One night my friend told me that we were going on the
next day, if Allah willed, to al-Najaf. I asked him, "What is
al-Najaf?" He said,"lt is a centre for learning, also the grave
of Ali ibn Abi Talib is in that city."
I was surprised that there was a known grave for Imam
Ali, for all our Shaykhs say that there is no known grave for
our master Ali. We took a bus to al-Kufa and there we stopped to visit al-Kufa Mosque, which is one of the most celebrated Islamic monuments. My friend showed me all the historical places and took me to the mosque of Muslim ibn
Aqeel and Hani ibn Urwa and told me briefly how they were
martyred. He took me to the Mihrab where Imam Ali was
martyred, then we visited the house where the Imam lived
with his two sons, our masters al-Hasan and al-Husayn, and
in the house there was a well from which they drank and did
their ablution.
I lived some spiritual moments during which I forgot the
world and imagined the asceticism and the modesty of the
Imam, despite the fact that he was Commander of the Believers and fourth of the Rightly Guided Caliphs.
I must not forget to mention the hospitality and the modesty of the people of al-Kufa, since whenever we passed a
group of people they stood up and greeted us, as if my friend
knew most of them. One of those we met was the director of
the Institute of al-Kufa, who invited us to his house where we
met his children and spent a happy night. I had the feeling
that I was amongst my family and my clan, and when they
talked about the Sunnis they always said, "Our brothers from
the Sunna", so I liked their talks and asked them a few questions to test their sincerity.
We continued our journey to al-Najaf, some ten kilometers from al-Kufa, and when we got there I remembered al-Kazimiyyah mosque in Baghdad, for there were golden
minarets surrounding a dome made of pure gold. We entered
into the Imam's mausoleum after having read a special reading for permission to enter the place, which is customary
amongst the Shia visitors. Inside the mausoleum I saw more
surprising things than that in the mosque of Musa al-Kazim,
and as usual, I stood and read al-Fatiha, doubting whether
the grave actually contained the body of Imam Ali. The
simplicity of that house in al-Kufa which was occupied by the
Imam had impressed me very much to the extent that I
thought, "God forbid, Imam Ali would not accept all this
gold and silver decoration, when there are many Muslims
dying of hunger all over the world." Especially when I saw
many poor people Iying on the streets asking for alms. Then
I said to myself, "O Shia, you are wrong, at least you should
admit this mistake, for Imam Ali was sent by the Messenger
of Allah to demolish the graves, so what are all these gold
and silver graves, if this is not polytheism then it must be at
least an error that Islam does not allow."
My friend asked me as he handed me a piece of dry clay.
if I wanted to pray. I answered him sharply, "We do not pray
around the graves." He then said, "Wait for me until I do my
prayers." While I was waiting for him I read the plaque which
hung on the grave, I also looked inside it through the
engraved gold and silver bars and saw many coins and notes
of different denominations thrown by the visitors as contributions to the charitable works which are attached to the
mausoleum. Because of the vast quantity of money, I
thought it might have been left there for months, but my
friend told me that the authorities responsible for cleaning
the place collect the money every night after the evening
prayer.
I went out after my friend, astonished by what I had just
seen, and wished that they would give me some of that
money, or perhaps distribute it among the many poor
people. I looked around the place, which was surrounded by
a great wall, and saw many groups praying here and there,
others were listening to speakers standing on platforms,
some of them sounded as if they were wailing. I saw a group
of people crying and beating their chests, and I wanted to ask
my friend why should these people behave in such a way, but
a funeral procession passed by us and I noticed some men
removing a marble flag from the middle of the great courtyard to lower the body there. Therefore I thought that these
people were crying for their lost one.