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Kufa (الكوفة al-Kufa in Arabic) is a city in Iraq, about 170 km south of Baghdad, and 10 km northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000.
Along with Karbala, and Najaf, Kufa is one of three Iraqi cities that are of great importance to Shiite Muslims. The city was the location of the capital of Ali ibn Abu Talib.
Kufa was established in 638, about the same time as Basra, by Arab armies that were fighting the Sassanids. After Ali ibn Abu Talib became caliph, he moved his headquarters and capital to Kufa as he prepared for battle with Muawiyah who was leading a revolt from SyriaThe Syrian Arab Republic is a country in Southwest Asia, bordering (from south to north) on Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. The border with Israel is subject to dispute, pending the resolution of outstanding conflicts over possession of the Gola. Ali was killed in the city, and buried in the nearby city of Najaf. After Muawiyah became caliph, Kufa served as a base for the supporters of Ali, and later its inhabitants would house his son Hussein.
In the mid- 8th century7th century — 8th century — 9th century — other centuries) Events The Iberian peninsula is taken by Arab and Berber Muslims, thus ending the Visigothic rule, and starting almost 8 centuries of Muslim presence there. Sometime this century, Beowulf is proba, the city was taken by the Abbasids who made it a temporary capital while Baghdad was being constructed. At this time, Kufa was an important learning center, and is where the kufic script was developed, the earliest script of the Arabic language. As the scholar al-Qalqashandi maintained, "The Arabic script [khatt] is the one which is now known as Kufic. From it evolved all the present hands." The angular script which later came to be known as Kufic had its origin about a century earlier than the founding of the town of Kufa, according to Moritz in the Encyclopaedia Of Islam. The kufic script was derived from one of the four pre-Islamic Arabic scripts, the one called al-Hiri (used in Hira, a city a few miles to the north). (The other three were al-Anbari (from Anbar), al-Maqqi (from Mecca) and al-Madani (from Medina). The famous author of the Kitab al-Fihrist , an index of Arabic books, Ibn al-NadimThe Shi'ite scholar Ibn al-Nadim Abu al-Faraj Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Muhammad ibn Ishaq died September 17, 995 or 998) was the author of the Kitab al-Fihrist a bibliographic index of Arabic books, which he says he completed in 987-8CE. Of his life so litt (died ca. 999), was the first to use the word 'kufic' to characterize this script, which reached a state is decorative perfection in the 8th century, when surahs were used to decorate ceramics, for representations of nature were strictly forbidden under the Islamic regime..
Even after the capital was moved to Baghdad, Kufa remained in an important position. However, it began to come under constant attack in the 11th century and eventually shrunk and lost its importance.
In the last century, the population of Kufa has begun to grow again. It continues to be an important pilgrimage site for Shiite Muslims.
Kufa is presently under the effective control of the anti-occupation fighters of the Mehdi Army, who are leading a Shi'ite insurgency, despite attempts by American soldiers to eliminate the local resistance.
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