Shi'ite pilgrims worship at holy shrine in Karbala

An estimated one million Shi'ite Muslims converged on a holy shrine in the Iraqi city of Karbala today, celebrating their freedom from years of repression by Saddam Hussein’s regime.

The large turnout for the pilgrimage, which ends tomorrow, highlighted the power and potential of Iraq’s majority Shiite community.

Despite bitter internal differences, the Shi'ite, who represent 60% of Iraq’s 24 million people, were able to hold the event at short notice and thus far without violence.

It showed how once again, upheaval in a Middle East country has brought followers of the Shi'ite branch of Islam to the forefront.

It happened in 1979 when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini founded a Shi'ite theocracy in neighbouring Iran, and three years later when Israel invaded Lebanon, drove out Yasser Arafat and ended up facing the Shi'ite fighters of Hezbollah.

Throngs of pilgrims, many hitting their backs with flails or slashing their heads with long, sharp swords in a religious ritual banned under Saddam, marched to the beat of drums as they converged on Karbala’s holy shrine for today’s noon prayers.

Thousands held an anti-American demonstration amid the throngs, carrying banners with slogans such as “No to America, no to Israel, yes to Islam.”

In an apparent attempt to avoid friction with pilgrims, US troops were largely out of sight, with a few members of the US-backed Iraqi National Congress manning checkpoints.

While rejoicing at the fall of Saddam, many Shi'ite – from secularists to fundamentalists – have shown a deep mistrust of US efforts in Iraq, and of its intentions for the country’s future.

“There are two options for the new government in Iraq,” said Ali Malegi, a clergyman of the Religious School in Karbala.

“If this government is appointed by the Americans, it’s going to be a disaster for the Iraqi people and maybe not very good for the surrounding countries.

"But if the Iraqis elect their own government, it’s going to be fair for the Iraqi people and for surrounding countries.”

Many pilgrims spent the night sleeping in the streets after the pilgrimage officially began yesterday, while others were given shelter in local residents’ houses.

The city is the site of the seventh century martyrdom of Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad who was killed in the Battle of Karbala between a small group of his followers and the Umayyad Army.

The Shi'ite see Hussein and his father, Ali, as the rightful heirs to the prophet, and the battle in which Hussein was killed was one in a series of violent clashes between Sunnis, who disputed the Ali-Hussein claim, and Shi'ite.

The pilgrimage marks the anniversary of the end of the traditional 40-day mourning period for Hussein, who died because the people failed to rise up and support him in the face of a vast army.

Shi'ite were long suppressed by Saddam’s ruling Sunni minority.

Although the annual pilgrimages had been permitted, the regime prohibited people from coming on foot or engaging in the ritual slashings, and monitored the participants as well as centres of Shiite rebellion in Najaf and Karbala.

Since Saddam fell, Shiites have been setting up local administrations, and religious leaders have emerged as key sources of political power, especially in southern Iraq. It is unclear whether clerics will be ready to transfer power to a new government.

Senior Shiite clerics insist they want to share power with Iraq’s other communities, particularly Sunnis and Kurds.

The United States hopes to work with Shiites to form a new government without resorting to a Shiite theocracy like Iran’s – a balancing act that will test the skills of retired US Lt Gen Jay Garner, who is overseeing Iraq’s post-war reconstruction.