Thousands of Iraqi Shia have just finished an annual pilgrimage to a Baghdad shrine.
Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq's previous leader, the Shia were religiously and politically oppressed.
The fall of Hussein's regime in 2003 empowered the country's long-crushed majority.
Now, their renaissance is having an impact on the country's politics.
Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh reports from Baghdad.
