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| Shiite pilgrims, arriving in Baghdad Tuesday to pay tribute to Imam Musa al-Kadhim, touched the entrance to his shrine. Sam Dagher   Shiite pilgrimage |
Anti-Saudi tide rises in Iraq
Iraq's leaders use a Shiite holiday to shift attention from Iran to its Sunni neighbors.
from the August 9, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
The annual pilgrimage to Kadhimiya
In Kadhimiya Tuesday, the emphasis was on displaying faith.
Tents were set up all along the main market street leading to Bab el-Mrad (Gate of Need), the entrance of the dazzling shrine with its glistening twin golden domes and its four minarets.
In one tent, Mahdi al-Kadhimi and his fellow Kadhimiya merchants have stacked bags of rice and beans that will be used to cook free meals for the weary pilgrims, many of whom traveled for days on foot from all over Iraq. Distributing food, water, and tea to pilgrims is considered a blessed act.
Giant speakers fill the air with the sound of Shiite laments intended to infuse spirituality and fervor to the occasion.
A wooden cage with dangling chains, and mannequins posing as Abbasyid-era sentries, standing guard is supposed to replicate Imam al-Kadhim's time in captivity. He is depicted bearded and shackled in a colorful banner pinned to the inside of the cage.
All of these visual displays of Shiite faith and its veneration of shrines are considered acts of blasphemy by puritan Sunni Islam that reigns in Saudi Arabia.
"To each his own," says Mr. Kadhimi shrugging off talk of the new Saudi fatwas.
At the shrine's gate, police search everyone. In addition to government forces, Sadr's militiamen play an important role in securing the area. Heavily armed men in black shirts and military style khaki pants roam the streets. Mr. Araji, the local leader who was once detained by US forces, says they are not from the movement's Mahdi Army militia but are personal guards of visiting parliamentarians from the same movement.
On Sunday, an altercation between one of these armed men and an Iraqi soldier degenerated into a firefight that killed a woman pilgrim, according to Araji, who was caught in the crossfire.
As pilgrims approach the inner sanctum of the shrine with its vast marble esplanade many, entranced by the moment, fall down on their knees in tears.
Adel Said and his wife hold the hands of their little children.
"These anti-Shiite fatwas are not new, they have been around for hundreds of years, I think some people may be agitating to stir up trouble for political gains," says Mr. Said, who plans to come again to the shrine on Thursday without his family as part of a massive procession that will leave Sadr City to the east on foot at dawn.
Rasheed Abou-Alsamh contributed from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
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