BAGHDAD - Millions of Shi'ite pilgrims pour into the streets of Iraq's holy city of Najaf every year, hypnotised by its ability to survive decades of oppression and emerge as a centre of religion and authority.
With its gold-domed shrine, where Imam Ali, a central figure of Shi'ite Islam, is buried, its mystical Hawza seminary, and its powerful clergy, Najaf has been revived as the epicenter of Shi'ism - a status held for years by its rival, Iran's Qom.
Najaf's rising clout as a Shi'ite hub is a threat to Iran's clerics, who enjoyed unchallenged sway over Iranian politics and other Shi'ite groups in the region for years while Najaf was shackled by Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein.
Iraq is slowly flexing its muscle in regional diplomacy, by pushing to host an Arab League summit in May and by pressing the United States to mediate Bahrain's unrest after pro-democracy protests by majority Shi'ites against their Sunni royal rulers.
"Since Saddam Hussein's fall, Iraq's Shi'ites have begun to reclaim their historic role as leaders of the Shi'ite world," said Gala Riani, an analyst with IHS Global Insight.
"Qom had risen in prominence since (Iran's) Islamic Revolution, in part because of Iraq's gradual isolation since then and in part because of the Islamic Republic's religious doctrine," she said.
"However, the Shi'ite population and the religious leadership in Iraq are quietly staking their claim."
The rise of Iraq's majority Shi'ites to political supremacy was made possible by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam and led to a Shi'ite-dominated government. Najaf has since become a magnet for millions of Shi'ites around the world.
For years, Iraqi Shi'ites complained of living under the thumb of Saddam. Shi'ite religious rites were banned and his forces persecuted thousands of Shi'ites.
Now Baghdad wants to show Tehran it can be an influential player in Middle East politics, and having Najaf as the seat of Shi'ite religious authority can strengthen such a claim.
"Shi'ite-led Iraq is a rising regional power, just now beginning to find its muscle. It has historically played a key role in Gulf geopolitics and security - the war left a vacuum that Iran filled, but Iraq is now back in the space it vacated," said Cliff Kupchan, an analyst at risk consultant Eurasia Group.
Thousands of Iraqi Shi'ites took to the streets last month to protest the arrival of troops from Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states in Bahrain.
Iraq's Shi'ite ruling bloc and senior clerics denounced the Saudi deployment to Bahrain, where the Sunni royal family called for help to quell an uprising by mainly Shi'ite protesters.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most revered Shi'ite leader, who rarely intervenes publicly in politics, has called on Bahrain to stop using force against peaceful demonstrators.
The Iraqi government has asked the United States and other players to get more involved in Bahrain to try to resolve the conflict, U.S. ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey said, adding that Washington was working toward that end.
Iraq, Bahrain and Lebanon are the only Arab nations where Shi'ites outnumber Sunnis. Iraq, like Bahrain, has a Shi'ite majority that complained of oppression under Sunni rulers.
"Iraq's reaction to Saudi intervention in Bahrain is one of the clearest examples of Iraq's slow but steady rise on the regional stage ... The reaction of Iraq's Shi'ites to events in Bahrain was the strongest in the region," Kupchan said.
A TALE OF TWO CITIES
Through a thousand-year history, Najaf weathered a plague of wars, oppression by Sunni leaders and rivalry with Iran.
But Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979 and the rise of Saddam, who persecuted and executed Shi'ite clerics and political leaders, allowed Qom to eclipse Najaf.
"Saddam tried to blow out the candle of Najaf. He fought its religious scholars and clerics and drove them away," said Shi'ite cleric Sayyed Mohammed Bahr al-Uloum, who fled Iraq in 1969 after he was sentenced to death by Saddam's Baath party.
Now, Najaf draws millions of Shi'ites from Iraq, Iran and Muslim communities in Bahrain, Kuwait, India and elsewhere. Swarms of pilgrims, many dressed head-to-toe in black, march through its narrow streets during major rites.
Reborn after the fall of Saddam, Najaf's Hawza seminary has attracted thousands of new students.
Iranians, barred under Saddam, flood the streets, singing for Imam Ali in Persian and bringing newborns to his shrine for blessing, jostling to touch the silver poles around its green protective glass.
The burial place of Imam Ali - a son-in-law and cousin of Prophet Mohammed seen by Shi'ites as the rightful heir to the Muslim Caliphate - gives Najaf its sanctity.
Najaf is home to Iraq's Marjaiya - which refers to the senior Shi'ite clergy and often means Iranian-born Sistani, 83, who is seen as a force of unity among most of Iraq's Shi'ites. Since 2003, his decrees have had the gravity of law.
Sistani says he does not intend to become involved in politics and, in contrast to clerical leanings in Iran, his teachings have advocated separation of religion and state.
Riani says Sistani is "unquestionably more powerful, more popular and more widely revered" than Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"Sistani's position within Iran is very strong and could potentially pose a considerable challenge to Khamenei's religious authority," Riani said. "Certainly if Sistani ever chose to openly challenge the Iranian political system, Khamenei's rule would be in trouble."
Baghdad's deals with international oil companies, which could power it into the big league of global producers, could also shake the power balance in the Middle East, giving Iraq more political clout and eventually threatening Iran's years of uncontested authority over the Shi'ite world, analysts say.
"Iraq is rising on soft power and political-cultural appeal. Over the short-term, Iran will remain the dominant regional power," Kupchan said. "Over a significantly longer term, Iraq potentially has great promise, and could reemerge as a balancer to its traditional regional competitor - Iran." http://www.torontosun.com/travel/international/2011/04/14/17990791-reuters.html
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