Last night an event was organised by Iraq In Common that was held at St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace in Bishopsgate, London. They invited Sayyid Ridhwan Al-Killidar to give an insight into the struggle for power and influence, in Iraq, and especially in Najaf. He spoke about his own background and the journey he took from Iraq to London, and back to Iraq again.
Ridhwan moved to the UK in 1980 just before the Iraq-Iran war kicked off. He is the eldest son of the late Sayyid Hussain Al-Killidar, a former custodian of the holy shrine in Najaf. After his father passed away in 1987, as the eldest son Ridhwan was supposed to become custodian of the shrine, but he refused to go back to Iraq. The word Killidar itself has Persian roots...'Killit dar' in Persian means 'The one with the key'. The eldest son always inherits the key from his father and becomes the custodian of the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf and this is a tradition that has been maintained since 1845. After Ridhwan refused to go back in 1987, his younger brother, Muqdad Al-Killidar took control of the shrine. Muqdad was later taken away during the intifadha of 1991 and nothing has been heard of him since. He was undoubtedly executed and buried in a mass grave alongside tens of thousands of other Iraqi's who fought against Saddam's regime in the '91 uprising. Again Ridhwan refused to go back to Iraq. This time control of the shrine went to his cousin, Hayder Al-Killidar who was brutally hacked to death with swords and knives on 10th April 2003, just one day after Baghdad fell to the US-led forces.
Now, there was no one left from his immediate family to take over the shrine, and after 2 months, he moved to Syria where he was called upon by the marja'aiya of Najaf to maintain his families long held tradition of taking care of the holy shrine. Ridhwan agreed to go back and become the 'Killidar' ('keeper of the house'/'The one with the key') of the shrine. I visited once him in Najaf inside the holy shrine, while the 'servants' of the shrine were counting the money that is donated on a daily basis to the tomb to Imam Ali. Before him, every custodian had access to these funds and could do what ever he wants with the money, however Ridhwan set up an independent committee that oversees the collection and distribution of these funds.
One of the other key roles he played in Najaf was setting up a 'Marja'iya Protection Force' which was an armed wing made up of members of Najaf's 'old school' families. Its main task was protecting the shrine and of course marja'iya in Najaf. However, his role as 'keeper' of the shrine did not last very long. During the Arpil 2005 hostilities between the Mehdi Army and Iraqi/US forces, many of his men in the Protection Force were arrested by the Mehdi Army as they tried to intervene and stop the fighting, Ridhwan then went into hiding in Najaf. The place of his hiding was compromised after just 4 days and was shelled 3 times by mortars that were fired by the Mehdi Army, luckily for him, Ridhwan managed to escape unscathed and left the city of Najaf to reside temporarily in Baghdad.
Ridhwan used to work for the Al-Khoei Foundation in London, and was a friend of Sayyid Abdul Majid Al-Khoei, who was murdered with Ridhwan's cousin Hayder by followers of Moqtada Sadr. It was for this reason that Moqtada Sadr was weary of him from the beginning, and his supporters even accused Ridhwan of being a "British spy" and also claimed the only reason he came back to Najaf was to seek revenge for the deaths of his cousin and friend.
Later the marja'iya of Najaf brokered a deal between Moqtada Sadr and the US/Iraqi forces. By this time, the heavily out-numbered and out-gunned Mehdi Army militia had suffered hundreds of casualties at the hands of the American and Iraqi armies. Moqtada promised to order his men out of Najaf (most of them had come from Sadr City, and very few actually reside in Najaf) and drop their weapons on 2 conditions:
1) The US forces must leave Najaf
2) Ridhwan must hand over the key to the shrine to the marja'iya
Ridhwan told us that if saving his city, which has family has been serving for the most part of 2 centuries, meant he had to give up the keys then so be it. The Mehdi Army retreated back to Baghdad and Ridhwan handed over the keys, which remain at the hands of the marja'iya to this day.
In Baghdad, he was approached by Dr Iyad Allawi to join the Iraqi National List and have a chance of being one of the 8 representatives for Najaf in the Iraqi parliament. Ridhwan joined ranks with Iyad Allawi and after the December 2005 elections, he was elected into the 275-member 'Council of Represantatives' (Iraqi parliament).
After his speech, a Q&A session followed, just like any other place in the world, when there are more than 2 Iraqi people sitting together, heated discussions take place and after an argument that kept on going back and forth one women who argued that life during Saddam's time was better because "atleast I could go back to Iraq every year, now I cant go" had simply had enough and decided to walk out after shouting "there will never ever be democracy in Iraq...ever".
Later, someone who introduced herself as "the daughter of Sayyid Abbas Khoei, son of the late Grand Ayatullah Al-Khoei" interrupted Ridhwan during his answer to a gentleman's question about the Mehdi Army and said "How can you say that it was Moqtada Al-Sadr who killed Abdul Majid?, you have no proof and I think its unfair on Moqtada that you blame him for a murder he did not commit". Ridhwan replied "I did not say it was Moqtada Al-Sadr who killed S.Abdul Majid, I said, and it has been proven, that supporters very close to Moqtada, including his deputy Riyadh Noori, took part in the murder of Abdul Majid and my cousin Hayder".
After the Q&A was over, we were entertained with an enchanting story telling performance of Arabian Nights by Alya Al-Zughbi (Lebanese who spent her childhood in Baghdad) and 4 members of the audience had to take part in the captivating story (we were all so impressed by their brilliant acting skills). The entire night was ruined as soon as we walked out of the center...I forgot where I parked the car, the weather was almost sub-zero, my phone battery died and to top it all off I was running late for another programme...nothing worse could have happened...actually it could have if it had rained...but I had my fingers crossed.
Ridhwan will be going back to Iraq tommorow, and I hope that one day he will return to Najaf to once again become the custodian of the holy shrine, and a few centuries down the line, it might even be his great great grandchildren who will continue their families tradition...who knows?
Ridhwan moved to the UK in 1980 just before the Iraq-Iran war kicked off. He is the eldest son of the late Sayyid Hussain Al-Killidar, a former custodian of the holy shrine in Najaf. After his father passed away in 1987, as the eldest son Ridhwan was supposed to become custodian of the shrine, but he refused to go back to Iraq. The word Killidar itself has Persian roots...'Killit dar' in Persian means 'The one with the key'. The eldest son always inherits the key from his father and becomes the custodian of the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf and this is a tradition that has been maintained since 1845. After Ridhwan refused to go back in 1987, his younger brother, Muqdad Al-Killidar took control of the shrine. Muqdad was later taken away during the intifadha of 1991 and nothing has been heard of him since. He was undoubtedly executed and buried in a mass grave alongside tens of thousands of other Iraqi's who fought against Saddam's regime in the '91 uprising. Again Ridhwan refused to go back to Iraq. This time control of the shrine went to his cousin, Hayder Al-Killidar who was brutally hacked to death with swords and knives on 10th April 2003, just one day after Baghdad fell to the US-led forces.
Now, there was no one left from his immediate family to take over the shrine, and after 2 months, he moved to Syria where he was called upon by the marja'aiya of Najaf to maintain his families long held tradition of taking care of the holy shrine. Ridhwan agreed to go back and become the 'Killidar' ('keeper of the house'/'The one with the key') of the shrine. I visited once him in Najaf inside the holy shrine, while the 'servants' of the shrine were counting the money that is donated on a daily basis to the tomb to Imam Ali. Before him, every custodian had access to these funds and could do what ever he wants with the money, however Ridhwan set up an independent committee that oversees the collection and distribution of these funds.
One of the other key roles he played in Najaf was setting up a 'Marja'iya Protection Force' which was an armed wing made up of members of Najaf's 'old school' families. Its main task was protecting the shrine and of course marja'iya in Najaf. However, his role as 'keeper' of the shrine did not last very long. During the Arpil 2005 hostilities between the Mehdi Army and Iraqi/US forces, many of his men in the Protection Force were arrested by the Mehdi Army as they tried to intervene and stop the fighting, Ridhwan then went into hiding in Najaf. The place of his hiding was compromised after just 4 days and was shelled 3 times by mortars that were fired by the Mehdi Army, luckily for him, Ridhwan managed to escape unscathed and left the city of Najaf to reside temporarily in Baghdad.
Ridhwan used to work for the Al-Khoei Foundation in London, and was a friend of Sayyid Abdul Majid Al-Khoei, who was murdered with Ridhwan's cousin Hayder by followers of Moqtada Sadr. It was for this reason that Moqtada Sadr was weary of him from the beginning, and his supporters even accused Ridhwan of being a "British spy" and also claimed the only reason he came back to Najaf was to seek revenge for the deaths of his cousin and friend.
Later the marja'iya of Najaf brokered a deal between Moqtada Sadr and the US/Iraqi forces. By this time, the heavily out-numbered and out-gunned Mehdi Army militia had suffered hundreds of casualties at the hands of the American and Iraqi armies. Moqtada promised to order his men out of Najaf (most of them had come from Sadr City, and very few actually reside in Najaf) and drop their weapons on 2 conditions:
1) The US forces must leave Najaf
2) Ridhwan must hand over the key to the shrine to the marja'iya
Ridhwan told us that if saving his city, which has family has been serving for the most part of 2 centuries, meant he had to give up the keys then so be it. The Mehdi Army retreated back to Baghdad and Ridhwan handed over the keys, which remain at the hands of the marja'iya to this day.
In Baghdad, he was approached by Dr Iyad Allawi to join the Iraqi National List and have a chance of being one of the 8 representatives for Najaf in the Iraqi parliament. Ridhwan joined ranks with Iyad Allawi and after the December 2005 elections, he was elected into the 275-member 'Council of Represantatives' (Iraqi parliament).
After his speech, a Q&A session followed, just like any other place in the world, when there are more than 2 Iraqi people sitting together, heated discussions take place and after an argument that kept on going back and forth one women who argued that life during Saddam's time was better because "atleast I could go back to Iraq every year, now I cant go" had simply had enough and decided to walk out after shouting "there will never ever be democracy in Iraq...ever".
Later, someone who introduced herself as "the daughter of Sayyid Abbas Khoei, son of the late Grand Ayatullah Al-Khoei" interrupted Ridhwan during his answer to a gentleman's question about the Mehdi Army and said "How can you say that it was Moqtada Al-Sadr who killed Abdul Majid?, you have no proof and I think its unfair on Moqtada that you blame him for a murder he did not commit". Ridhwan replied "I did not say it was Moqtada Al-Sadr who killed S.Abdul Majid, I said, and it has been proven, that supporters very close to Moqtada, including his deputy Riyadh Noori, took part in the murder of Abdul Majid and my cousin Hayder".
After the Q&A was over, we were entertained with an enchanting story telling performance of Arabian Nights by Alya Al-Zughbi (Lebanese who spent her childhood in Baghdad) and 4 members of the audience had to take part in the captivating story (we were all so impressed by their brilliant acting skills). The entire night was ruined as soon as we walked out of the center...I forgot where I parked the car, the weather was almost sub-zero, my phone battery died and to top it all off I was running late for another programme...nothing worse could have happened...actually it could have if it had rained...but I had my fingers crossed.
Ridhwan will be going back to Iraq tommorow, and I hope that one day he will return to Najaf to once again become the custodian of the holy shrine, and a few centuries down the line, it might even be his great great grandchildren who will continue their families tradition...who knows?
