Bab al-Sa'at
Bāb al-Sāʿāt (Arabic: باب الساعات, literally: Gate of Clocks or Hours) is a place in Damascus where the captives of Karbala had been kept for a while before they entered Yazid's palace. Sahl al-Sa'idi provided an account of how the caravan of the captives entered Damascus through the Gate of Clocks. The account is cited in the literature of Ashura.
Contents
Introduction
Bab al-Sa'at was an entrance of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus above which there was a great clock. It was also called "Bab al-Jayrun".[1] It can be implied from some hadiths[2] that the entrance gate of Damascus from Aleppo and Kufa was also known as "Bab al-Sa'at",[3] where Imam al-Husayn (a)'s holy head had been kept before it was taken to Yazid's palace.[4] This gate was allegedly known as "Bab al-Halab" (Gate of Aleppo), but it came to be known as "Bab al-Sa'at" (Gate of Hours) because, in 61/680, the caravan of the captives of Karbala was kept waiting there for hours.[5]
However, it is believed by others that it was called "Bab al-Sa'at" because there was a clock above it.[6] There are other accounts according to which the caravan of the Captives of Karbala entered Syria from "Bab Tuma'".[7] However, some people believe that "Bab al-Sa'at" is the same as "Bab Tuma'" which was a Christian district of Damascus, remnants of which still exist.[8]
Events
There is a huge stone in "Bab al-Sa'at" of the Umayyad Mosque which is said to be the same stone on which Abel and Cain had put their sacrifice.[9]
Also, Sahl b. Sa'd al-Sa'idi is quoted as saying that when the caravan of the captives of Karbala was taken to Damascus, people of Damascus gathered and celebrated in Bab al-Sa'at.[10] Shaykh Abbas Qummi quoted from Kamil Baha'i as saying that Imam al-Husayn (a)'s household was kept waiting in the gate for three days.[11]
Sahl b. Sa'd al-Sa'idi gave a report of how the captives were taken to Damascus through Bab al-Sa'at: decapitated heads of the Martyrs of Karbala were on spears, together with the captives. Sukayna, the daughter of Imam al-Husayn (a), asked him to give some money to spear-holders so that they move the heads in front of captives and stop goggling at women and girls in the caravan.[12] Bab al-Sa'at is mentioned in rawdas of the Event of Ashura, including the rawda of Yazid's meeting.
See Also
Notes
- ↑ Ibn Baṭūṭa, Safarnāma, vol. 1, p. 90.
- ↑ See: Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 45, p. 128.
- ↑ Bayḍūn, al-Mawsūʿat al-Karbalāʾ, vol. 2, p. 414.
- ↑ Bayḍūn, al-Mawsūʿat al-Karbalāʾ, vol. 2, p. 414.
- ↑ Muḥaddithī, Farhang-i ʿĀshūrā, p. 188.
- ↑ Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya, vol. 9, p. 158.
- ↑ Ibn Aʿtham, al-Futūḥ, vol. 5, p. 129-130.
- ↑ Shahīdī, "Bāb al-sāʿāt", vol. 3, p. 12.
- ↑ Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya, vol. 9, p. 154; Ḥamawī, Muʿjam al-buldān, vol. 2, p. 464.
- ↑ Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 45, p. 128.
- ↑ Qummī, Nafas al-mahmūm, p. 394.
- ↑ Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 45, p. 128; Khwārizmī, Maqtal al-Ḥusayn, vol. 2, p. 68.
References
- Ḥamawī, Yāqūt b. ʿAbd Allāh al-. Muʿjam al-buldān. Beirut: Dār al-Ṣādir, 1995.
- Ibn Aʿtham, Aḥmad. Al-Futūḥ. Edited by ʿAlī Shīrī. Beirut: Dār al-Aḍwāʾ, 1411 AH.
- Ibn Baṭūṭa, Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh. Safarnāma-yi Ibn Baṭūṭa. Translated to Farsi by Muḥammad ʿAlī Muwaḥḥidī. Tehran: Bungāh-i Tarjuma wa Nashr-i Kitāb, 1359 Sh.
- Ibn Kathīr, Ismāʿīl b. ʿUmar. Al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, [n.d].
- Khwārizmī, Muwaffaq b. Aḥmad al-. Maqtal al-Ḥusayn. Qom: Anwār al-Hudā, 1423 AH.
- Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-. Biḥār al-anwār. Beirut: Muʾassisat al-Wafāʾ, 1404 AH.
- Muḥaddithī, Jawād. Farhang-i ʿĀshūrā. Qom: Nashr-i Maʿrūf, 1378 Sh.
- Qummī, Shaykh ʿAbbās. Nafas al-mahmūm. Najaf: al-Maktaba al-Ḥaydarīyya, 1421 AH.
- Bayḍūn, Labīb. Al-Mawsūʿat al-Karbalāʾ. Beirut: Muʾassisat al-Aʿlamī, 1427 AH.
- Shahīdī, ʿAbd al-Ḥusayn. 1380 Sh. "Bāb al-sāʿāt". Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif Tashayyuʿ 3:12.
