One of the largest cemeteries in the world

The Wadi al-Salam (Valley of Peace) cemetery is believed to be either the largest or the second largest cemetery in the world. It is the holiest and most highly sought-after burial place among Shiites. There are acres of graves and myriads of domes of various colours and at various stages of disrepair to the North and East of the town. Corpses are brought from across Iraq, Iran and elsewhere in the Shiite world to lie close to Imam Ali, the cousin of Muhammad and his successor, whose remains are enshrined in a gold-domed mosque. The trade involving transporting dead bodies from far off areas of Shi'a dead has been operating for centuries. Saddam had curtailed the "corpse traffic" from Iran after the war started in 1980, but after his fall it resumed, reviving the local economy with a profitable "corpse traffic" of at least a 100 funerals a day. The corpse traffic is organized and regulated by the Customs and Health Departments -- Customs collects duty on the corpses and Health keeps watch to prevent epidemics.