Imam Ali Shrine

The mausoleum of Ali ibn Abi Talib, cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, in Najaf, Iraq. Shia Muslims regard Ali as their first Imam and Muhammad's rightful successor, and hold that Adam and Noah are also buried beside him — making Najaf, alongside Mecca, Medina, and Karbala, one of the most heavily visited pilgrimage cities in Islam, drawing an estimated 8 million or more pilgrims annually. According to tradition Ali was buried in secret so his grave could not be desecrated by enemies, and the site was only revealed generations later. The Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid built the first shrine over the tomb around 786 CE; it was destroyed and rebuilt repeatedly over the following centuries by Hamdanid, Buyid, Seljuq, Ilkhanid, and Jalayirid rulers, until the Safavid shah Abbas I commissioned the structure that still stands today, completed by his grandson in 1632. Nader Shah gilded the dome and minarets in gold in 1742. The shrine has also seen serious violence in the modern era, including a 1991 massacre of Shia opposition figures inside it by Saddam Hussein's forces and a 2003 car bombing that killed over 85 people, among them the prominent Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim.

Photographs

The Sanctuary of Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib in Najaf, Iraq.

Photo by Abdullah Fayad, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons