SAYYIDA
ZAINAB - SYRIA'S MOST MAGNIFICENT SHRINE
by
Habeeb Salloum
------------------------------------------------
The outside
surrounding run-down buildings contrasted vividly with the inside
scene when we entered Sayyida Zainab's Shrine, located in the
village of Rawia, about 9 km (5.5 mi) south of Damascus.
Like us, travellers have come for centuries to this site
either out of curiosity or to pay tribute to Sayyida Zainab, the
sister of Husain (son of the Caliph/Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib), who
is revered as a member of the bayt, the hallowed family of
the Prophet of Islam.
From a working class
world of poverty we moved into one of opulence.
Gold, silver and crystal decorations engulfed the whole
mausoleum. I had
visited this tomb a number of times in the bygone years, but I had
thought of it as an ordinary holy site.
However, this time it had become a gem of religious
architecture.
Two new minarets,
newly covered with exquisite blue tiles upon which are inscribed
the 99 attributes of God, towered skyward.
The gold-leafed huge dome and doors emitted an aura that we
had entered an affluent world.
Inside the shrine, every inch of wall was covered with
delicate glazed tiles, made strikingly beautiful by the Arabic
script.
Restoration of the site was made possible by monumental
donations by pious Shi'a Muslims.
The words of a workman who a few years ago had told me,
"Come back in a few years
when
this shrine will become a fitting resting place for Sayyida Zainab",
had become a reality.
Sayyida Zainab or Sitt
Zainab, as she is more commonly known, was one of the prisoners
brought back to Damascus after her brother, Husain, was defeated and
killed by the Umayyads at Karbala in 680 A.D., making him the first
authentic Shi'a martyr in history.
However, her ensuing life becomes somewhat confused.
Today, three places claim her tomb.
Most believe that her true mausoleum is on the outskirts of
Damascus. Others claim
that she was freed and returned to the city of Medina where she
died. A number of
historians write that she subsequently left that city to live in
Egypt where one of her shrines is to be found.
On the other hand, some assert that her rightful burial place
is in Sanjar, northern Iraq, where her third shrine is located.
Of all these places
Damascus is the most likely spot where she died and was entombed.
Many of al-Husain's companions, brought back to the Umayyad
capital after he was killed, are interred in the Damascus cemetery
of Bab al-Saghir. Medina is the only other logical burial place since most of
the prisoners taken at Karbala were freed and a number returned to
that city. However, there is no tomb for Sayyida Zainab in Medina
and to be entombed in Egypt or Iraq seems to be rather far-fetched.
The first documented
evidence that her grave existed in Damascus is made in 815 A.D. by
Nafsa, wife of Ishaq al-Mutamin - the son of Jafar al-Sadiq, the
latter being the final of the 12 Imams in Shi'a Islam. Through the centuries, other writers and historians have
mentioned this mausoleum as Sayyida Zainab's resting place. Among these were the famous 13th century travellers Ibn
Jubair and the 14th century Ibn Battutah.
For hundreds of years the shrine was a modest religious site
until 1955 when the structure was almost completely rebuilt.
The total area of the
mausoleum is 15,000 sq m (17,940 sq yd) and it can accommodate up to
5,000 people. Attached
to it is a well staffed clinic which serves the medical needs of
visitors and a cemetery where pious pilgrims from a number of
Islamic countries are buried. In
addition, within the vicinity, there is a slaughterhouse where meat
is purchased by the devotees and donated to the poor.
Means for the upkeep of the shrine and its annexes is
generated by income from properties waqf, donated through the ages by religiously dedicated
men and women.
At the time I first
visited the shrine in the early l960s, it was an average religious
type building consisting of a large courtyard rimmed by lodging
places for pilgrims. In
the centre was Sayyida Zainab's crypt set in a chain-like cage made
from pure silver and topped by crystal chandeliers.
Inside was a tomb of ebony decorated with mosaics of ivory
and gold strings intertwined with Qur'anic verses and topped with a
gold crown.
This time when I
entered, it appeared to have exploded into a magnificent structure.
Unlike in the past when additions and renovations took place
in a haphazard fashion, the new expansion had been done according to
plan.
In 1988, blueprints
were drawn up for the rebuilding and enlargement of the shrine by
al-Sayyid Ridha Murtada - a renowned engineer whose family has been
the custodian of the shrine for hundreds of years.
Besides the two new 54 m (177 ft) high tile-encased minarets,
the courtyard has been enlarged.
The floor has been paved with marble and the walls are
totally covered with ceramic tiles, mirrors, and arabesque
ornamentations.
The committee for supervising the Al-Sayyida Zainab project
has a number of plans for the future of the shrine.
Among these are: building of parks around the shrine; further
decoration of the sanctuary; and cooperating in the construction of
two deluxe hotels with restaurants, shops and other hotel amenities.
Within the premises of the shrine, there is a plan to have a
centre for information and research.
It will specialize in the Prophet's family: collecting books,
manuscripts and periodicals relating to the descendants of the
Prophet. The mausoleum
with these future projects will make Sayyida Zainab a jewel in the
heart of Rawia - in 1940 a village of 250 inhabitants which has
grown into a town of 200,000.
There is no doubt that
the 1,000,000 yearly pilgrims who journey to this holy site will, in
the future, live in comfort when visiting Sayyida Zainab's shrine.
When they return to their homes and reminisce about this
masterpiece of Islamic architecture, many more will come to pay
tribute to the Prophet's granddaughter and at the same time relax in
comfortable hotels attached to what has become Syria's most
magnificent shrine.
Habeeb Salloum
|