Bab al-Saghir Cemetery ( ar, مقبرة الباب الصغير, translit=Maqbarat al-Bāb al-Ṣaghīr) is an Islamic

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. It is about 200 meters to the southwest of the

Bab al-Saghir ''Bāb aṣ-Ṣaghīr'' ( ar, بَـاب الـصَّـغِـيْـر, "Small Gate"), also called ''Goristan-e-Ghariban'', may refer to one of the seven gates in the Old City of Damascus, and street in the modern city of Damascus, Syria. It has ' ...

gate.

History

Stephanie Mulder in a book documenting and analyzing medieval Alid shrines in Syria points out that the "tomb edicated to Sukayna bint al-Husaynin the Bab al-Saghir cemetery is consistently mentioned in medieval Arabic sources from the late twelfth century onwards, and the text-based findings relating to its location, original structure, phases of development and various patrons, afford well with the rich architectural evidence documented." The place has notable Islamic interments. The 20th century poet

Nizar Qabbani Nizar Tawfiq Qabbani ( ar, نزار توفيق قباني, , french: Nizar Kabbani; 21 March 1923 – 30 April 1998) was a Syrian diplomat, poet, writer and publisher. He is considered to be Syria's National Poet. His poetic style combines simp ...

is also buried here.

Interments

Companions of Muhammad

* Abd Allah ibn Umm Maktum (died 636), early Medinian Muslim *

Asma bint Umays Asmāʾ bint ʿUmays ( ar, أَسْمَاء بِنْت عُمَيْس) was a Companions of the Prophet, companion of the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. She is known for having married three companions of the Prophet: ...

(died 7th century), wife of

Abu Bakr Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first caliph of Islam. He is known with the honor ...

Ali ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...

, and

Ja'far ibn Abi Talib Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, جعفر بن أبي طالب September 629), also known as Jaʿfar al-Ṭayyār ( ar, جعفر الطيّار, lit=Ja'far the Flyer) was a companion and cousin of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and an older brot ...

* Bilal ibn Rabah (580–640), the first

muezzin The muezzin ( ar, مُؤَذِّن) is the person who proclaims the call to the daily prayer ( ṣalāt) five times a day (Fajr prayer, Zuhr prayer, Asr prayer, Maghrib prayer and Isha prayer) at a mosque. The muezzin plays an important role ...

and secretary of treasure of Medina's Islamic state *

Ubayy ibn Ka'b Ubayy ibn Ka'b ( ar, أُبَيّ ٱبْن كَعْب, ') (died 649), also known as Abu Mundhir, was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a person of high esteem in the early Muslim community. Biography Ubayy was born in Medina (th ...

(died 649), early Medinian Muslim and scribe of Muhammad *

Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan Mu'awiya I ( ar, معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān; –April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the deat ...

, scribe of Muhammad (s) and companion

Alid community

Umm Kulthum Umm Kulthum ( ar, أم كلثوم, , also spelled ''Oum Kalthoum'' in English; born Fatima Ibrahim es-Sayyid el-Beltagi, ar, فاطمة إبراهيم السيد البلتاجي, Fāṭima ʾIbrāhīm es-Sayyid el-Beltāǧī, link=no; 31 Dece ...

(627–685/705),

and

Fatimah Fāṭima bint Muḥammad ( ar, فَاطِمَة ٱبْنَت مُحَمَّد}, 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fāṭima al-Zahrāʾ (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, th ...

's daughter, wife of caliph

Umar ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate o ...

() * Fatimah al-Sughra (died after 680), daughter of

Husayn ibn Ali Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, أبو عبد الله الحسين بن علي بن أبي طالب; 10 January 626 – 10 October 680) was a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a son of Ali ibn Abi ...

* Fidda, the maid of

* Kamaid ibn Aswad al-Kindi, a companion of

* Maymunah, daughter of

Hasan ibn Ali Hasan ibn Ali ( ar, الحسن بن علي, translit=Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī; ) was a prominent early Islamic figure. He was the eldest son of Ali and Fatima and a grandson of the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ...

* Hameedah, daughter of

Muslim ibn Aqil Muslim ibn Aqil al-Hashimi ( ar, مُسْلِم ٱبْن عَقِيل ٱلْهَاشِمِيّ ') was the son of Aqil ibn Abi Talib and a member of the clan of Banu Hashim, thus, he is a cousin of Husayn ibn Ali. The people of Kufa called upon ...

* Abdullah, son of

Zayn al-Abidin ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn ( ar, علي بن الحسين زين العابدين), also known as al-Sajjād (, ) or simply as Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn (), , was an Imam in Shiʻi Islam after his father Husayn ibn Ali, his uncle Hasan ...

Umayyad caliphs

Muawiya I Mu'awiya I ( ar, معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān; –April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the deat ...

(597, 603 or 605–680), founder and first caliph of the

Umayyad Caliphate The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by th ...

Al-Walid I Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ( ar, الوليد بن عبد الملك بن مروان, al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān; ), commonly known as al-Walid I ( ar, الوليد الأول), was the sixth Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad ca ...

(674–715), sixth Umayyad caliph

Shrines and Mosques

Maqam Ru'us Al-Shuhada ''Maqam Ru'us ash-Shuhada’'' ( ar, مَـقَـام رُؤُوس الـشُّـهَـدَاء, lit=burial place of head of the martyrs), also known as ''Ganj-e-sarha-e-shuhada’-e-Karbala'', or ''Raous al-Shuhada'', the former burial place of the heads of the casualties in Husayn's army at Karbala. Among them: *

Abbas ibn Ali Al-Abbas ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib ( ar, ٱلْعَبَّاس ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱبْن أَبِي طَالِب, al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAlīy ibn ʾAbī Ṭālib), also known as Abu al-Fadl ( ar, أَبُو ٱلْفَضْل, link=no) (15 May 647 - ...

* Ali Al-Akbar ibn Husain * Al-Qasim ibn Hasan * Al-Hurr ibn Yazid * Habib ibn Mazahir Tomb of Muawiya I Mosque and tomb of Umm Kulthum Tomb of Bilal

Cenotaphs

The following tombs are also found within this cemetery, however these are empty graves (

cenotaphs A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...

) created for the purpose of ''

ziyārah In Islam, ''ziyara(h)'' ( ar, زِيَارَة ''ziyārah'', "visit") or ''ziyarat'' ( fa, , ''ziyārat'', "pilgrimage") is a form of pilgrimage to sites associated with Muhammad, his family members and descendants (including the Shī'ī Imā ...

'' ( ar, زِيَـارَة), with the actual graves being at '' Jannaṫul-Baqī‘'' ( Classical ar, جَـنَّـةُ الْـبَـقِـيـع), in

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

: *

Wives of Muhammad Thirteen women were married to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Muslims use the term ''Umm al-Mu'minin'' ( ar, أم ٱلْمُؤْمِنِين‎; meaning 'Mother of the Believers') prominently before or after referring to them as a sign of respec ...

: **

Umm Salama Hind bint Abi Umayya Hind bint Abi Umayya ( ar, هِنْد بِنْت أَبِي أُمَيَّة, Hind ʾibnat ʾAbī ʾUmayya, 580 or 596 – 680 or 683), better known as Umm Salama ( ar, أُمّ سَلَمَة, link=no) or Hind al-Makhzūmiyah ( ar, هِنْد ...

h ** Ramlah bint Abi-Sufyan **

Hafsa bint Umar Ḥafṣa bint ʿUmar ( ar, حفصة بنت عمر; 605–665), was a wife of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and daughter of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, the second caliph of Islam. In Islamic writings, her name is thus often prefixed by the titl ...

* Abdullah, son of Ja‘far aṭ-Ṭayyâr, and husband and cousin of

Zaynab bint Ali Zaynab bint Ali ( ar, زَيْنَب بِنْت عَلِيّ, ', ), was the eldest daughter of Ali, the fourth Rashidun caliph () and the first Shia Imam, and Fatima, the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Zaynab is best known for her ro ...

* Abdullah, son of the Sixth Ja`farī Shī`ite Imām,

Ja'far as-Sadiq Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ṣādiq ( ar, جعفر بن محمد الصادق; 702 – 765 CE), commonly known as Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (), was an 8th-century Shia Muslim scholar, jurist, and theologian.. He was the founder of th ...

Other religious significance

In addition, the area has the well from which the Fourth Shi'ite Imam, Ali

used to perform '' wuḍú’'' ( ar, وُضُـوء).

References

{{reflist Cemeteries in Syria Geography of Damascus