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Maqam Ra's al-Husayn (a)

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Maqām Ra's al-Ḥusayn (a) (Arabic: مقام رأسُ الحُسَین) refers to places where Imam al-Husayn's (a) head is claimed to be buried or kept. There are monuments called "Maqam Ra's al-Husayn" in different cities. According to Shiite scholars, Imam al-Husayn's (a) head was eventually attached to his torso in Karbala and is buried where his torso is buried.

Maqam Ra's al-Husayn (a) in Al-Hannana Mosque

Maqams of head of Imam al-Husayn (a)

The meaning of Maqam of head of Imam al-Husayn (a) is both the places where it is said that the Imam's (a) head was buried and the places where the Imam's (a) head was kept for a short time and turned into a place of pilgrimage.[1]

Karbala

According to the majority of scholars, Imam al-Husayn's (a) head was attached to his body.[2] Both Shiite and Sunni[3] scholars maintain this.[4] Some Shi'a scholars, such as al-Shaykh al-Saduq, al-Sayyid al-Murtada, al-Fattal al-Naysaburi, Ibn Nama al-Hilli, al-Sayyid b. Tawus, Baha' al-Din al-'Amili and al-'Allama al-Majlisi are proponents of this view.

In this regard, al-Shaykh al-Saduq[5] and after him, al-Fattal al-Nayshaburi[6] wrote that "'Ali b. al-Husayn (a) exited (Syria) with women and returned the head of al-Husayn (a) to Karbala."

About this issue, al-Sayyid al-Murtada wrote, "They have reported that the head of Imam al-Husayn (a) was buried beside the body in Karbala."[7]

After mentioning the above quotation from al-Sayyid al-Murtada, Ibn Shahr Ashub quoted from al-Shaykh al-Tusi that Ziyara of Arba'in is advised for this reason (joining the head of Imam (a) to the body and burying it.[8]

Also, Ibn Nama al-Hilli wrote, "What can be relied upon among reports is that after the head of Imam (a) was moved from one city to another among different cities, it was returned to the body and was buried beside the body."[9]

Al-Sayyid b. Tawus wrote, "It is reported that the head of Imam al-Husayn (a) was returned and buried in Karbala."[10]

Al-Majlisi regarded one of the reasons for the recommendation of ziyara of Imam al-Husayn (a) on the day of Arba'in, joining of the heads to bodies by Imam al-Sajjad (a).[11]" Elsewhere after mentioning others' views in this regard, he wrote that, "It is famous among Imamiyya scholars that the head of Imam (a) was buried beside the body."[12]

Also, al-Qazwini wrote that "The first day of the month of Safar is celebrated by Umayyads, because, on that day, the head of al-Husayn (a) was brought to Damascus and on the twentieth of that month, it was returned to the body."[13]

Najaf

There are, hadiths implying that Imam al-Husayn's (a) head is in Imam 'Ali's (a) Holy Shrine.[14] Some historians believe that these hadiths have problems in chain of transmission and content.[15] However, there are problems with these hadiths that made them hard to be accepted by Shiite scholars.[16]

There is a place inside Masjid al-Hannana well-known as the place where Imam al-Husayn's (a) head is put there. It is said his head was put there when heads of Martyrs of Karbala were taking from Karbala to Kufa.[17]

Medina

According to some Sunni sources, when Yazid b. Mu'awiya sent the prisoners of the Event of Karbala to Medina, he sent Imam al-Husayn's (a) head to 'Amr b. Sa'd b. al-'As in Medina, and 'Amr buried it in the al-Baqi' Cemetery.[18] According to some scholars, the head was sent to Banu Hashim, and they buried it in al-Baqi' after ghusl and burial and funeral prayer.[19]

Damascus

 
Dariih of ra's al-Husayin in Umayyad Mosque

On some accounts, Imam al-Husayn's (a) head was buried in Damascus. However, there is disagreement as to whether it was buried in the palace or a garden in Damascus or a cemetery there.[20] There are other accounts according to which the head was buried in the Faradis Gate, the Damascus Mosque near two pillars on the right side of qibla, in Muslims' graves.[21]

 
Based on some reports, some blood from Imam al-Husayn's (a) head has dropped on this rock. Later, a mosque called Masjid al-Nuqta has been constructed in the place in Aleppo.

Kufa

In a report, Sibt b. al-Jawzi said that 'Amr b. Hurayth al-Makhzumi took the Imam's (a) head from Ibn Ziyad and buried it in his house in Kufa, which was known as "Dar al-Khazz", after ghusl and shrouding it.[22]

Al-Raqqah

According to Sibt b. al-Jawzi, Yazid b. Mu'awiya sent Imam al-Husayn's (a) head to Abu Mu'it's household as retaliation for 'Uthman b. 'Affan's head, and they buried the head in a house that was later attached to al-Raqqah's Jami' Mosque.[23]

Al-Mashhad al-Husayn or al-Masjid al-Nuqta

Masjid al-Nuqta or Mashhad al-Husayn is built in a place which is said that the head of Imam al-Husayn (a) was put on a stone during its transfer from Karbala to Damascus and some drops of its blood were poured on that stone. It is said that when the caravan of the captives and the heads of the martyrs of Karbala arrived in Aleppo, they stood near mount Jawshan and the monastery of "Marat Marutha". They put the head of Imam al-Husayn (a) on a rock and when they picked it up, some drops of its blood had poured on the rock.[24] Later, people of Aleppo built a shrine upon that stone.[25]

Ashkelon

 
Shrine of Ra's al-Husayn in Ashkelon, Palestine

On some accounts, a group of people from Ashkelon ('Asqalan) went to Yazid b. Mu'awiya and asked him to let them bury Imam al-Husayn's (a) head in their city. Yazid gave them the head; they buried the head in Ashkelon and made a mausoleum over it.[26]

According to another account, during the caliphate of al-Mustansir Bi-Allah al-Fatimi, a Fatimid caliph and the ministry of Badr al-Jamali, a person saw in his dreams that Imam al-Husayn's (a) head is buried in Ashkelon. He learned the exact place in his dream. When he woke up, they exhumed the place he saw in his dream, and they found the head. Badr al-Jamali made a mausoleum over the place.[27]

Cairo

 
Darih of Ra's al-Husyin in Cairo

According to Yaqut al-Hamawi, there is a mausoleum in Cairo where Imam al-Husayn's (a) head is buried.[28] Sibt b. al-Jawzi took the fifth view about where the head was buried to be that it was buried in Cairo: on this view, the head was moved to Ashkelon by Fatimid caliphs, and then it was moved to Cairo and buried there and a great mausoleum was built over it, which is frequently visited today.[29]

Merv

According to some sources, when Abu Muslim al-Khurasani conquered Damascus, he moved Imam al-Husayn's (a) head to Merv and buried it in Dar al-Imara.[30]

"Imam Sahib" City

There is a mausoleum in the city of Imam Sahib, located in Kunduz province north of Afghanistan. The epigraphy at the entrance of the mausoleum reads that after the Event of Karbala, Imam al-Husayn's (a) head was moved to Ashkelon in Syria.[31] In the sixth/twelfth century, the Fatimid caliph of Egypt moved the head to Egypt, but before the head was buried there, some Turks took the head to Bactria and buried it in a place called Arhang.[32] In this place (just like the mausoleum of Shahmardan in Mazar-i-Sharif), the flag of the mausoleum is taken every year on March 30, and then there is a ceremony in the city for forty days. Local officials and visitors from nearby and distant places attend the ceremony.[33]

An Assessment

Given that most of these views have appeared in Sunni sources and have problems with respect to their chains of narrations as well as their contents, most Shiite scholars maintained the view that Imam al-Husayn's (a) head was attached to his body and is thus buried in his holy shrine in Karbala.[34] According to some historical reports, the head of Imam al-Husayn (a) was attached to the body and buried on the Arba'in day of the 61 lunar year.[35]

Notes

  1. ↑ Group of authors, Nigāhī nu bih jaryān-i ʿĀshūrā, p. 364.
  2. ↑ Group of authors, Tārīkh-i qīyām wa maqtal-i jāmiʿ-i Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ, vol. 2, p. 574, 587.
  3. ↑ Sibṭ b. al-Jawzī, Tadhkirat al-khawāṣ, p. 238.
  4. ↑ Group of authors, Tārīkh-i qīyām wa maqtal-i jāmiʿ-i Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ, vol. 2, p. 574.
  5. ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Amālī, p. 168.
  6. ↑ Fattāl al-Nayshābūrī, Rawḍat al-wāʿiẓīn, p. 192
  7. ↑ Sayyid Murtaḍā, Rasāʾil al-Murtaḍā, vol. 3, p. 130.
  8. ↑ Ibn Shahrāshūb, Manāqib Āl Abī Ṭālib, vol. 4, p. 77.
  9. ↑ Ibn Nimā al-Ḥillī, Muthīr al-aḥzān, p. 107.
  10. ↑ Ibn Ṭāwūs, al-Luhūf, p. 195.
  11. ↑ Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 98, p. 334.
  12. ↑ Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 45, p. 145.
  13. ↑ Qazwīnī, ʿAjāʾib al-makhlūqāt, p. 70.
  14. ↑ See: Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol. 4, p. 571; Ibn Qūlawayh, Kāmil al-zīyārāt, p. 86-87.
  15. ↑ Group of authors, Nigāhī nu bih jaryān-i ʿĀshūrā, p. 367-368; Group of authors, Tārīkh-i qīyām wa maqtal-i jāmiʿ-i Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ, vol. 2, p. 588.
  16. ↑ Group of authors. Tārīkh-i qīyām wa maqtal-i jāmiʿ-i Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ, vol. 2, p. 588.
  17. ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Amālī, p. 628; Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 98, p. 257.
  18. ↑ Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 5, p. 238; Khwārizmī, Maqtal al-Ḥusayn, vol. 2, p. 83; Ibn al-Jawzī, al-Muntaẓam, vol. 5, p. 344.
  19. ↑ Nuwayrī, Nihāyat al-ʾarab, vol. 20, p. 480.
  20. ↑ Balādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, vol. 3, p. 214.
  21. ↑ Group of authors, Tārīkh-i qīyām wa maqtal-i jāmiʿ-i Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ, vol. 2, p. 583.
  22. ↑ Sibṭ b. al-Jawzī, Tadhkirat al-khawāṣ, p. 233.
  23. ↑ Sibṭ b. al-Jawzī, Tadhkirat al-khawāṣ, p. 239.
  24. ↑ Ḥusaynī Jālālī, Mazārāt Ahl al-Bayt, p. 236.
  25. ↑ Ḥalabī al-Ghazzī, Nahr al-dhahab, vol. 2, p. 212.
  26. ↑ Muḥammad b. ʿAlī ʿImrānī, Anbāʾ fī akhbār al-khulafāʾ, p. 16, qouted from Group of authors, Tārīkh-i qīyām wa maqtal-i jāmiʿ-i Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ, vol. 2, p. 584.
  27. ↑ Group of authors, Tārīkh-i qīyām wa maqtal-i jāmiʿ-i Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ, vol. 2, p. 584.
  28. ↑ Ḥamawī, Muʿjam al-buldān, vol. 5, p. 166 qouted from Group of authors, Tārīkh-i qīyām wa maqtal-i jāmiʿ-i Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ, vol. 2, p. 585.
  29. ↑ Sibṭ b. al-Jawzī, Tadhkirat al-khawāṣ, p. 239.
  30. ↑ Nuwayrī, Nihāyat al-ʾarab, vol. 20, p. 300 qouted from Group of authors, Tārīkh-i qīyām wa maqtal-i jāmiʿ-i Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ, vol. 2, p. 586.
  31. ↑ Grotzbach, Jughrāfīyā-yi shahrī dar Afghānistān, p. 101.
  32. ↑ Grotzbach, Jughrāfīyā-yi shahrī dar Afghānistān, p. 101.
  33. ↑ Grotzbach, Jughrāfīyā-yi shahrī dar Afghānistān, p. 101.
  34. ↑ Group of authors, Tārīkh-i qīyām wa maqtal-i jāmiʿ-i Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ, vol. 2, p. 588.
  35. ↑ Group of authors, Tārīkh-i qīyām wa maqtal-i jāmiʿ-i Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ, vol. 2, p. 306-308, 589.

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