Thirty minutes into our checkpoint wait and our Iraqi guide comes back ashen faced. It’s not looking good. He mutters something about motherfuckers and heads back out to negotiate further with the militia. Ten minutes later he is back with our passports with the news that we have to turn back. My heart sinks, after 2 hours drive we are just at the threshold of entering Karbala and we are turned back. Disbelief is suspended when our bus makes a U turn and we drive back. He promises us that we will go to other mosques instead but to me that is like landing in Rome and being turned away from the Vatican with the promise that we can see some other churches instead!
Karbala is a muslim pilgrimage site especially for the Shiites. In the year 680 AD a dispute arose between descendants of the prophet Mohammed. War ensued at Karbala and Hossein Ali was killed. His followers venerate him as a martyr and the Shiite sect was born.
Ten minutes down the road the guide gets a call. Judging by his face he does not know the number and for a fleeting second I hope against hope that maybe we have been granted a reprieve. A couple of Iraqi sentences later he hangs up and announces that we have been granted permission. My hope is fulfilled and we let out a cheer.
The walk into the mosque is along roads lined with stalls selling anything from food to clothes and religious trinkets. Interestingly many sick pilgrims are brought in wheelchairs and on wooden trolleys. These are scenes reminiscent of my time in Lourdes. We reach the mosque and are frisked by security before entering. A service is in full flight with chanting and prayer and we walk around the congregation taking photos. This is a massive high ceilinged space coloured dark green but with intricate mirrors, murals and mosaics along the walls and the ceiling dripping with multiple chandeliers. The chanting by the imam produces a serene vibe as does the rhythmic movements of the people. Stunning! The devotion of the congregation is most on show with the inner sanctum which has the tomb of Hussain Ali and people drape themselves on the bars around it to get a touch of the martyr.
Next stop Babylon known in antiquity for having one of the 7 wonders, the hanging gardens. Sadly this place has been hijacked by he late dictator Saddam Hussein. This site was the capitol of the massive empire of Babylon between the 19th century and the 16th century BC. Some foundations of the original are still there but in a poor state and unreconstructed. All around is a garish poor quality reconstruction done by our old friend Saddam who wanted to have the site compare himself with one of the great empires of antiquity. One of the locals points to a slope behind a few date palms as the site for the Hanging Gardens but in fact noone knows where the gardens really were. High on the next hill is the massive, lavish palace of Saddam Hussein which has been looted and severely damaged. It is a graffiti ridden epitaph to one of histories nastiest dictators.
