Najaf
A Shia holy city in Iraq, site of the shrine of Imam Ali and one of the oldest centres of Shia seminary learning and clerical authority.
Read in context →At a glance
- Shrine
- Shrine of Imam Ali
- Leading marja today
- Ayatollah Sistani
- Seminary tradition
- Quietist
Detail
Najaf is a city in southern Iraq and one of the holiest cities of Shiism worldwide, for it houses the shrine of Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib, the first Shia Imam. From the eleventh century Najaf became one of the oldest and most prestigious centers of Shia seminary learning, and its Hawza was for centuries the foremost focus of the marja'iyya and ijtihad. The city is the birthplace or base of many great marjas, including Ayatollah Sistani, the leading marja of today, and Ayatollah Khomeini spent years of his exile there. Najaf and Qom are the two principal — and at times rival — poles of Shia religious learning, with Najaf known for its 'quietist' tradition of greater distance from political power.
Related entities
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Iranica — 'Najaf'
- Britannica — 'Al-Najaf'
- Y. Nakash, 'The Shiʿis of Iraq'