Kufa

Kufa (Arabic: الْكُوفَة "al-Kūfah"), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about 170 kilometres (110 mi) south of Baghdad, and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Along with Najaf, Karbala, Mashhad, Kadhimiya, Samarra and Qom, Kufa is a holy city in Shia Islam. The city was founded in 638 CE (17 AH) during the reign of the second Rashidun caliph, Umar. The Great Mosque of Kufa was home to Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the first Shia Imam and the fourth Rashidun caliph. The mosque is also the site where he was assassinated. Kufa was the final capital of his caliphate. The mosque also contains the shrine of Muslim ibn Aqil, his companion Hani ibn Urwa, and the revolutionary, Al-Mukhtar. Kufa was also the founding capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. During the Islamic Golden Age, it was home to the grammarians of Kufa. Kufic script is named for the city. Keffiyehs are sometimes mistakenly thought to have originated from Kufa.