![Picture](/uploads/2/4/3/4/24349478/1004820.jpg)
Najaf is renowned as the site of the tomb of Ali ibn Abi Talib, who the Shi'a consider to be their founder and first Imam. The city is now a great center of pilgrimage from throughout the Islamic world. Only Mecca and Medina receive more Muslim pilgrims.The Meshed Ali is housed in a grand structure with a gilded dome and many precious objects in the walls. Nearby is the Wadi-us-Salaam, claimed to be the largest cemetery in the Muslim world, containing the tombs of several other prophets. Many of the devout from other lands aspire to be buried here, to be raise from the dead with Imam Ali on Judgement Day.