Mausoleum of Maytham al-Tammar

Located just west of the Great Mosque of Kufa, this shrine complex marks the burial place of Maytham al-Tammar, a freed slave turned date-seller who became one of Imam Ali's closest and most loyal companions. He was executed by the Umayyad governor Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad in 680 CE, only days before Imam Husayn's arrival in Iraq, for refusing to renounce his allegiance to Ali. The date of the original structure over his grave is unknown, though one already existed by the 20th century; the complex was rebuilt and substantially expanded into a full mosque in 2011, with two new minarets and a larger, more ornately decorated dome. In 2006 a car bomb near the shrine killed twelve people among a group of Iranian pilgrims.