Shrine is sacred to both Shia and Sunni

IRAQ: The Shrine of Imam Ali, the adopted son and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, is known among Shias as Mashhad Gharwah or "the wondrous place of martyrdom", although he did not actually die at this spot.

The shrine or mausoleum, located at the heart of the town of Najaf, about 90 kilometres south of Baghdad, is venerated and visited by orthodox Sunni Muslims as well as heterodox Shias.

During the struggle for succession following the death of the Prophet, Ali, who was the fourth caliph, was promoted by the Shias (partisans). They argued that the Muslims should be ruled by relatives and descendants of Muhammad rather than close but unrelated confidants.

Ali was slain in 661 in the mosque at Kufa and, according to tradition, the body was placed on a camel which was allowed to wander until it came to rest, and there the body was buried.

This was said to be at Najaf, seven kilometres from Kufa. In the ninth century the Caliph, Harun al-Rashid, ordered a shrine to be constructed on the site of Ali's tomb. He came to be regarded as the first Shia imam.

The present mosque is a spacious building with a large golden dome. The shrine is surrounded on three sides by a warren of shops and buildings and on the fourth by a large cemetery where Shias from all over the world come to be buried.

For centuries the shrine was guarded by Shia zealots who barred foreigners from their mosques. Any irruption of foreign troops into the sacred precincts of the shrine would be seen as defilement by a majority of Shias.