695 History in the Making

ARAM, 18-19 (2006-2007) 695-703. doi:M. ZIMNEY 10.2143/ARAM.19.0.2020753 695 HISTORY IN THE MAKING: THE SAYYIDA ZAYNAB SHRINE IN DAMASCUS Ms. MICHELLE ZIMNEY (University of California, Santa Barbara) INTRODUCTION The shrine of Sayyida Zaynab just south of Damascus, Syria is, like most pilgrimage sites, steeped in long history and tradition. Neither born in bilad al- sham, nor particularly welcomed by the Umayyad caliph Yazid, Zaynab bint ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (or Sayyida Zaynab) found herself in Damascus in 680 AD (61 AH), a prisoner of the caliph’s army following her brother Hussein’s de- feat at Karbala. In the standard Shi‘i narrative, Zaynab and the other women and children who survived the battle were paraded, along with the heads of Hussein and his soldiers, through northern Iraq and Syria as boast and warning to those who would oppose Yazid’s rule. After a short captivity, Zaynab was released to Medina, then returned a few months later to Damascus with her husband where she died and was buried. What was presumably a modest burial site for over a millennium has become in the last forty years a spectacu- lar complex of religious, administrative, economic, and social spaces. Its blue- tiled exterior and massive gold dome, funded by donations from interested faithful, welcome upwards of two million pilgrims, mostly Shi‘a, from all cor- ners of the Islamic world annually. They come to pray, cry, and ask for Zaynab’s help with problems in their daily lives. During ‘Ashura’, masses reenact the Battle of Karbala outside the shrine, ritually beating themselves and often drawing blood. All this, despite the openly debated improbability that she is actually interred there. The controversy is rooted in the fact that in a city proud to claim itself the longest continuously inhabited city in the world, and one that was once the Umayyad capital, written evidence of the tomb’s existence prior to the 19th century is scant. Further complicating the issue is the presence of another large and popular shrine to Zaynab in Cairo that hosts a massive public moulid cel- ebration annually and draws pilgrims of its own. In this context, making the case that Zaynab is in fact buried in Syria presents a formidable challenge, one with which all involved have wrestled in earnest. The solution that has emerged is part scholarly debate, part Hollywood production. On the latter point, much of the success Sayyida Zaynab’s shrine in Damascus can be cred- ited to the production of material culture that has been “built” around it in the 06-8819_Aram 18-19_35_Zimmey 695 06-27-2007, 7:21 696 THE SAYYIDA ZAYNAB SHRINE IN DAMASCUS form of laudatory literature, secondary tombs, and a tourism infrastructure that all promote an identification of the shrine with Zaynab’s experience, though not necessarily her death, in the city. In many respects one sees hints of the strategy once enshrined in the American film Field of Dreams, “If you build it, [they] will come.” HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS The shrine of Sayyida Zaynab, granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima and son-in-law ‘Ali, is located approximately 10 km south of Damascus in an area that was until 40 years ago almost entirely agricultural land. Historically, the town carried the name of Rawiya, but has since been renamed Qabr al-Sitt or more commonly Sitt Zaynab. The land on which it sits was officially given as a waqf in the 14th century (1366AD/ 768AH) by the prominent local Murtada family, which traces its lineage back to Muhammad through the 7th Imam Musa al-Kazim and remains custodian of the shrine up until the present day. Reproductions of the waqf are available in several publications distributed by the Murtadas as well as in several academic journals produced in the past 15 years. 1 However, just what kind of shrine there was, if any, at the time of the waqf remains unclear. One of the two current custodians, Mehdi Murtada, believes there was a grave marker then, but does not have any details as to its descrip- tion or original construction. In the waqf itself the lands being donated were explicitly labeled as in Rawiya and for “al-sayyida al-khaalida Umm Kulthum Zaynab al-Kubra” but no further information is given about a shrine per se.2 It is important to note the specific name used in the waqf – Umm Kulthum Zaynab al-Kubra – as it will be relevant to our discussion shortly. In addition to the waqf, documentation of the history of the shrine can be found in several travel accounts written just before the waqf was made. For instance, in the Rihlas of Ibn Battuta and Ibn Jubayr, both authors make men- tion of the site, the latter describing a shrine to al-Sitt Umm Kulthum, or Zaynab al-Sughra, daughter of ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib in Rawiya situated next to a large mosque and housing units, surrounded by waqf property.3 Roughly con- temporary with these is a 13th century Abu Bakr al-Harawi text in which one finds a brief citation for Rawiya in his extensive list of sites in and around Damascus. He states simply, “Rawiya is a village…in it is the tomb of Umm 1 For example “Al-Waqfiya al-Taarikhiya li-Maqaam al-Sayyida Zaynab,” Al-Mawsem, no. 25 (1996): 16-29. 2 Ibid., 24. 3 Cited in Muhsin al-Amin, A‘yaan al-Shi‘a, vol. 7 (Beirut: Dar al-Ta‘aruf lil-Matbou‘aat), 136. 06-8819_Aram 18-19_35_Zimmey 696 06-27-2007, 7:21 M. ZIMNEY 697 Kulthum.”4 Prior to these, Ibn ‘Asaakir is known to have mentioned a mosque constructed in approximately 1106AD/500AH by a Qarqubi man from Aleppo near the tomb of Umm Kulthum.5 Although not exhaustive, from these few representative references, one can reasonably assume that there was indeed a marked burial site to a woman who enjoyed some level of reverence in Rawiya at least as early as 1100 AD. How- ever, two issues remain problematic. First, even the earliest source, Ibn ‘Asaakir, is writing some four hundred years after the death of Zaynab, leaving a large gap in time with no surviving written account of the shrine. Second, as we noted in the waqf, Sayyida Zaynab is associated with several other names (Zaynab al-Kubra, Umm Kulthum), which although customary, generates some imprecision. This is compounded by the fact that Zaynab al-Kubra had a younger sister whose name was also Zaynab (a.k.a. Zaynab al-Sughra) who was also occasionally known as Umm Kulthum. And to really confuse matters, Zaynab al-Kubra had a daughter also named Umm Kulthum. Armed with this information, we can look again at the historical references cited above that all point to the existence of a shrine in Rawiya, but attribute it to a woman named Umm Kulthum. Uniquely, the waqf joins the names Zaynab al-Kubra and Umm Kulthum in 1366, but before then the shrine is named only for Umm Kulthum or in the case of Ibn Jubayr, Umm Kulthum and Zaynab al-Sughra. Was the shrine really to Zaynab al-Kubra all along and Ibn Jubayr just mis- stated the name? Or is it perhaps to another Umm Kulthum, Zaynab’s sister or her daughter? This significant ambiguity as to the identity of the woman buried in Rawiyya has provided fuel for those who doubt she is the woman in question, Sayyida Zaynab. If we look earlier in Zaynab’s biography, there is general consensus, though not unanimity, regarding the account of her role at the Battle of Karbala along- side her brother Hussein and her subsequent arrival in Damascus as a captive of Yazid’s forces. The questions really begin with what happened to her once she was released to return to her home in Medina. As cited above, most narra- tives trace Zaynab’s ultimate return to Damascus before her death. How cred- ible is it that she would return of her own free will to the city that had been the site of her captivity, especially as long as Yazid remained in power? Her Damascene supporters argue that soon after she arrived in Medina, a drought- driven famine struck the city forcing Zaynab to relocate, temporarily, with her husband and children. Damascus, contrary to what one might expect, was in fact a natural destination given her husband Abdullah bin Ja‘afar’s land hold- ings south of the city. Shortly after their arrival, according to this narrative, 4 Abu Bakr al-Harawi, Kitaab al-Ishaaraat ila Ma‘arifat al-Ziyaaraat (Damascus: Institute Français d’Études Arabes de Damas, 1953), 12. 5 Cited in Muhsin al-Amin, A‘yaan al-Shi‘a, vol. 7 (Beirut: Dar al-Ta‘aruf lil-Matbou‘aat), 136. 06-8819_Aram 18-19_35_Zimmey 697 06-27-2007, 7:21 698 THE SAYYIDA ZAYNAB SHRINE IN DAMASCUS Zaynab took ill and passed away in Rawiya where she remains buried to this day.6 A competing account of her last days by those believing Cairo is her resting place points to her political activities in Medina, not the famine, as the reason for her forced departure from the city. In this scenario, she fled to Cairo where she was welcomed with respect and condolences, and even given lodging in the home of the governor Maslima bin Mukhalid. He subsequently buried her in one of the rooms when she died less than a year later.7 That room reportedly now stands at the heart of her mausoleum in Cairo where Zaynab is generally considered the patron saint of the city.

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