Explanation

The holy shrine of Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib — the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad and the first Shia Imam — is in Najaf, Iraq, one of the holiest cities of Shia Islam. It is not in Saudi Arabia (which hosts Mecca and Medina), Iran (Qom and Mashhad), or Kuwait. The 2004 Iraq war put Najaf in the news, but the shrine's location has always been Iraq.