Najaf is a city in
Under Saddam, the deeply Shiite city of Najaf was neglected. The Ba’athist ruler’s policy of weakening the Iraqi people so as to maintain his iron grip incorporated favoring some religious groups over others. Shiites, consisting of some 60 percent of the population, were painted as agents of Iran, Iraq’s neighbor to the east.
Saddam looked with particularly deep suspicion upon the Iraqi Shiite clergy and their long held stance of non-support or active opposition towards tyrannical regimes. Najaf as the seat of Shiite theology and culture in Iraq was seen as a threat to his rule. Countless clergy members were abducted, tortured, assassinated, or made to flee the country, especially after the Iranian revolution. The city was a shadow of its former glory; its inhabitants lived a sad, traumatized, and shabby existence.
After the Iran-Iraq War and Gulf War, the citizens of Najaf revolted against Saddam’s suppression and incompetence in 1991. Saddam hit back in ruthless fashion, using his military to crush the rebellion and causing widespread, catastrophic damage to the city’s historical sites, including the golden dome of Imam Ali’s shrine. An unknown number of people – certainly numbering well into the tens of thousands – were kidnapped and disappeared or massacred.
After the US invasion of Iraq and ouster of Saddam in 2003, it became apparent that the dictator had held a special zeal for harming Najaf. The city still suffered heavy damage from 10 years earlier. Sanctions placed on Iraq had harmed ordinary Iraqis far more than Saddam with millions facing a lack of clean water, functioning electricity, and the most rudimentary of health care. Even now, little has changed. Heavy fighting between different Shiite factions, an apocalyptic cult, and the US military brought further ruin to Najaf. However, under the orders of widely respected senior Shiite clergy members, a fragile peace has largely held since 2008.
Today, Najaf Campaign is proud to be amongst a number of international non-profit organizations assisting in the revitalization of Najaf. Working with the office of Ayatollah Basheer an-Najafi, one of Iraq’s senior most and respected Shiite clergy members, Najaf Campaign is dedicated to helping some of the country’s most deprived and needy people – its orphans.
Since its inception in 2006, Najaf Campaign has raised funds worth over US $1,000,000 to build schools and shelters, purchase clothing and blankets, provide food and medicine, bringing hope to thousands of Iraqis. But Najaf Campaign needs your sustained help. The International Committee of the Red Cross reported in 2008 that the country had 30,000 hospital beds but needed another 80,000. Millions are forced to drink water contaminated by raw sewage and industrial chemicals. Iraq’s humanitarian catastrophe will only worsen unless immediate and sustained aid is delivered.
Please donate generously and be part of the movement to help alleviate poverty and rebuild the lives of the orphans and underprivileged of Iraq.
Najaf Campaign: Providing Nourishment, Rebuilding Lives