A child looks om as Shiite women pray to

A child looks om as Shiite women pray together in the southern holy city of Karbala some 120 kilometers from the capital Baghdad on September 21 2008, as they remember the murder of Imam Ali. The Imam Ali was the son-in-law and cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, and was killed in this southern Iraqi town Kufa some 40 kilometers from the city of Karbala in 661AD. He is seen as the Prophet's closest relative and the one whom the Shiites saw as the Prophet's true successor, and so is regarded as a great saint and martyr. For the next three days Shiite Muslims remember the murder of Imam Ali when he was stabbed with a poison tipped knife culminating in his death three days later. AFP PHOTO / MOHAMMED SAWAF (Photo credit should read MOHAMMED SAWAF/AFP via Getty Images)