Religious tourism in Iraq producing affluence

By: Ismail Zabeeh

HOLY CITY OF NAJAF, Iraq: Religious tourism in Iraq is generating wealth that has put a swagger in the step of a city beaten into submission by Saddam Hussein following the 1991 Gulf War.

In the holy city of Najaf, you no longer need to look deep into your soul for proof that God likes you. It's right there in the cash register. “The market and everything in it, it's all from Ali. It's a gift from God,” said 66-year-old Hajj Ali, who sells rings and cloth outside the shrine of Imam Ali (p).

“We see Iranians, Pakistanis and Muslims from all over the world, coming for visits and buying things to take with them as gifts,” explained Emad Hussein Alwan, manager of Najaf's Nabaa hotel, which, like most in the city, is packed with pilgrims.

“Hopefully this is going to keep developing and building this city, which was not exactly privileged under the regime.”

Mortaza, a 41-year-old Iranian on a three-week pilgrimage, paused at the stalls of cloth vendors, said: “It's the first time I came but it won't be the last. This is my hajj,” he said. “It's the place of the Imam, and the closest thing that we have to God is the Imams.”

Pilgrims’ sentiments are music to the ears of 37-year-old Mahdi Shukr. “Since the fall, it's up by something like 80 percent, both sales and the numbers of visitors,” he said from a stall where he sells rings bearing semi-precious stones. Their preferred gift? Rings fitted with Durr-e-Najaf, the mother of pearl stone he said nearly all pilgrims treasure. “Durr-e-Najaf of course is Imam Ali (p)’s, there is demand for it from everywhere.”

Hajj Ali, who also does the bulk of his business in rings, agreed and said he thought the best was yet to come, both in business and beyond. “The visitors used to come with their hands tied, and now they don't even need a passport. Every day more friends of Ali arrive.”

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