place_of_death abolhassan najafi
Najaf ( BGN : " ___MASK53___ ") is a city in ___MASK33___ ___MASK79___ about 160 km ( roughly 100 miles ) south of Baghdad . Its estimated population in 2013 was 1 , 000 , 000 people . It is the capital of Najaf Governorate . It is widely considered the third holiest city of Shia Islam , the Shia world  s spiritual capital and the center of Shi ' a political power in ___MASK79___ . ___MASK79___ (, or ; '; '), officially known as the Republic of ___MASK79___ ('; ') is a country in Western Asia , bordered by Turkey to the north , Iran to the east , ___MASK93___ to the southeast , Saudi Arabia to the south , Jordan to the southwest , and Syria to the west . The capital , and largest city , is Baghdad . The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds ; others include Assyrians , Turkmen , Shabakis , Yazidis , Armenians , Mandeans , Circassians , and Kawliya . Around 95 % of the country ' s 36 million citizens are Muslims , with Christianity , Yarsan , Yezidism , and Mandeanism also present . The official languages of ___MASK79___ are Arabic and Kurdish . ___MASK65___ is the capital of the Republic of ___MASK79___ . The population of ___MASK65___ , , is approximately 7 . 216 . 040 making it the largest city in ___MASK79___ , the second largest city in the Arab world ( after Cairo , Egypt ), and the second largest city in Western Asia ( after ___MASK3___ , Iran ). Najaf Governorate (" ___MASK53___ ") ( or Najaf Province ) is a governorate in ___MASK33___ and southern ___MASK79___ . The capital is the city of Najaf . The other major city is Al Kufah . Both cities are holy to Shia Muslims , who form the majority of the population . Prior to 1976 it was part of the ___MASK50___ Governorate . Abolhassan Najafi , ( 28 June 1929 -- 22 January 2016 ) was an Iranian writer and translator . Najafi was born in Najaf , ___MASK79___ , into a family from Isfahan . He began his literary activities in 1960s and translated several books from French into Persian . He co - published a successful literary periodical entitled Jong - e Isfahan ( Persian :       ) . After revolution he published a controversial book on Persian usage entitled Let ' s Avoid Mistakes (   ) . Najafi published over twenty books , among these a dictionary on Persian slang , elements of general linguistics and its application to the Persian language . He translated French novels to Persian , notable works from Jean - Paul Sartre ( Le Diable et le bon Dieu , Les sequestres d ' Altona , Qu ' est - ce que la litérature ) , André Malraux ( Antimémoire ) , Albert Camus ( Caligula ) , Roger Martin du Gard ( Les Thibault ) , Claude Lévi - Strauss ( La race et l ' histoire ) , and Antoine de Saint - Exupéry ( Le Petit Prince ) . Najafi was a member of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature ( 1990 -- 2016 ) .