rule and even sided with the Persians; it was also continu
ously disturbed by the riots of the two factions of the populace, the Shu-
murd and Zugurt. Twice, in 1843 and 1854, the Turks took strong measures
for its chastisement after outbreaks of revolt, but the town remained im
mune from military conscription until an attempt to enforce it in I 9 I 5 - '
1916 caused a rebellion, in the suppression of which the shrine was damaged.
A British political officer was murdered there in 1918, and the town was a
centre of anti-British activity during the Arab rebellion of 1920 and later
of the opposition to King Faisal.
General Description
The town is roughly rectangular and was fortified by walls 30 feet high,
now decrepit, strengthened by rounded bastions and a moat There are
two gates in the eastern wall, Bab al Husain (the main gate) and Bab al Kura,
a third on the north-east, and a fourth, Bab Murad, on the south-west. A