Els Slots

The Netherlands - 16-Apr-25 -

Najaf in Southern Iraq is the holiest city for Shia Islam as it holds the Tomb of Ali – “the” Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed and with whom the Shia split from the lineage as recognized by the Sunni. He was assassinated in 661 in nearby Kufa and buried in Najaf (though some believe his remains are elsewhere, the Caliphs since the 8th century have recognized Najaf as the place and it developed into a huge pilgrimage site). 

The Tomb of Ali is now housed in a glitzy mausoleum, rebuilt and embellished over and over again. The day before, I had been to the Tomb of his son Hussain in Karbala, but clearly this one in Najaf is the one where the most focus lies and where the money flows to. The exterior is covered with glazed tiles and the inner grounds have those huge umbrellas that you also see in Medina to provide the pilgrims with shade to sit and pray. Non-muslims are allowed to enter all the way; for the females, this means that they have to borrow an abaya at the entrance. The women’s queue to the tomb was quite pushy; people couldn’t wait to touch the grille around it or tie a ribbon to it.

About 500m away lies the Wadi Al-Salam Cemetery, which is said to hold the graves of 6 million Shi’ites wanting to be buried close to Ali. Spread across 6 square km, it is very densely packed. Roads are cutting across it so people can go see the grave of their loved one, but a bit of climbing over the graves of others is always involved. Most people are buried in single tomb graves or family graves with a few cells on top of each other. Life-sized portraits indicate who’s buried where. “Rosewater” is sold to pour onto the graves (it’s just normal water in pink containers!). 

In the past, burial here was free and there was no order to it. Nowadays, families have to pay for a plot of land to use as their burial site. As a visitor, you can look at it from up close or – more impressively – from the roof of the nearby multi-story car park. Only there do you experience how vast the cemetery is. 

I have mixed feelings about whether it will ever become a World Heritage Site. Of course, it is an interesting site to visit from a cultural perspective. But no major Islamic holy sites have been brought to the table yet and it would make no sense here to nominate without putting forward the Tomb of Ali as well (the official description does seem to include it). Also, I can’t imagine what aspects like “buffer zone” and “authenticity and integrity” would mean for an expanding public cemetery.

The closest similar site on the List is Makli, Thatta, which I visited 2 years ago. It’s an altogether different visitor experience as its focus is on the monumental mausolea and not so much on the ordinary graves. In Najaf, it is all about the masses.

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