Rafsanjani arrives in Karbala

KARBALA / IraqiNews.com: The chairman of Iran’s Expediency Council, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, arrived in Karbala on Wednesday and will visit the holy Shiite shrines in the city, an official source from the Karbala council said. “Rafsanjani arrived in Karbala on Wednesday (March 4) and will visit the holy tombs of Imam al-Hussein and Imam al-Abbas,” the source told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The visit’s program includes visiting the holy tombs only,” he added, without giving further details. Rafsanjani had arrived in Baghdad on Monday morning (March 2) in a five-day official visit to Iraq in response to an invitation from President Jalal Talabani. He met with senior Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Karbala, with an estimated population of 572,300 people in 2003, is the capital of the province and is considered to be one of Shiite Muslims’ holiest cities. The city, 110 km south of Baghdad, is one of Iraq’s wealthiest, profiting both from religious visitors and agricultural produce, especially dates. It is made up of two districts, “Old Karbala,” the religious centre, and “New Karbala,” the residential district containing Islamic schools and government buildings. At the centre of the old city is Masjid al-Hussein, the tomb of Hussein Ibn Ali, grandsone of the Prophet Muhammad by his daughter Fatima al-Zahraa and Ali Ibn Abi Taleb. Imam Hussien’s tomb is a place of pilgrimage for many Shiite Muslims, especially on the anniversary of the battle, the Day of Ashuraa. Many elderly pilgrims travel there to await death, as they believe the tomb to be one of the gates to paradise. On April 14, 2007, a car bomb exploded about 600 ft (200 m) from the shrine, killing 47 and wounding over 150. SH (S) 1