'When you cross the bridge of boats to Kufa, you step from Babylonia into the history of Islam.' History has moved on since 1937 in the sense that the modern suburbs of Najaf straggle to join up with Kufa, several relatively unobtrusive factories have been built, and the bridge of boats to Kufa has been replaced with a new conventional one. Nevertheless, it is true still that Kufa is surrounded by hillocks of sand under which the Bedu Muslim conquerors lie buried. Soon Kufa's greatest days were over. For Kufa today is a modest, restful place.

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