Holy Shrine of al-Abbas (a): Difference between revisions

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'''Shrine of Abbas (a)''' (Arabic:{{ia|العتبة العباسية المقدسة}}) is the burial place of [['Abbas b. Ali (a)]] in [[Karbala]] which is located 378 meters north east of the [[Shrine of Imam al-Husayn (a)]] and the place between the two shrines is called [[Bayn al-Haramayn]]. The Shrine of Abbas (a) has a shared history with the Shrine of Imam al-Husayn (a) and is one of the most important places for [[Shi'a]] to visit.

Abbas (a) was martyred on [[Muharram 10]], [[61]]/680 when confronting with the army of [['Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad]].

The holy shrine of Abu al-Fadl (a) is located on the east of the holy shrine of Imam al-Husayn (a) and in the same place he (a) was martyred. This building includes one court, mausoleum and a dome covered with tiles and two minarets with heads plated with gold. Always, the people who have cared about rebuilding and expanding the holy shrine of Imam al-Husayn (a) have rebuilt and renewed the holy shrine of Abbas (a) as well.

In 66 AH, Mukhtar Thaqafi, with the help of some Arabs and Iranians who were Shia of Imam Ali (a) made an uprising to take revenge for Imam al-Husayn (a) and during his rule and government (by him or other Shia), the first building for the shrine was built and gradually, this building and the whole city was developed, but in 170 AH, Harun al-Rashid ordered to destroy it.

Ma’mun who took the power in 198 AH, began a friendly relation with Shia; thus, Shia used this opportunity and the second building of the shrine was built at the time of Ma’mun. In 232 AH, Mutawakkil became the caliph. He ordered to destroy not only the shrines of Imam al-Husayn (a) and Abbas (a) but the whole city of Karbala. After destruction of the city, he ordered to plough the whole area and let it filled with water.

The Abbasid caliph al-Muntasir distributed great property among 'Alavis and ordered to reconstruct the city of Karbala and the shrine of Abbas (a). Thus, Karbala was developed in his time and pilgrims flew to the city from different places.

In 367 AH, 'Adud al-Dawla Daylami entered Baghdad and then went to visit Karbala and Najaf and ordered to build a great shrine for Abbas (a). The mentioned building began in 367 AH and finished in 372 AH.

After the establishment of Jalayirid government in Iran, when Shaykh Hasan Ilkani came to power in 740 AH, Sultan Uways (Shaykh Hasan’s son) began repairing the shrine which finished in 786 AH and many gifts were sent to the shrine through Iran.

Shah Isma’il Safavi victoriously entered Baghdad on Jumada al-Thani 25th, 914 AH and was well received by Shias. The next day, he went toward Karbala and sat in the shrine of Imam al-Husayn (a) for one whole day. He then went to the shrine of Abbas (a) and ordered to make extensive repairs on the shrine. He also gifted twelve cylinders of pure gold he had brought with himself from Iran to the shrine of Abbas (a). He ordered to cover the floor of the whole shrine with valuable silk carpets woven in Isfahan and employed a special team of servants for the maintenance and lighting the cresset of the shrine whose descendants are known today in Karbala as Al Qandil. Isma’il Safavi also ordered the tiling of the dome as well which was still remaining until 1302 AH.

In 1153 AH, Nader Shah sent many gifts to the shrine of Abbas (a) and ordered extensive repairs in that holy shrine.

On Dhu al-Hijjah 18th, 1216 AH when people had gone to Najaf from Karbala to celebrate Eid al-Ghadir, Sa’ud b. 'Abd al-'Aziz attacked Karbala with an army and ordered the pillage of the whole city, destruction of the Shrine of Abbas (a) and looted all the gifts of Safavid Shahs and Nader Shah and chandeliers of gold and silver, etc.

After the attack of Wahhabis to Karbala, people of Iran with the help of the government at the time of Fath Ali Shah Qajar made great donation to the city and repaired all the destructions Wahhabis had made. The shrine of Abbas (a) was also repaired and the silver Darih Fath Ali Shah had gifted was installed in 1227 AH.

Repairs of the shrine were not stopped during the rule of Qajar and Nasir al-Din Shah ordered the renewal of tilework the dome. In 1304 AH, the tilework of the courtyard finished and the tilework of the dome was finished in 1305 AH. Also, 'Abd al-Husayn Tihrani, known as Shaykh al-'Iraqayn made extensive repairs in the shrine using a third of the money given to him by Mirza Taqi Khan Amir Kabir.

The shrine of Abbas (a) is located 378 meters north-east of the shrine of Imam al-Husayn (a) and Bayn al-Haramayn is the place connecting the two shrines. Grave of Ababs (a) is located in the middle of the shrine and over it a gifted exquisite Khatam box is placed on which some repairs have been made over time.

Over the box, the silver darih is placed which was made using four hundred thousand Mithqals of pure silver and eight thousand Mithqals of gold after three years by Iranian artists and the help of Sayyid Muhsin Hakim and was installed in 1385 AH. There are four symmetric rawaqs at the four sides of the shrine which are joined at their ends. The ceiling and all the walls the shrine and rawaqs have mirror-works on them made by Iranian artists. Over darih, a great dome is built gold plating which was finished in 1375 AH.

The shrine of Abbas (a) has four rawaqs which surround darih from four sides: the north rawaq is for entering the basement and the holy grave and it is said that it has been overlooking 'Alqama stream. The south rawaq having three doors opened to the golden portico.

The area of the courtyard of Abu al-Fadl’s (a) shrine is 9300 square meters and the area of the whole shrine including rawaqs, the place under the dome and the portico is 4370 square meters. The great courtyard has four porticos. At the top of the north portico there is an epigraph which includes the date 1304 AH. The courtyard has four sides and at each side, there are small rooms which are totally 75.

Over the shrine of Abu al-Fadl (a), there is a dome with the diameter of 12 meters different with other domes. It is a semi-circle dome with a sharp tip and a taller bottom from which windows with arches and sharp tips open outside. Inside the dome in the bottom part is dark purple on which verses of the glorious Qur’an are written in white.

In 1375 AH (1955 CE), the dome was gold-plated. In that year, Shaykh Muhammad Khatib sent a telegram to the prime minister of Iraq, Muhammad Fadil Jamali and asked to plate the dome with gold. Consequently, gold-plating the dome was done and based on documents available in Awqaf management of Karbala, 6418 bricks of gold have been used on the dome. In the bottom part of the dome, some verses of the Qur’an are inscribed with mirror-works. The height of the dome is 39 meters from the ground.

In the shrine of Abbas (a), there are precious articles which are priceless including precious carpets, carpets woven by gold threads or having gems, golden chandeliers, inlaid swords, golden clocks, clocks made of ebony woods and alike.

The library of the shrine contains 109 very precious handwritten copies of the Qur’an, one of which is attributed to Imam Ali (a). The library of the shrine and its treasure are kept in one place.

== The Place of Abbas’s (a) Hand ==

The place of the right hand of Abbas (a) is between Bab al-Baghdad and Bab al-Khan, near Bab al-'Alqami of the shrine of Abu al-Fadl (a) and the place of the left hand of Abbas (a) is 50 meters away from the small Bab al-Qibla of the courtyard of the shrine of Abbas (a) at the entrance of Bab al-Khan bazaar.

== Existence of Water beside the Grave of Abbas (a) ==

There is a water spring surrounding and under the grave of Abbas (a). From 50 years ago, the water level has been fixed and it does not go down after using from it. The water level is one meter above the grave but it does not enter the grave area. The entrance to water channel in the shrine of Abbas (a) is currently closed.

== Management of the Shrine of Abbas (a) ==

Management of the shrine is among important positions between the time of Buyids and Safavids and at the time of Safavids, it became much more important. Since 18th century AH, some people living in Karbala have orders from Safavid kings for management of the shrine. During the rule of Ottomans in Iraq, names of some managers and servants of the shrines of Imam al-Husayn (a) and Abbas (a) were registered in a special record. However sometimes, when the managers are Sayyid, they also have the position of leadership of Alavis and thus become the ruler of Karbala and sometimes they are only managers of the shrine and the leader of Alavis would be someone else. Only towards the end of the rule of Safavids and the beginning of the rule of Ottomans over Iraq, there were non-Alavi managers for the shrine.