Najaf: Poems and Battles

Tuesday, April 06, 2010Najaf: Poems and Battles
Al-Najaf is a city that is approximately 7 miles distance from al-Kufa, and is connected to it by a tramway. The population today [1995] is around half a million. Najaf sits on elevated ground relative to the Euphrates in Kufa, which historically has made water scarce as it had to be transported by the ‘saqqayeh’. The water taken from the wells in the old homes is not fit for drinking and so is used for general washing purposes.

Najaf is the natural annexe of al-Kufa, the capital of Imam Ali and the Shia in general. Since Sheikh al-Tusi emigrated there from Baghdad in the early part of the 11th century, the city of Najaf turned into a centre of academic learning where Shia scholars would come from near and far to teach and study at the religious universities. Of course there were already scholars in Najaf ever since it was discovered during al-Rashids reign and a white dome was built by him or the Buyids, but it was in Tusi’s era when Najaf became known as a place of scholarship.

Most probably during the Buyid period, the Shia scholars began to be buried there, and soon after, all the Shia from Iraq and neighbouring lands began to take their dead to Najaf for burial in the ‘Valley of Peace’ cemetery, which may be the largest cemetery in the world.

Najaf has unique characteristics that make it distinct from any other city in Iraq. Firstly most of the population are not descendants of the original people of Najaf. Pilgrims, immigrants and students flocked to the city and many families that are known today as ‘al-Najafi’ are actually descendants of those who came to study or simply came to be within the proximity of the holy shrine. Many of these families began to slowly cut off their ties with their original homes and generation after generation some of these families, who lived there for 400 years, came to eventually forget where they even came from or their original language.

Another characteristic of Najaf is that the majority of the population in the city are close in temperament to the Arab Bedouins. Their tribes, their pride, their hospitality, their generosity and their protectiveness of each other are all aspects that can be immediately felt by anyone who travels there. Perhaps the secret to this lies in its geographical location. On one side of Najaf is the vast Iraqi countryside beyond the Euphrates, and on the other side the empty dessert between Iraq and Hijaz.


This is reflected in Najaf’s market, where both the Bedouins and rural tribes come together to trade. The rural Arabs trade in dates, wheat, flour and rice and the Bedouins in sheep, wool, leather, margarine and bur. These goods come together in the ‘khannat’ of Najaf and are then exported to Baghdad, Basra and Mousil.


It created a special economic relationship between the people of Najaf and the rural and Bedouin tribes who both had homes in each others’ lands to facilitate both the import and export of these goods. This fostered an air of mutual respect and understanding. Najaf has a Bedouin society but is tribal in spirit.

Thirdly, because Najaf became a centre for Islamic studies which had universities dating back almost 1,000 years, the city kept its Arabic language and heritage despite the many attempts of Turkification by the Mamluk and Ottoman officials who tried to change the language of study in the schools and also despite the spread of the Persian language from the east. Najaf was able to maintain it's Arab heritage because the religious classes, and in particular lessons on how to derive laws, depend in a fundamental way on the Arabic language.


It is impossible for a student to properly study the Quran, the Prophet’s Sunna, Nahj al-Balagha, heritage of the Imams, the Prophets companions and the works of the later scholars without having a firm grasp of the Arabic language, its philosophy and all the intricacies and particulars of the language. Usuli scholars are strict about including the condition of mastering the language as one of the requirements of becoming a Mujtahid.

The Arabic language is so intrinsically and innately attached to Islamic studies it comes as no surprise that many of the greatest 20th century poets first matured and graduated from Islamic seminaries. These include the likes of the Shibibi brothers, Sharqi, Jawaheri in Najaf, Zahawi and Rasafi in Baghdad, Shawqi and Hafidh, Taha Yasin, Ahmad Amin, Umar Abu Risha in Aleppo, Bdawi al-Jabl in Jabla, Sheikh Ahmad Ridha in Jabel Amel and Allaeli in Beirut who was a graduate of al-Azhar in Cairo.

Mohammed Ridha Shibibi during the time of Sayyid Bahr al-Uloom, late 18th century, counted no less than 200 poets in the small city of Najaf. Many scholars who later became representatives of the religious maraja’ in places such as Ihsa and Qateef, Bahrain, Ahwaz, Syria and Lebanon took with them a part of the long standing tradition of poetic excellence in the Arabic language. You can feel the obvious essence of Najaf in these cities even though their poets may never have lived there.

Najaf is also extremely conservative and traditional in nature unlike any other city in Iraq. There were no theatres, social clubs, cinemas or other forms of entertainment that could distract the students. The students were unswerving and steadfast in their scholarly work. We did have small coffee shops, which serve nothing but tea, nargeela and refreshments but even these were out of bounds for the religious students.

We didn’t even own radios and in the 1940’s we used to go to the Literary Association to listen to the developments of the Second World War via a radio King Ghazi gifted to the Association along with a precious library. The students in Najaf had no other outlet to express themselves or to unwind other than the 'Poetic Concerts', which enabled young students to showcase their talent. Maybe this explains the abundance of poets, 200 that were known in one instance, in such a small city. Najaf was unmatched even in numbers of its colloquial poets, Haj Zayir, al-Jid, Yasin al-Kufi, Gabechi, Gassab and Rasul Muhyidin to name but a few.

These Poetic Concerts would take place in public on special occasions in schools, mosques and the holy shrine and there would also be private performances at houses when someone we knew was getting married. Poets could freely discuss any topic they wish, be it on philosophy, politics, religion or even social problems being faced in Najaf, Iraq or the wider Arab and Muslim world.


Once a controversial poem is read there would normally be a rebuttal in the form of another poem, and soon 'battles' would commence and the best on both sides go head to head debating through poetry until a clear winner emerges. Students who write down the poetry as its being recited have recorded many of these poetic battles and many of them can still be found in manuscript form in the libraries of Najaf while others have been published as books. As children we used to run to these poetic concerts at every public holiday – and there were many in a religious city like Najaf – to note down the beautiful poetry of the previous generations.

It was in this atmosphere of poetic excellence that the generation of Mustafa Jamal al-Din grew up in.