As Iraq’s turmoil enters its second month, the world’s largest cemetery is expanding beyond its five million graves and families have resorted to digging up sidewalks at night or stealing lots to bury loved ones.
The numbers of dead buried here has more than doubled, to 200 a day, with the recent surge in sectarian violence.
The 1,500-acre graveyard, home to a revered Shiite shrine, is a mass of brown, with brick headstones jutting out of the earth. Some are decorated with plastic flower garlands, their neon colors faded by the harsh desert sun. Barely more than a foot separates graves. Posters with the faces of the deceased with arrows guide visitors down cemetery roads…
Since Imam Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, was buried in Najaf 1,300 years ago, Shiites from across the world have coveted a plot in Wadi al-Salam, which means Valley of Peace. Shiites believe that if they are buried there they will be raised from the dead on judgment day with their spiritual leader.
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