Najaf, Iraq

Najaf نَجَف an-Najaf اَلـنَّـجَـف
Masjid al-Imam ‘Ali, one the most importants sites of Najaf
Najaf Location in Iraq
Coordinates: 32°00′00″N 44°20′00″E / 32.00000°N 44.33333°E / 32.00000; 44.33333
Country	Iraq
Province	Najaf Governorate
Elevation	60 m (200 ft)
Population (2014)
• Total	1,389,500
	Approximate figures
Time zone	UTC+3

Najaf (Arabic: اَلـنَّـجَـف‎‎; BGN: An-Najaf) or An Najaf Al Ashraf (Arabic: النّجف الأشرف‎‎) is a city in central Iraq about 160 km (100 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2013 was 1,000,000 people. It is the capital of Najaf Governorate. It is widely considered the third holiest city of Shia Islam, the Shi‘ite world's spiritual capital, and the center of Shi‘ite political power in Iraq.

An-Najaf is considered sacred by Shi'a Muslims. An-Najaf is renowned as the site of the tomb of Caliph ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib. Sunnis consider ‘Ali the fourth Rashidun (rightly guided Caliphs). The city is now a center of pilgrimage throughout the Shi'ite Islamic world. It is estimated that only Mecca and Medina receive more Muslim pilgrims. As the burial site of Shi'i Islam's second most important figure, the Imam Ali Mosque is considered by Shiites as the third holiest Islamic site.

The Imam ‘Ali Mosque is housed in a grand structure with a gold gilded dome and many precious objects in the walls. Nearby is the Wadi-us-Salaam cemetery, which is the largest cemetery in the world. It contains the tombs of several prophets and many of the devout from around the world aspire to be buried there, to be raised from the dead with Imām ‘Alī on Judgement Day. Over the centuries, numerous hospices, schools, libraries and Sufi convents were built around the shrine to make the city the center of Shīʻa learning and theology.

The Najaf seminary is one of the most important teaching centres in the Islamic world. Ayatollah Khomeini lectured there from 1964 to 1978. Many of the leading figures of the new Islamic movement that emerged in Iraq, Iran and Lebanon in the 1970s had studied at Najaf.