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.
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