Maqam Ra's al-Husayn (a): Difference between revisions

'''Maqām Ra’s al-Ḥusayn (a) ''' (Arabic: مقام رأسُ الحُسَین) refers to places where [[Imam Husayn (a)’s head is buried or kept. There are monuments called “Maqam Ra’s al-Husayn” in different cities. These are places where Imam Husayn (a)’s head is allegedly buried or places where his holy head used to be kept and has thus turned into places frequently visited by Shiites. According to Shiite scholars, Imam Husayn (a)’s head was eventually attached to his torso in [[Karbala]] and is buried where his torso is buried.

There is nothing in Sunni sources regarding whether Imam Husayn (a)’s head is buried in [[Kufa]] or [[Najaf]], and there is no commonly accepted view among Shiites to the effect that his head is buried in one of these two places. There are, however, [[hadiths]] implying that Imam Husayn (a)’s head is in [[Imam 'Ali (a)]]’s holy shrine. There are other hadiths confirming such a story. However, there are problems with these hadiths that made them hard to be accepted by Shiite scholars.

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

On some accounts, Imam Husyan (a)’s head was attached to his body. This is maintained by both Shiite and Sunni scholars. Some Shiite scholars, such as [[al-Shaykh al-Saduq]], [[al-Sayyid al-Murtada]], [[al-Fattal al-Nishaburi]], [[Ibn Nama al-Hilli]], [[Sayyid b. Tawus]], [[al-Shaykh al-Baha'i]], [[Abu Rayhan al-Biruni]], Qazwini and [['Allama Majlisi]] are proponents of this view. According to some scholars, [[Ziyarat al-Arba'in]] (visiting Imam Husayn (a)’s shrine on the Fourtieth day of his [[martyrdom]]) is recommended because Imam Husayn (a)’s head was attached to his body on this day.

On some accounts, Imam Husayn (a)’s 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. 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.

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

When the caravan of Karbala’s prisoners and the heads of martyrs in Karbala arrived in [[Aleppo]] from [[Iraq]], they stayed near a mountain called “Jawshan” west of Aleppo, besides a monastery called “Marat Marutha”. There was a monk in the monastery who bribed the guards of the caravan to put Imam Husayn (a)’s head on a rock inside the monastery. He stayed near the head until the morning. At the  sunrise when they took the head, there were drops of blood on the rock. When the caravan moved on, people of Aleppo learned about the story and congregated around the rock and mourned for Imam Husayn (a). According to Shiite accounts, blood used to spring on that rock every year on the [[Day of Ashura]], attracting the attention of many people of [[al-Sham]].

Mashhad al-Husayn (a) is a well-known place in Aleppo today and it is frequently visited by its residents and visitors of [[Zaynab bt. 'Ali]] (a). Today the area is known as “Hayy al-Ansari”. In 1960, the Ja’fari Institute for Reconstruction and Islamic Beneficience was founded to reconstruct Mashhad al-Husayn (a). It also built a mosque, a medical center, and an Islamic seminary school headed by Shaykh Ibrahim Nasr Allah. Shaykh Ibrahim is the author of the book, ''Aleppo and Shiism''. He is the leader of [[congregational prayers]] in Mashhad al-Husayn (a).

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

According to another account, during the [[caliphate]] of [[al-Mustansir Billah al-Fatimi]], a [[Fatimid]] [[caliph]] and the ministry of Badr al-Jamali, a person saw in his dreams that Imam Husayn (a)’s 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.

According to [[Yaqut al-Hamawi]], there is a mausoleum in [[Cairo]] where Imam Husayn (a)’s head is buried. Sibt b. 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.

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

==The City of “Imam Sahib” in Afghanistan==

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 Husayn (a)’s head was moved to Ashkelon in al-Sham. In the 6th century AH (12th 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. In this place (just like the mausoleum of Shahmardan in [[Mazar-i-Sharif]]), the flag of the mausoleum is taken every year on March 29, and then there is a ceremony in the city for 40 days. Local officials and visitors from nearby and distant places attend the ceremony.

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 Husayn (a)’s head was attached to his body and is thus buried in his holy shrine in [[Karbala]].