'Reports of administration for 1918 of divisions and districts of the occupied territories in Mesopotamia. Volume I' [‎47v] (99/470)

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The completion of the pipe line from Kufah to Najaf is likely to be coincident
with the linking of the two towns with a continuous line of houses.
In Najaf itself many of the townspeople, including Saiyid Kadhim Yazdi, wish
to build houses on the Kufah road, and the centre of gravity of ground/values has
shifted from the centre to the outskirts of the town.
Najaf to-day consists of a cramped town of narrow streets and indifferent
houses, surrounding a magnificent mosque, approached by an excellent bazaar.
Each house contains at least one tier of cellars, a well more than 100 feet deep,
and very often one or two tombs. The roads and buildings all rise from the
insecure foundations of crumbling and forgotten sardabs, into which percolate
the overflow of countless cesspits and latrines.
This great sponge, saturated with the slime of dormant sickness, is surrounded
by a wall constructed about 120 years ago. That the town has not hitherto been
visited by an annihilating disease is a matter for surprise, which has been explained
by the assertion that immunity for about this period is frequently enjoyed by
crowded and walled towns of this description.
The bones of many such are to be seen round Delhi.
The population of Najaf is about 45,000, and is largely dependent on charity,
or on payment for professional religious services.
Shi‘ah charities fall under three main heads :—
(1) Distribution of water.
(2) Lighting.
(3) Alms for the poor.
All of these are paid, either as yearly contributions from living Mahommedans,
or are the income of Waqf property administered by agents on behalf of departed
believers. The first and third have to be paid direct to Mujtabids or else little
merit attaches to the pious provider.
The greater the Mujtahid, the more acceptable the sacrifice.
Money for lighting the shrine, and for the private sepulchres of Shi‘ah families,
is usually entrusted to the Kiliddar for disbursement. About £10,000 is believed
to be sent to Najaf annually for lighting the shrine alone.
This allows a handsome margin. Kings, ministers, nobles, and merchants,
all sleep in the Happy Valley between Amir al Muminin and Husain, and each
resting place is provided with a qari‘, who reads over pages of the Quran and trims
the lights, to make the Lover of Darkness keep his distance.
A visit to the wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. on a Thursday evening will reveal over 2,000 readers
engaged in earning their pious livelihood.
These men are recruited from the students at Najaf, who get tired of attendance
at lectures and who find the road to knowledge and the strict religious life less
attractive than, this easy occupation. The emoluments are not high. One reader
probably looks after three tombs for a fee of 5 rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. a month each. He is, however,
enrolled in the list of the Holy Poor and gets his share of the general monthly
distributions of alms entrusted to Saiyid Kadhim.
The sums subscribed for the distribution of water to the poor amount to about
£6,000 annually. This is a most important Shi‘ah charity, though not absolutely
incumbent on all, and great sums of money have been spent in all ages in unsuccessful
attempts to bring water to Najaf.
The reason for this, is the remembrance of the sufferings from thirst of the
Imam Husain during the days preceeding his murder.
The third charity is incumbent on all true Shi‘ahs, and may be subdivided into
the following :—
(1) The Khums, or fifth part of the income. This is the perquisite of Saiyids.
(2) The Zalcat is a tithe, paid to all the poor.
(3) Radd ilfuza/m.--Government salaries as contributed from taxes enforced
by law are, to a strict Shi‘ah, haram. It is however possible to enjoy the fruits
of labour without transgression by the purchase of a special forgiveness from a
Mujtahid.
In addition to the above are miscellaneous sums of a more or less voluntarv
nature which are handed over to the great alims: J
(a) Saum wa Salat, or fees paid in return for an order that prayers and
fastings on behalf of a certain person are to be observed for periods that
vary according to the amount paid.