BAGHDAD, May 4, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – The Iraqi city of Al-Madain, one of the ancient cities of Mesopotamia and the onetime capital of collapsed empires under the name Ctesiphon, has always been a haven for both Sunnis and Shiites.

But the recent turmoil in the city created by the hostage hoax has given a cause for concern and raised “imperial” fears.

“Those behind the borders are considering the city and the ancient Taq-i Kasra (the vault of Caeser) as the seat of their collapsed empire,” Adnan Al-Delimi, head of the Sunni Waqfs in Iraq, told IslamOnline.net Tuesday, May 3.

“They want to revive the past glories of the Persian Empire under the cloak of ethnicity, not Islam,” he said, in a veiled reference to Iran.

Located approximately 20 miles southeast of the city of Baghdad, Al-Madain was the last bastion falling to the Muslim army under Caliph Umar Ibn Al-Khattab and Commander Sa’ad Ibn Abi-Waqqas in the famous 637 Al-Qadisya Battle.

The battle led to the Islamic conquest of Persia, which was then ruled by the Magus.

The breathtaking Taq-i Kasra is now all that remains of a maganificent palace that was, for seven centuries, the main seat for the successive dynasties of the Achaemenids, Parthians and Sasanians.

The Throne room was more than 110 ft high. The massive barrel vault covered an area 80ft wide by 160 ft long.

Al-Madain is also the burial ground for several companions of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), chiefly Salman Al-Farisi.

Jamil Elewi, professor of Islamic Jurisprudence in Baghdad University, said the recent Al-Madain crisis was nothing but a tribal feud.

“Two Sunni and Shiite clans notorious for carrying out a series of robberies differed on their share of a looted truck laden with wood,” he told IOL.

He said the US-backed Iraqi troops did not find any hostages or militants when they stormed the city.

“It is hard evidence that it was just a tribal feud,” he said.

Elewi also questioned the number of bodies found floating on the Tigris.

“Credible sources said that only 15 bodies had been found,” he said.

He added that most of them were kidnapped outside of the city and thrown later in the river.

Leading Shiite figures welcomed earlier in the week an initiative put forward by a prominent Sunni scholar to foster national unity and head off looming sectarian strife.