Places of pilgrimage in Karbala: Tomb of the martyrs

by Abbas Adil

Usually, in the spiritual journey of Karbala, most pilgrims only visit the shrine of Imam Hussian A.S and Hazrat Abbas (AS). Meanwhile, beside the shrines of these nobles, there exists people and places that are often neglected.

The tomb of the martyrs

On the southwest side of the Hussaini shrine is a silver window that represents the burial place of the martyrs of Karbala. Above this window is a black sign on which the names of the martyrs are written. The shrine’s repairing project also includes the tombs of the martyrs.

All the martyrs of Karbala, except Hazrat Abul-Fazl, Hurr ibn Yazid Riahi and Habib Ibn Mazahir, are buried near the tomb of Imam Hussain (AS) and their graves are located in the southeast of the shrine of Imam Hussain (AS), a few meters away.

Now these tombs, which are inside a twelve-meter chamber and contain an inlay box, have a five-meter-long silver window that mark the tombs. Above this window are the names of about 120 martyrs of Karbala, along with a special pilgrimage letter inscribed on blue tile inscriptions.

Before the new renovations of the shrine, that is, until 1213 AH, these tombs had separate tombs and were independent and separate from the shrine of Imam Hussain (AS). At that time it was possible to circle around the tombs. The words of Abu Hamza Thamali confirm this: “Then leave the holy shrine and stand in front of the graves of the martyrs.” This is the description of those who visited there before its development.

In 1213 AH, a new development operation began and due to the large number of pilgrims and the narrowness of the place of pilgrimage, Seyyed Ali Tabatabai and Ayatollah Shahrestani removed the wall of the tomb to ensure the welfare of the pilgrims and closed the entrance to the south porch to the shrine of the martyrs. To the north of it, a shrine made of teak wood was placed, then the retaining wall was removed and attached to the shrine. With this, the possibility of Tawaf around the tombs of the martyrs was eliminated, but a suitable pilgrimage space was created.

In 1230 AH, a mausoleum made of brass with silver inscriptions containing the poems of Mohtasham Kashani was installed on the tomb of the martyrs by Mullah Mohammad Saleh Barghani and an inlay box was placed inside it.

In the early fourteenth century, Anis al-Dawla, the wife of Nasser al-Din Shah, offered a silver shrine about 4.80 in length in five chains and 1.70 in height for the tombs of the martyrs. This shrine was installed instead of the previous one and still remains in the same place.

In 1362 AH, the inlay box of this tomb was repaired by the efforts of Mohammad Sani Khatam Shirazi and the adjacent walls of the tomb were painted by talented Iranian artists.

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