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SETTLEMENT IN NAJAF

Najaf is situated five miles to the west of al-Kūfah. There is a legend that log ago there was a mass of water at the place. When the water was totally absorbed by the soil and its substrata, the place was called annajaf or nayjaf, meaning the water had dried up. With excessive use the place came to be called Najaf. Adjacent to Najaf, there was another habitation, three miles from al-Kūfah, that was known as al-Hirah. Between these two places, there was a desert known as maltat. The foundation of al-Hirah was laid by the Caledonian monarch, Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander of Macedonia took part in its renovation and development. After sometime the people of al-Hirah moved to al-Anbar and al-Hirah fell into ruins. Habitations keep coming up and disappearing over periods. After its ruination, therefore, opportunity came for the revival of al-Hirah. Malik ibn Fahham, who had left Yemen fearing its submergence into the sea, came to settle down in Iraq. He succeeded in establishing his kingdom in the new area. After him, his son Judhaymah Abrash came to power. When he was killed by ²ubbah, the queen of al-Jazirah, his nephew `Amr ibn `Adi, in the year 240 A.D., during the times of Shahpur I, succeeded to the throne. `Amr, on assuming power, adopted al-Hirah as his home and thereafter it became the permanent capital of Iraq. Its beauty was enhanced with gardens and oases. Imposing structures like al-khawarnaq and al-sadir were constructed. The people here were dependent on horticulture and agriculture. Being on the borders of Iran, it also provided security to the Iranian caravans of traders and received compensation for the service rendered to them. When after the conquest of Iraq, the foundations for the city of al-Kūfah were laid, people started moving there from al-Hirah. The bricks and stones of the structures in al-Hirah too were moved to al-Kūfah. This place fell into ruins and became a stretch of sand. When Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s) got his final resting place in the neighborhood of al-Hirah, the people started re-inhabiting the area. This place came to be known as Najaf, Mashhad and al-Ghari. Al-Hirah remained only in the pages of the books of history! The name of the place became al-Ghari because Judhaymah al-Abrash built two huge structures over the graves of his friends, Malik and `Aqil, which were called al-Ghariyyayn. With passage of time, instead of

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saying al-Ghariyyayn, the people started calling the place as al-Ghari. Even Najaf in the early days was called al-Ghari because of being adjacent to it.

When the Shi`ah of `Ali (a.s) became the attendants of the Shrine, they started constructing shacks and rooms in the surroundings of the shrine for their residence. The population of the place kept increasing and soon it assumed the proportion of a city. From Najaf to Syria there was a desert track and the danger of brigands was always there for the wayfarers. Because of this danger, the emirs and monarchs had constructed imparts around the city. This way renovated and improved as the need arose. Therefore, the first one to construct the Mausoleum of Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s) was `Adud al-Dawlah Fanakhusrow during the years 367 to 372 H and the boundary wall for the city. In 400 H, the vizier of Sultan al-Dawlah al-Daylami, Abū-Muhammad ibn Sahlan, demolished the first rampart and constructed a wider and stronger compound wall. Ibn al-Athir writes:

“Abū-Muhammad Sahlan fell ill. When the sickness increased he made a vow that if he was restored to health, he would build a compound wall around the Mausoleum of Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s). Therefore, he recovered his health and he issued orders for the construction of the wall. The project was completed the same year, 400 H.”[1]

The last time the rampart was renovated in the period of Fath `Ali Shah Qajar (expired 1250 H) by his vizier Nizam al-Dawlah al-Isfahani, but most of this wall has been demolished because of the expansion of the city.

The population of Najaf consists of mainly the Shi`ah. A major portion of the population consists of the students of the disciplines of Islamic Studies who come from various countries in the world. Although Najaf had always been the center for learning, but when Shaykh al-Ta’ifah Abū-Ja`far al-tūsi shifted his residence from Baghdad, because of trouble from the people there, to Najaf, the foundations for the Najaf were laid and with the felicity of madinat al-`ilm it remained the center of imparting knowledge!