Asia

[Visited: January 2022]

From Karbala, we take a minivan to Najaf, where we find an okay hotel and leave our bags. We take a taxi to Kufa, where we start with a lunch in a restaurant that soon has mostly women. One family at the nearby table chats with us, takes photos with us, and again, we feel welcome in Iraq because of its very friendly, curious, and hospitable people. When we are already in the street, we realise we forgot to pay and walk back to do so. A little further on, we arrive at one of the security points which we have to pass before we can enter the compound. I have to leave my camera behind here. We enter through the Bab e So'ban, one of the many gates to enter the complex. Before our eyes, we now see a huge courtyard with arched colonnades on all sides rising from a white marble floor.
Women dressed in black robes contrast nicely with the light surroundings. A huge golden dome in one corner, several minarets with gold toppings, and a clocktower rise above the building. In the middle of the courtyard, people congregate; it turns out to be the memorial of Shia resistance. We walk on, through an underpass, and reach the second, smaller courtyard. Here, we find several shrines: of Muslim ibn Aqeel and his companion Hani ibn Urwa as well as the revolutionary Al-Mukhtar. Just like we saw in the shrines of Karbala, the shrines are dazzling inside with silver decorations on the walls and ceilings and impressive chandeliers. I see adult men crying hysterically at one of the shrines, and it turns out impossible to get closer to them as devout Muslims cling to the bars of the graves once they have reached them.
We walk the marble floor again, and visit the mosque proper with its impressive mihrab. All around, we see Quranic verses in calligraphy on the wall above us. We walk the almost empty courtyard again, and stop to have another look at the building now that the sun is shining on it. While it doesn't look old, this is one of the oldest mosques in the world, built in 670CE. It is said that it was built on a temple built by Adam, and that his bones are buried here. It is also believed that archangel Gabriel referred to this mosque, and it Shia Muselims claim that this is where Noah must have built his Ark. We collect our shoes from the counter and walk the perimeter of the Great Mosque of Kufa, to visit the Hazrat Ali house. While clearly important to other visitors, we are underwhelmed as it looks like a recent building. It is time to head back to Najaf.

Around the World in 80 Clicks

inspiring you to travel

Great Mosque of Kufa (Iraq)

Great Mosque of Kufa > Iraq > Asia

[Visited: January 2022]

Around the World in 80 Clicks