The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1915-02-11
CITY OF SHIA MOSLEM.
Nedjiff the Mecca of One Sect of the
MOhannmedanS.

Nedjiff, mecca of the Shia Moham-
medans, born of and for religion,
contains within its walls Of sundrled
brick a treasure house rich beyond
fable, into which a stream Oh gold
and jewels mas poured for centuries,
and over the lootinS of which many
an empire-building soldier has sweet
ened his dreams While sleeping on
the battlefelds of India and else
where in Asia. Nediiff has become
hostile land. and the wonderful
mosque of gold and precious stones
is exposed as a possible objective Of
invaders. Frederick Simpich, one of
the few white men of anv race to
have made a visit to hidden Nedjif.
has transmitted an account of this
strangest of cities to the National
Geographical society. He wr,res:
''It is five days by mule or camel
caravan from Bagdad to Nedjiff. and
in the eventful centuries since the
Shias founded Nedjiff-on the spot
where a nephew of the Prophet Mo-
hammed was Slain-it is estimated
that over 25,O0O,O0O Moslems have
made the pilgrimage to this mysterl-
Gus desert city of golden domes, fab
ulous treasures, and weird rites.
Thousands of devotees from the Shia
hordes of India, Persia and South
Russia flock through Bagdad each
year, bringing with them their mum!-
fed dead, salted and dried-tor
burial in the holy ground about the
mystic city"
Each member of the Shia sect
must make the pilgrimage to this
holliest of his shrines, the city to-
ward which throughout life he bows
in worship, the unnatural city bound
up in the deserts spell, into which
the treasures of all his fellows in
faith are flowing for their spiritual
welfare. Each member of the Shia
sect expects to be buried in the sacred
earth without the city's walls, where
millions upon millions of past Shias
have turned the sands to clay. This
enormous graveyard about the city
is not the least part of it's weird fas-
cination. The desert trail to the
sacred city is empty, barren and dead.
It is an unattractive trail whose 81
lence is only broken by fanatic pill
grims and by caravans Transporting
corpses to the Shia Mecca OF the
dead. Of the city, Mr.. Simpich says:
"Nedjiff is a freak city. Not
green thing-a plant, shrub, or tree
lives within its dry, hot limits. 1t
is built on a high plain of soft sand
stone. The narrow, crooked streets,
in many places mere passages or
4 feet wide, wind like jungle paths.
One of the strange features OF this
strange city is it's cellars. In sum-
mer the fierce heat drives the pant
ing people deep down into the earth,
like rats in a hole. Beneath every
house is a cellar, burrowed mine:-like
to amazing depths; one l explored
reached an astoundingly low level,
being more than 100 feet below the
street. Down into these damp, dark
holes the Shias flee when the scorch-
ing desert air sizzles above and I'M
ported German thermometers stand
at 13o Fahrenheit. Some of the Gel
lars are arranged in a tier of cells
or rooms, one below the other; the
upper room is used in the first hot
months, the family going lower down
as the heat increases. Many of these
cellars are connected by under
ground corridors. and the criminals
who swarm in Nedjiff, easily elude
CAPTURE by passing through these
tunnels from house to house
The mosque, Mr.. Simpich de-
scribes as covered with great gold
tile which run to its very base. For
ages. he says, the rich of Shia faltn
have made precious presents to this
temple until its vaults are bursting
with pent-up treasure. The city has
no industry, no commerce-nothing
that is apart from its religious pur-
pose. 1t supports itself upon the
money of the pilgrims, lodges them
feeds them, robs them, sells them
praver-brick made from the grave
ward clay, and even marries them for
the period of their visit to perenlai
brides. brides kept IN stock, VINO le-
gally have many husbands in their
lives. AS war significance of this
city. the explorer tells:
"A British Indian army ofhcer toId
me that the looting of the Ned1ln
mosque was a favorite dream OF the
soldiers in the middle-east, who LOOK
ed forward to the day when war may