NAJAF, AN-

also called Najaf, city, capital of an-Najaf muhafazah (governorate), central Iraq. One of Iraq's two holy cities (the other is Karbala'), an-Najaf lies on a ridge just west of the Euphrates River. The caliph Harun ar-Rashid is reputed to have founded it in AD 791; its growth occurred mostly after the 10th century. In the city's centre is the mosque containing the tomb of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (c. 600661), cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, fourth muslim caliph, and, through a rift with other early muslim leaders, the spiritual founder of the Shi'i sect; an-Najaf is therefore one of that sect's greatest shrines. Much of the city's encircling wall still remains, as do the deep sirdabs (cellars) that extend in places beyond the city's limits and have provided sanctuary for political dissidents. An-Najaf has long been a hotbed of Shi'i resistance against the Sunni rulers in Baghdad, and in the 20th century this resistance has been a source of tension between the Sunni government of Iraq and the Shi'i in Iran. An-Najaf muhafazah, with an area of 10,615 sq mi (27,494 sq km), is a flat region extending from the Euphrates River in the northeast to the Saudi Arabian border in the southwest. Except for the area near the river, the region is sparsely populated. The governorate was created in 1976 from the western part of al-Qadisiyah and the eastern part of Karbala' muhafazat (governorates). Pop. (1980 UN est.) city, 276,000; (1977) muhafazah, 389,680.