Rebuilt Iraq Mosque Buoys Spirits, but New Sectarian Splits Loom

THE NEW YORK TIMES
March 13, 2011

Ayman Oghanna for The New York Times

IRAQ -- As Iraq rebuilds after years of war, the destroyed dome of a shrine is rebuilt with a concrete dome and two new minarets are wrapped in a bird’s nest of scaffolding. It is the Samarra’s Askariya Shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam. The Askariya Shrine, built in 944, is claimed both by Shiite worshipers and by the city of Samarra’s Sunnis. Busloads of pilgrims arriving from Iran and across Iraq. It is the burial ground of two of Shiite Islam’s 12 imams, a spiritual destination in Iraq secondary only to the shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala. The pilgrims are a mainstay of the city’s economy, and a rich source of income for whoever runs the hotels, shops and businesses in the central city. Officials from Unesco, which designated Samarra as one of three World Heritage Sites in Iraq, said they were trying to negotiate an accord between the central government and provincial officials to balance preservation against development. [link]