Unity plea wiped out in huge blast

IRAQI Shiite leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim was killed at the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf yesterday, along with at least 75 other people, just moments after delivering a sermon calling for unity.

The Imam Ali mosque in Najaf is revered by the world's 120 million Shiite Muslims and has been a place of pilgrimage for centuries.

Historians say the gold-domed mosque of Imam Ali bin Abi Talib named after the murdered cousin and son-in-law of Islam's prophet Muhammad was built in 977 in Najaf, a city regarded by Shiite Muslims as the faith's third holiest in the world after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

It is said the family of Ali buried his body secretly in Najaf soon after his death in 661. His burial place stayed a secret until the 8th century, when his followers learned that his grave was located in Najaf.

His tomb was said to have been burnt and rebuilt in 1086, before being rebuilt yet again in about 1500. The mosque sits on top of Ali's tomb and is regarded as the third most popular in Iraq.

Since the eighth century, Shiite families have moved from the nearby city of Kufa to Najaf to be close to the shrine and to serve people who visit the tomb. Shiite Muslims looking for religious education have also been studying in Najaf for centuries.

Shiites believe Adam, the Biblical first man, is also buried at the same mosque.

Islam has been divided into the orthodox Sunni and minority Shiite sects since shortly after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, founder of the religion, in 632.

Sunnis accepted Abu Bakr, a respected contemporary of the prophet, to lead what was then an international political as well as spiritual empire. A small group, the shi'at Ali, or party of Ali, followed the much younger Ali, Muhammad's son-and-law.

Ali would eventually have a turn as head of the Islamic empire, but the rivalries between his followers and supporters of others who claimed leadership the generations after Muhammad's death periodically exploded into violence and had a profound impact on the development of Islam.

In a 7th century battle rooted in the dispute, Hussein Ali's son and Muhammad's grandson and his 72 companions were killed by Sunni rivals on the plains of Karbala in what is now Iraq.

Najaf, whose name in Arabic means a high land, is located about 100 miles south of Baghdad on a high desert plateau overlooking the world's largest cemetery, where Shiites aspire to bury their dead. Najaf also is a centre for scientific, literary and theological studies for the Islamic world.