A Cultural-Anthropological Contemplation in the History of Baqīʿ Cemetery During the First Two Centuries A.H.

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• S. M. Hadi Gerami ¹
• Amin Shahbazi ²

¹ Assistant Professor, Institure for Humanities and Cultural Studies

² M.A. in Islamic Studies, Culture and Communication, Imam Sadiq University

10.22067/jhistory.2021.70298.1043

Abstract

In Islamic and Shīʿa culture, historical subjects dealing with anthropological aspects have often been neglected. The Baqīʿ cemetery, one of the oldest cemeteries in Islam and a pilgrimage site for Shīʿa muslims assumes considerable importance in anthropological studies.
The present study explores the cemetery through the early Hijri centuries/c. 7^th century A.D., adopting the anthropological approach. It is concluded that Baqīʿ has mostly served a social-ritaulistic function during this time. From a social point of view, the cemetry was used for residence, performing prayers, or forming assemblies. From a ritualistic point of view, it was used for various death rituals of Ḥijaz residents.
Some of the anthropological and cultural features of this cemetery were revealed in the second century A.H. Most importantly, the cemetry aquired a legendary status among the Arabs and certain beliefs were formed regarding this divine and impressive state. Additionally, the cemetery grew in importance because of its identity. Concurrently with the stabilization of sect-related and religious identity, signs of sect-related and religious quarrels show up in the death rituals and especially burial rites at Baqīʿ.

Keywords

• Baqīʿ
• Historical Anthropology
• Cultural Anthropology

Main Subjects

• History of Islam

---

References

Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaība, ʻAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibnʻUthmān ibn Khūwāstī al-ʻAbasī. Al-Ktāb al-Muṣanaf fī al-Aḥādīth wa al-Āthār. researched by Kamāl Yūsuf al- Ḥūt. al-Rīyāḍ: Maktiba al-Rushd, 1989/1409.

ʻAlam al-Hudāī, Parvin. “Shyvihhāy Tadfīnī Dūrih-yi Ashkānī”. Tārīkh  Pazhuhī. no.71. (2017/1396): 67-92.

Al-Baghawī, Abu al-Qāsim ʻAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz ibn al-Marzubān ibn Sābūr ibn Shāhanshāh. Muʻjam al- Ṣaḥāba, researched by  Muḥammad al-Amīn ibn Muḥammad al-Jakanī. Kūwīt: Maktaba Dār al-Bayān, 2001/1421.

Al-Būṣīrī, Abu al-ʻAbās Shahāb al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Abi Bakr ibn Ismāʻil ibn Salīm ibn Qāymāz ibn ʻUthmān. Itḥāf al-khīra al-Mahra bi Zawāid al-Masānīd al-ʻAshra. al-Rīyāḍ: Dār al-Waṭan l-l-Nashr, 2000/1420.

Al-Dhahabī, Shans al-Dīn Abu ʻAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Qāymāz. Tārīkh al-Islām  wa Wafīyāt al-Mshāhīr wa al-Aʻalām. ʻUmar ʻAbd al-Salām al-Tadmurī. Beirut:  Dār al-Kitāb al-ʻArabī, 1993/1413.

Al-Ḥākim al-Niysābūrī al-Maʻruf bi ibn al-Bayiʻ, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Abū Allāh. al-Mustadrak ʻAlā al-Ṣaḥīḥīn. Researched by Muṣṭafā Abd al-Qādīr ʻAṭā. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub-i al-ʻIlmīyya, 1990.

Al-Kufī, Ḥusayn ibn Saʿīd. Al-Zuhd. Researched by Mirzā Ghulām Riżā ʿUirfānīyān. Qum: al-ʻIlmīyya, 2020/1399.

Al-Miqrīzī, Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī ibn Abd al-Qādir. Abu al-ʻAbās al-Ḥusaynī  al-ʻAbīdī, Imtāʻ al-Asmāʻ bi-mā lil-Nabī (pbuh)min al-Aḥwāl wa-al-Amwāl wa al-Ḥafada al-Matāʻ. Researched by Muḥammad Abd al-Ḥamīd al-Namīsī. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub-i al-ʻIlmīyya, 2000/1420.

Al-Mūṣilī, Abu Yaʻalī Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī ibn al-Muthanā ibn Yaḥyā ibn ʻIsā ibn Hilāl al-Tamīmī. Musnad Anī Yaʻalī, Researched by Ḥusayn Salīm Asad. Dimashq: Dār al-Maʾmūn l-l-Turāth, 1984/1404.

Al-Niysābūrī, Abu Bakr Muḥammad ibn Ibrāḥm ibn al-Mundhar. al-Aʾūsaṭ fī al-Sunn wa al-Ijmāʻ wa al-Ikhtilāf. Researched by Abu Ḥamād Ṣaghīr Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Ḥanīf. Rīyāḍ: Dār Ṭayba, 1985.

Al-Niysābūrī, Muslim ibn al-Ḥajāj Abu al-Ḥasan al-Qushiyrī. al-Musnad al-Ṣaḥīḥ. Researched by Muḥammad Fūʾād ʻAbd al-Bāqī. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾal-Tūrāth al-ʻArabī, n.d. 

Al-Nuwwī, Mūḥyī al-Din ibn Sharaf al-Wafāt. Tahdhīb al-Asmāʾ wa al-Lughāt. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1996.

Al-Qanāziʻī, Abu al-Muṭrif ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Marwān ibn ʻAbd al-Raḥmān. Tafsīr al-Mūwaṭaʾ, researched by ʻĀmir Ḥasan Ṣabrī. Qaṭar: Dār al-Nawādir, 2008/1429.

Al-Qurṭabī, Abu ʻUmar Yūsuf ibn ʻAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd al-Bir ibn ʻAāsim al-Namarī. al-Tamḥīd limā fī al-Mūwaṭaʾ min al-Maʻānī wa al-Asānid. researched by Muṣṭafā ibn Aḥmad al-ʻAlawī. Marāksh: Wizāra ʻUmūm al-Uqāf wa al-Shuʾūn al-Islāmīyya, 1968/1387.

Al-Ṣafūrī, ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʻAbd al-Slām ibn ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿUthmān, Nuzha al-Majālis wa Muntakhab al-Nafāʾs. Beirut: Dār al-Maḥaba, 2002/1423.

Al-Sakhāwī, Shans al-Dīn. al-Tuḥfa al-Laṭifa fī Tārīkh-i Madīna al-Sharīfa. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub-I Ialāmīya, 1994/1414.

Al-Ṣanʻānī, ʻAbd al-Razāq ibn Humām. al-Muṣanaf. Researched by Ḥabib al-Raḥmān al-Aʻaẓamī. al-Hind: al-Majlis al-ʻIlmī, 1983/1403.

Al-Shaībānī, Abu ʻAbd Allāh Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥanbal ibn Hilāl ibn Asad. Musnad al-Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. researched by Shuʻaīb al-Arnaūṭ, ʻAādil Murshd wa et al. Ashrāf: ʻAbd Allāh ibn ʻAbd al-Muḥsin al-Turkī. Beirut: Mūʾassisa al-Risāla, 2001/1422.

Al-Shāmī al-Mashgharī al-ʻĀāmilī, Yusūf ibn Ḥātam. Al-Durr al-Naẓīm. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī al-Tābiʻa L-Jamāʻa al-Mudarsīn bi Qum al-Mushrifa, 2000/1420.

Al-Sijistāī, Abu Dāwūd Sulimān ibn al-Ashʻath ibn Shadād ibn ʻUmr ibn ʻĀāmir al-Azdī. Marāsīl Abī Dāwūd. Researched by  Shuʿaīb al-Arnaūṭ. Beirut:  Mūʾassisa al-Risāla, 1998/1418.

Al-Tamīmī al-Dāramī al-Bustī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥabān ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥabān ibn Maʿādh ibn Maʿbad. al-Thiqāt. Ḥydar Ābād al-Dakan al-Hind: Dāʾira al-Maʻārif  al-ʿUthmāniya, 1973/1393.

Al-Yaʻqūbī, Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq. Tārīkh al-Yaʻqūbī. Beirut: Dār al-Ṣadr, 1960/1379.

Āyatī, Abd al-Muḥammad, Ḥusayn Muḥammad ʻAlī Shukrī. “Kitābshināsī Tārīkh Madīna”. Mīqāt Ḥajj. no.23, (1998/1377). 172-183.

Badr al-Din al-ʻIynī, Abu Muḥammad Maḥmud ibn Aḥmad ibn Musā ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥusayn al-Ghitābī al-Ḥanafī. ʻUmda al-Qārī Sharḥ Ṣaḥiḥ al-Bukhārī. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾal-Tūrāth al-ʻArabī .n.d.

Bahrāmiyān. ʻAlī. “Baqīʻ”. Tarnamāy Dāʾirah al-Maʻārif  Buzurg Islāmī. (Chaḥārshanbih 15 Urdībihisht 2021/1400)

Ende, Werner. Jāmiʻih Shiʻa Nakhāvalih dar Madīnah Munavarih. translated by  Rasūl Jaʻfarīyān. Qum: Dalīl Mā, 2000/1379.

Furāt al-Kufī. Tafsīr Furāt al-Kufī. Researched by Kāẓim Muḥammad. Tehran: Mūʾassisa al-Ṭabʻ wa al-Nashr fī Wzāra al-Irshād al-Islāmī, 1990/1410.

Girāmī, Sayyid Muḥammad Hādī va Fāʾqih al-Sādāt Mīr Muḥammad Ḥusaynī  Fashamī. “Az Fiqh al-Ḥadīth tā Insānshināsī Farhang: Qirāʾatī Mardumshinākhtī az Aḥādith Turbat va Bāzsāzī yik Guftimān Huvīyatī dar Tashayʻ Nakhustin”. Ḥadīth Pazhuhī. no.24(2020/1399): 313-338.

Girāmī, Sayyid Muḥammad Hādī. Nakhustīn Andishihhāy Ḥadīthī Shiʻa. Tehran: Imam Sadiq University, 2017/1396.

Ḥusaynī, Nabil. Insānshināsī Ijtimāʿī-Farhang Jāmaʿih Kufih dar Nigarsh Imam Ḥusayn(AS): Pazhūhishī Islāmī dar Iʿlm Insānshināsī Muʿaṣr. translated by  Maḥdī ʿĀbidī. Kitābnāmih Najaf, 2015/1394.

Ibn al-Najjār, Muḥibb al-Dīn Abu ʻAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd ibn al-Ḥasan. al-Durra al-Thimīna fī Akhbār al-Madīna, researched by Ḥusaīn  Muḥammad ʻAlī Shukrī. Beirut: Dār al-Arqam ibn Abī Arqam, n.d.

Ibn ʻAsākir, Abu al-Qāsim ʻAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Hibba-Allāh. Tārīkh-i al-Madīna Dimashq. researched by ʻUmar ibn Gharāma al-ʻUmravī. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1995/1374.

Ibn Athīr, Abu al-Ḥasan ʻAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd al-Karīm Jazarī. Al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, 1967/1386.

Ibn Bābawayh,  Abi Jaʻfar Muḥammad ibn ʻAlī ibn al-Ḥusaīn. Maʻānī al-Akhbār. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī al-Tābiʻa l-Jamāʻa al-Mudarsīn bi-Qum al-Mushrfa, 1960/1379.

Ibn Badr al-Din, Ḥusayn. Yanābiʿ al-Naṣiḥa fī al-ʿAqāid al-Ṣaḥiḥa. Researched by Murtiḍā ibn Zīyd Maḥṭūrī al-Ḥasanī. Yaman: Maktaba Badr, 2002/1422.

Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī. Fatḥ al-Bārī. Beirut: Dār Maʿrifa li-l-Ṭibāʻa wa-al-Nashr , n.d.

Ibn Ḥīyūn. Nuʿmān ibn Muḥammad. Sharḥ al-Akhbār fī Faḍāʾil al-Aʾimma al-Aṭhār. researched by Muḥammad Ḥusaynī Jalālī. Qum: Jāmiʿa al-Mudarisīn fī al-Ḥūzia al-ʻIlmīyya bi-Qum Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī, 1989/1409.

Ibn Qūlīa, Jaʻfar ibn Muḥammad. Kāmil al-Ziyārāt.  Ed. Ghulām Riżā ʻIrfānīyān-i Yazdī, ʻAbd al-Ḥusayn Amīnī. Najaf-i Ashraf: al-Maṭbaʻa al-Mubārika al-Murtaḍavīya, 1977/1356.

Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī, Zīn al-Dīn ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Aḥmad ibn Rajab ibn al-Ḥasan Al-Salāmī, al-Baghdādī Thum-al-Dimashqī.  Majmūʻ Rasāʾl al-Ḥāfiz ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī. Researched by  Abu Muṣʻab Ṭalaʻat ibn Fuʾād al-Ḥulwānī. Cairo: al-Fāruq al-Ḥadītha li-l-Ṭibāʻa wa-al-Nashr  al-Ḥanbalī, 2003/ 1424.

Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrā. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīyya, 1990/1410.

Ibn Shuba al-Namīrī al-Baṣrī, ʻŪmar ibn Shuba(wa Ismua Zīyd) ibn ʻŪbiyd ibn Rīṭa. Tārīkh-i al-Madīna l-ibn Shuba. Researched by Fahim Muḥammad Saltut. Jaddah: Dār al-Fikr, 1979/1399.

Ibn Ṭāwus, ʻAlī ibn Mūsā. Iqbāl al-Aʿamāl. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, 1989/1409.

Kishī, Muḥammad ibn ʻŪmar. Rijāl al-Kishī (Ikhtīyār Maʿrifa al-Rijāl). Ed. Ḥasan Muṣṭafāī. Mashhad: Mūʾassisa Nashr University of Mashhad, 1989/1409.

Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir ibn Muḥammad Taqī. Biḥār al-Anwār al-Jāmiʻa li-Durr Akhbār al-Aʾima al-Aṭhār . Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾal-Tūrāth al-ʻArabī,  1983/1403.

Mālik ibn Anas ibn Mālik ibn ʻĀmir al-Aṣbaḥī  al-Madanī, Mūwaṭaʾ al-Imān Mālik.  Ed. Muḥammad Fūʾād ʻAbd al-Bāqī, Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾal-Tūrāth al-ʻArabī ,1985.

Marjānī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd  al-Mālik. Bahja al-Nufus wa al-Asrār fī Tārīkh  Dār Hijra al-Nabī al-Mukhtār. Researched by   Faḍl, Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Wahāb,  Beirut: Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī,  2002.

Naʿim ibn Ḥamād, al-Fitan. Researched by  Muḥammad ʻArafa. Cairo:  Maktaba al-Tūfiqiya, 1992/1412.

Najmī, Muḥammad Ṣādq. Tārīkh Ḥaram Aʾimah Baqīʿ va Āthār Dīgar dar Madīnah  Munavarah. Tehran: Mashʿar, 2001/1380.

Qumī, ʻAlī ibn Ibrāhim. Tafsīr-i Qumī. Ed. al-Sayyid Ṭīyb al-Musawī al-Jazāʾrī. Najaf: Maṭaʻa al-Najaf, 1968/1387.

Shiykh al-Kulaynī. al-Kāfī. Researched by  ʻAlī Akbar al-Ghafārī. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub-I Ialāmīya, 1943/1362.

Shiykh Ṣadūq . ʻIlal al-Sharāiʻ. Najaf: al-Maktaba al- Ḥydarīyya, 1966/1385.

Ṭabarī, Muḥammad ibn Jarīr. Tārīkh-i al-Ūmam wa al-Mulūk. Beirut: Mūʾassisa al-Aʻlamī l-l-Maṭbūʻat, 1897.

Thurfjell, David, Zist Shiʻaī: Manāsikī Shudan Musalmānān dar Irān Imruz. translated by Sayyid Shahāb al-Din ʻŪdī. Tehran: Ārmā, 2020/1399.

Wensinck; Bazmī Ansārī; Ṭārmī, Ḥasan “Baqīʿ”. Tarnamāy Dānishnāmiy Jahān Islām. (Chahārshanbih  15 Urdībihisht 2021/1400)