WORLDCITY
AP PHOTO / GHASSAN AL-YASSIR
VISIT THE SHRINE ON FRIDAY Worshippers visit the tomb of Imam Hussein, grandson of the the prophet Mohammad, who is buried in a shrine in the Shiite holy city of Karbala
Not just a journey for tourism, but also a journey to understand the struggles of the heirs of Prophet Muhammad
Almost at every point visited, we performed prayers. In total we performed 10-12 times of prayers, led by Ustad Jalal. According to the guide of the mosque, at those points there are places where the prophet prayed. We wept when we arrived at the podium of the Imam Ali mosque; we were reminded by the story where his neck was cut by the sword of the enemy. We were in the sacred complex for almost two hours. Next, we visited the house of Imam Ali, not far from the mosque complex. When we arrived at the house of Imam Ali, the feeling of shame flashed within me when comparing the place to our house in Bandung. The house of Imam Ali is quite small. The shape and building materials is also very simple. The house only consists of a bedroom, a living room, a well, and a small room where the body of Imam Ali was wrapped with shroud. From the Mosque of Kufah, we continued our journey to Najaf, with the intention of visiting the tomb of Imam Ali. Imam Ali bin Abi Talib, the father of Imam Husain, who was also the son in law of the Prophet Muhammad. The trip to Na-
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jaf took about two hours. At the hotel we just checked in and washed-up, and headed straight for the cemetery. We arrived at around 21:00 local time. The condition was more spacious and more magnificent than Karbala. The wind was blowing very hard, making us having to cover our face to avoid exposure to dust mixed with sand. In front of the gate complex, we were made fascinated by the majesty of the complex. The atmosphere around the complex is lit by hundreds of thousands of watts of lights. The dome that is made of gleaming gold looks very shiny. The dome of the Imam Ali Mosque was originally white. At the end of the era of the Safawid government, it was changed into yellow gold. Renewal is done every 30 years and requires about 200 kilograms of 24 carat gold. In addition to the gold dome, the Imam Ali Mosque has two towers with different heights. To head to the middle of the room of the mosque, we could pass five-doors. Imam Ali's cemetary complex was built in 700 AD. According to the head of Waqaf Syiah in Iraq, Hussein Shami, the vast
complex of cemetery includes the tomb and the shrine room of about 5000 square meters. While the vast of the cemetery and the middle room as a whole is about 15 thousand square meters. We arrived at the hotel after 24.00 hours local time in tired condition but fully impressed. We did not have enough time to take a walk in Najaf. The flight to Bahrain will only leave at 12:00, but suddenly there were information that pilgrims should arrive at the airport four hours earlier. Despite the unusual feeling, we decided to be obedient. At 6:30, the whole members of the group were ready on the bus to go to the airport. Apparently the internet network at the airport was experiencing some problems. Service for one passenger took 15 minutes of time. Not to mention the layered security checks. Before entering the airport area, we must submit all bags without exception. After the officers take the bags somewhere, we had to wait for a long time. Then the officer ushered us into the back of the next wall. There we spotted our bags lined the field. ď Ž