The Shrine of Husayn's Head () was a shrine built by the

Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa ...

s on a hilltop adjacent to

Ascalon Ascalon or Ashkelon was an ancient Near East port city on the Mediterranean coast of the southern Levant of high historical and archaeological significance. Its remains are located in the archaeological site of Tel Ashkelon, within the city limi ...

that was reputed to have held the head of

Husayn ibn Ali Husayn ibn Ali (; 11 January 626 – 10 October 680 Common Era, CE) was a social, political and religious leader in early medieval Arabia. The grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and an Alids, Alid (the son of Ali ibn Abu Talib ibn Abd a ...

between c. 906 CE and 1153 CE. It was described as the most magnificent building in the ancient city, and developed into the most important and holiest Shi'a site in Palestine. In modern times, it became associated with the Palestinian town of

Al-Jura Al-Jura () was a Palestinian village that was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, located immediately adjacent to the towns of Ashkelon and the ruins of ancient Ascalon. In 1945, the village had a population of approximately 2,420 mostl ...

, which sat alongside the ruined citadel of Ascalon. The shrine was destroyed in 1950 by the Israeli army, more than a year after hostilities ended, on the orders of

Moshe Dayan Moshe Dayan (; May 20, 1915 – October 16, 1981) was an Israeli military leader and politician. As commander of the Jerusalem front in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Chief of General Staff (Israel), Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defe ...

. This was in accordance with a 1950s Israeli policy of erasing Muslim historical sites within Israel,Meron Rapoport,
'History Erased,'
''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

'', 5 July 2007. and in line with efforts to expel the remaining

Palestinian Arabs Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

from the region.

Description

Building

The shrine was a large multi-story structure built up on three sides around a central courtyard. A prayer room (

musalla A musalla () is a space apart from a mosque, mainly used for prayer in Islam. The word is derived from the verb (''ṣallā''), meaning "to pray". It is traditionally used for twice-yearly Eid prayers (''Eid al-Fitr, ʿĪd al-Fiṭr'' and '' ...

) was on the south side. The former place of Husayn's head was marked by a pillar capped with a green turban over a red cloth.

Minbar and inscriptions

The

minbar A minbar (; sometimes romanized as ''mimber'') is a pulpit in a mosque where the imam (leader of prayers) stands to deliver sermons (, ''khutbah''). It is also used in other similar contexts, such as in a Hussainiya where the speaker sits and le ...

(an Islamic

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

), today in the Ibrahimi Mosque in

Hebron Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...

, is considered a significant piece of

Islamic art Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslims, Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across ...

and one of the most significant historic minbars in the medieval Muslim world. It is also the oldest surviving minbar in this style of woodwork with geometric decoration; a style also seen in the design of the later Minbar of the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem (which was also a gift from Salah ad-Din). The inscriptions record the construction of the minbar and of the shrine itself by Badr al-Jamali on behalf of the Fatimid caliph.

History

Construction

According to

tradition, the head of Husayn had been secretly moved by the

Abbasids The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes i ...

from its original burial site at the

Great Mosque of Damascus The Umayyad Mosque (; ), also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus, located in the old city of Damascus, the capital of Syria, is one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world. Its religious importance stems from the eschatological reports ...

. In the year 985, the 15th Fatimid Caliph,

Abu Mansoor Nizar al-Aziz Billah Abu Mansur Nizar (; 10 May 955 – 14 October 996), known by his regnal name as al-Aziz Billah (), was the fifth caliph of the Fatimid dynasty, from 975 to his death in 996. His reign saw the capture of Damascus and the Fatimid expansion into ...

, traced the site of his great-grandfather's head through the office of a contemporary in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

. It was "rediscovered" in 1091, a couple of years after a campaign by

grand vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...

Badr al-Jamali Abu'l-Najm Badr ibn Abdallah al-Jamali al-Mustansiri, better known as Badr al-Jamali () or by his eventual title as Amir al-Juyush (, ), was a military commander and statesman for the Fatimid Caliphate under Caliph al-Mustansir. Of Armenian origi ...

to reestablish Fatimid control over

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

under Caliph

al-Mustansir Billah Abū Tamīm Maʿad al-Mustanṣir biʾllāh (‎; 2 July 1029 – 29 December 1094) was the eighth Fatimid Caliph from 1036 until 1094. He was one of the longest reigning Muslim rulers. His reign was the twilight of the Fatimid state. The st ...

. Upon the discovery, he ordered the construction of a new

Friday mosque A congregational mosque or Friday mosque (, ''masjid jāmi‘'', or simply: , ''jāmi‘''; ), or sometimes great mosque or grand mosque (, ''jāmi‘ kabir''; ), is a mosque for hosting the Friday noon prayers known as ''jumu'ah''.See: * * * * ...

and ''

mashhad Mashhad ( ; ), historically also known as Mashad, Meshhed, or Meshed in English, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. ...

'' (memorial shrine) on the site. A magnificent minbar was also built, today in Hebron and known as the

Minbar of the Ibrahimi Mosque The minbar of the Ibrahimi Mosque is an 11th-century minbar (mosque pulpit) in the Cave of the Patriarchs, Ibrahimi Mosque (Cave of the Patriarchs) in Hebron, West Bank. The minbar was commissioned by the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Vizier (Fatimid ...

. The mausoleum was described by

Mohammed al-Abdari al-Hihi Abu Abdallah Mohammed ibn Mohammed ibn Ali ibn Ahmed ibn Masoud ibn Hajj al-Abdari al-Hihi () (fl. ca. 1289) was a Moroccan travel writer. He was born among the Hhaha tribe (Berber), Haha, a Berber tribe in the south of Morocco. He is the author ...

as the most magnificent building in Ashkelon.

Transfer of the head to Cairo

Following the defeat at the

Siege of Ascalon The siege of Ascalon took place from 25 January to 22 August 1153, in the time period between the Second Crusade, Second and Third Crusades, and resulted in the capture of the Fatimid Egyptian fortress by the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Ascalon was an i ...

, the Majidi-monarch,

Al-Zafir Abū Manṣūr Ismāʿīl ibn al-Ḥāfiẓ (, February 1133 – April 1154), better known by his regnal name al-Ẓāfir bi-Aʿdāʾ Allāh (, ) or al-Ẓāfir bi-Amr Allāh (, ), was the twelfth Fatimid caliph, reigning in Egypt from 1149 to ...

, ordered Ashkelon's ruler Sayf al-Mamlaka Tamim to transfer the head to Cairo. Husayn's casket was unearthed and moved from the shrine to Cairo on Sunday 8

Jumada al-Thani Jumada al-Thani (), also known as Jumada al-Akhirah (), Jumada al-Akhir (), or Jumada II, is the sixth month of the Islamic calendar. The word ''Jumda'' (), from which the name of the month is derived, is used to denote dry, parched land, a lan ...

, 548 (31 August 1153); the

Al-Hussein Mosque The al-Hussein Mosque or al-Husayn Mosque, also known as the Mosque of al-Imam al-Husayn () and the Mosque of Sayyidna al-Husayn, is a mosque and mausoleum of Husayn ibn Ali, originally built in 1154, and then later reconstructed in 1874. The mo ...

was built to house the relic in 1154.

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

i writer Syedi Hasan bin Asad described the transfer of the head thus in his ''Risalah'' manuscript: "When the Raas ead ofal Imam al Husain was taken out of the casket, in Ashkelon, drops of the fresh blood were visible on the Raas al Imam al Husain and the fragrance of Musk spread all over."

Transfer of the minbar to Hebron

In 1187 Salah ad-Din (Saladin) succeeded in recapturing

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

from

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

and securing Muslim (

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egyp ...

) control over most of the region. However, he judged that Ashkelon was too vulnerable to a Crusader counterattack and he worried about its potential use as an enemy

bridgehead In military strategy, a bridgehead (or bridge-head) is the strategically important area of ground around the end of a bridge or other place of possible crossing over a body of water which at time of conflict is sought to be defended or taken over ...

against the newly recaptured Jerusalem. He therefore decided to demolish the city in 1191 but transferred the Fatimid minbar of al-Husayn's now-empty mashhad to the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, which was also a holy site and was situated at a safer distance from the Crusader threat. The minbar has remained there until the present day.

British Mandate period

During the British Mandate period it was described as a "large

maqam Maqam, makam, maqaam or maqām (plural maqāmāt) may refer to: Musical structures * Arabic maqam, melodic modes in traditional Arabic music ** Iraqi maqam, a genre of Arabic maqam music found in Iraq * Persian maqam, a notion in Persian clas ...

on top of a hill" with no tomb but a fragment of a pillar showing the place where the head had been buried. File:Muslim Celebrations at Wady Nemil and Al Husayn Shrine in Ashkelon.jpg, April 1943, with the shrine in the background. File:Moslem (i.e., Muslim) celebrations at Mejdal (Wady Nemill and Sey'd Hussein Shrine at Ascalon) and at Gaza (el Muntar) April 20th, 21st and 22nd 1943 LOC matpc.21707.jpg, Celebrations in April 1943, with

Aref al-Aref Aref al-Aref (; 1892–1973) was a Palestinian people, Palestinian journalist, historian and politician. He served as mayor of East Jerusalem in the 1950s during the Jordanian annexation of the West Bank. Biography Early life Aref al-Aref was ...

and

Julian Asquith, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith Julian Edward George Asquith, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (22 April 1916 – 16 January 2011) was a British colonial administrator and hereditary peer. Background and education Asquith was the only son of Katharine Asquith, Katharine (né ...

visiting. File:Moslem (i.e., Muslim) celebrations at Mejdal (Wady Nemill and Sey'd Hussein Shrine at Ascalon) and at Gaza (el Muntar) April 20th, 21st and 22nd 1943. Mounted villagers at the shrine who LOC matpc.21689.tif, April 1943 File:Moslem (i.e., Muslim) celebrations at Mejdal (Wady Nemill and Sey'd Hussein Shrine at Ascalon) and at Gaza (el Muntar) April 20th, 21st and 22nd 1943. Mounted villagers at the shrine who LOC matpc.21690.tif, April 1943 File:Moslem (i.e., Muslim) celebrations at Mejdal (Wady Nemill and Sey'd Hussein Shrine at Ascalon) and at Gaza (el Muntar) April 20th, 21st and 22nd 1943. The procession in open courtyard of LOC matpc.21685.tif, April 1943 File:Moslem (i.e., Muslim) celebrations at Mejdal (Wady Nemill and Sey'd Hussein Shrine at Ascalon) and at Gaza (el Muntar) April 20th, 21st and 22nd 1943. The procession in open courtyard of LOC matpc.21686.jpg, April 1943 File:Moslem (i.e., Muslim) celebrations at Mejdal (Wady Nemill and Sey'd Hussein Shrine at Ascalon) and at Gaza (el Muntar) April 20th, 21st and 22nd 1943. The Shrine of Seyid Hussein from S.E. LOC matpc.21688.tif, April 1943

Destruction in 1950

In July 1950, the shrine was destroyed at the instructions of

in accordance with a 1950s Israeli policy of erasing Muslim historical sites within Israel in order to assist the eviction of remaining Palestinians. The site is now contained within the grounds of the

Barzilai Medical Center Barzilai Medical Center (, ''Merkaz Refu'i Barzilai''; ) is a 600-bed district general hospital in Ashkelon, Israel opened in 1961. The hospital serves a population of 500,000, including a large number of Ethiopian and Russian immigrants, and ha ...

. File:The area around Isdud and Majdal in the UN Palestine Partition Versions 1947 (cropped).jpg, The area around the shrine had been allocated to the Arab state in the

United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was a proposal by the United Nations to partition Mandatory Palestine at the end of the British Mandate. Drafted by the U.N. Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) on 3 September 1947, the Pl ...

File:Historical map series for the area of al-Jura (1940s with modern overlay).jpg, ''En Nabi Hsein'' can be seen in the grounds of the

; this image overlays the modern Israeli city of

Ashkelon Ashkelon ( ; , ; ) or Ashqelon, is a coastal city in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The modern city i ...

(blue) on a 1940s

Survey of Palestine The Survey of Palestine was the government department responsible for the survey and mapping of Palestine during the British mandate period. The survey department was established in 1920 in Jaffa, and moved to the outskirts of Tel Aviv in 19 ...

map File:Barzilai hospital at night.jpeg, Barzilai Medical Center that today stands on the grounds of the erstwhile mausoleum.

Reestablishment in 2000

The area was razed and subsequently redeveloped for a local Israeli hospital, Barzilai. After the site was re-identified on the hospital grounds, funds from

Mohammed Burhanuddin Mohammed Burhanuddin (6 March 1915 – 17 January 2014) was the 52nd Da'i al-Mutlaq of Dawoodi Bohras from 1965 to 2014. He led the community for 49 years in a period of social, economic, and educational prosperity; strengthened and re-institu ...

, the 52nd

Da'i al-Mutlaq (; pl. , ) is the most senior spiritual rank and office in Tayyibi Isma'ilism. The Da'i al-Mutlaq has headed the Tayyibi community since the occultation (Islam), seclusion of the 21st Tayyibi Imamate in Ismaili doctrine, Imam, at-Tayyib Abu'l-Q ...

of the

Dawoodi Bohra The Dawoodi Bohras are a religious denomination within the Ismā'īlī branch of Shia Islam. They number approximately one million worldwide and have settled in over 40 countries around the world. The majority of the Dawoodi Bohra community re ...

s, a

Shi'a Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor ( caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community ( imam). However, his right is understoo ...

Ismaili Ismailism () is a branch of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor ( imām) to Ja'far al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the Twelver Shia, who accept ...

sect of predominantly

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

descent based in India, were used to construct a marble prayer platform. Dawoodi Bohra pilgrims from India and Pakistan continue to visit Ashkelon despite resulting complications in travelling to other Muslim nations. Historically the shrine was also a site of pilgrimage for Palestinian Sunnis.

References

Bibliography

* * Also at an
''Islamic Collections'', 29 January 2009
* * * * * * * *