The  bombing of Samarra's al-Askari shrine, which destroyed one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, is a henious act. It could exacerbate civil strife and plunge the country into a civil war. Or it could bring the virtous people from the Shia and Sunni communities to see themselves as brothers in Islam and sons in humanity and prompt them to stop the ever increasing bloodshed.

In a background article about the shrine the BBC pointed out that over the centuries, the central Iraqi city of Samarra has attracted millions of Shia pilgrims from all over the Muslim world.

They travel to the city to worship at the sacred tombs of Ali al-Hadi and al-Hasan al-Askari, the 10th and 11th Shia Imams, and the site where the 12th Imam, Mohammed al-Mahdi, disappeared.

Imam al-Mahdi, known as the "hidden Imam", was the son and grandson of the two previous imams, and Shias pray at the mosque for his return.

Shia Islam was led by imams, believed to be divinely appointed from the Prophet Muhammad's family, until the late 9th Century.

Al-Hadi, the 10th Shia Imam, was born in Medina in modern-day Saudi Arabia in 827. He became Imam at the age of six.

In 848, he and his son were brought to Samarra, then the capital of the Abbasid Empire and placed under house arrest by the Caliph al-Mutawakkil.

It is believed Imam al-Hadi was poisoned in 868, and buried in a house near the original mosque of al-Mutasim.

Al-Askari succeeded his father as imam, but remained under house arrest until his death in 874. He was buried beside his father in what was later to become the al-Askari shrine.

In addition to the tombs of the two imams, are those of Hakima Khatun, the sister of Imam al-Hadi, and Narjis Khatun, the mother of Imam al-Mahdi.

The huge complex also contains a second shrine above the cave (sirdab), where the young Imam al-Mahdi, Al-Askari's son, was said to have been hidden before he disappeared in 878.

Not accepting that he died, Shias still await his return more than 1,100 years later.

Visitors descend stairs to enter the sirdab, which bears an 800-year-old inscription from the Abbasid Caliph Nasser al-Din Allah.

The huge complex was first developed during the 10th and 11th Centuries by the Shia Hamdanid and Buyid dynasties, and soon became an important place of pilgrimage.

The complex was rebuilt several times, most recently in 1905, when a gold-plated dome was erected above the tomb of the two imams. The dome was covered by 72,00 golden pieces and measured roughly 20m wide and 68m high.

A blue-tiled dome also marks the sirdab where Imam al-Mahdi disappeared.

Robert Hillenbrand, the professor of Islamic Art at Edinburgh University,  said that the shrine may not be of enormous architectural importance, but is of immense spiritual importance for hundreds of millions of Shia Muslims.

 "Pilgrimage to such shrines, of which the majority are in Iraq, is an absolutely integral part of their religious life," he added.

The al-Askari shrine, which has been a beacon for religious tourism, is in fact in a Sunni area  and is  treasured and guarded by the Sunnis. They take care of the visitors and receive donations from them. Actions speak louder than words and this symbolizes the unity of both sects, which the vicious terrorist atrocity tried to undermine.