Parliament’s deputy speaker arrives in Najaf, meets Sistani

Attiya-Najaf NAJAF / IraqiNews.com: First Deputy Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament Sheikh Khaled al-Attiya arrived on Thursday afternoon in Najaf and met top Shiite cleric Sayyid Ali al-Sistani, a media source from al-Attiya’s office said. “Al-Attiya met today with al-Sistani and a number of Shiite clerics in the city of Najaf,” the source told IraqiNews.com. He gave no further details. Najaf, about 160 km south of Baghdad, has an estimated population of 900,600 in 2008, though this has increased significantly since 2003 due to immigration from abroad. The city is one of the holiest cities of Shiite Islam and the center of Shiite political power in Iraq. Najaf is renowned as the site of the tomb of Ali ibn Abi Taleb (also known as “Imam Ali”), whom Shiites consider to be the righteous caliph and first imam. The city is now a great center of pilgrimage from throughout the Shiite Islamic world. It is estimated that only Mecca and Medina receive more Muslim pilgrims. The Imam Ali Mosque is housed in a grand structure with a gilded dome and many precious objects in its walls. SH (S)/SR 1