100 Al Hawza of Najaf in Iraq and functions, as we will detail in the next section. 72 It is necessary here to point out that there are no statistics on the number of Hawza students in Najaf, although each mujtahid’s office has a list of students eligible for salaries. The salaries vary depending on the phase of study the student is in, and whether he is single and living in a school or is a breadwinner living in independent housing. THE IRAQI STATE AND NEW RESOURCES: THE HOLY SHRINES MODEL: FROM LEVIES TO PRODUCTION During their historical evolution, the holy shrines in Iraq were the link between religion and the state. They were not independent, per se, and were not dominant or influential in the public religious sphere. They did not perform functions that could be described as secular, such as trade and industry. The shrines did not pursue any of these activities, although their custodians 73 did pursue them based on the social and international influence granted by the position of shrine custodian. Since the position of custodian originated, its occupant had been appointed by the government. This was more explicit during the Ottoman and Safavid eras as the two empires fought in Iraq after the weakening of the Al Kamuna family, which had run the Ashraf Syndicate(an association of descendants of Prophet Muhammad) in Iraq since the late Abbasid era. The family was based in Najaf as administrators of the pilgrimage, and they had a private army, prisons, and a government independent from Baghdad, not to mention the Ashraf Syndicate. They controlled the administration of shrines in religious cities such as Najaf, Karbala, Kadhimiya, and Sammara until fading away. The power of the Imam Ali shrine custodian then emerged, especially in the time of Reza al-Rafi’i. He took over as both head of the Ashraf Syndicate and custodian of the shrine following 72  For details, see: Ali al-Mathloum,“Al-Khibra al-’Irānīyya wa-l-‘Atabāt al-Muqaddasa fī al­‘Irāq: Muqāraba li-Taḥawwul Dūr al-‘Atabitayn fī Karbalā’ min al-Dīnī’ilā al-Dunyawīyya”(“The Iranian Experience and Holy Shrines in Iraq: An Approach to the Transformation of the Two Karbala Shrines from Religious to Worldly Institutions”), Journal for Iranian Studies 2, no. 7, June 2018, p. 21. 73  The custodian(sādin) is the administrator of the shrine. In Persian, this person is called the kalitdar, which was corrupted to become kalidar. That, in turn, became a sobriquet of the last family to hold the post in Iraq, Al Kalidar, from the Alid family of Al Rafi’i.