Back to A Different Lens

The Jafari School, Shia (Twelver) and Wahhabism each hold a variant, differently accounted stance toward the Prophet's Mosque and its adjoining cemetery, Jannat al-Baqi, in this atlas. Reading each account individually finds two positions, not three, because the Jafari School is Twelver Shia Islam's own legal school, one community naming the same mourning under two of its own names.

One Community, One Day of Sorrow, Named Twice

The Jafari School's own account: "The Baqi cemetery beside the Prophet's Mosque holds the graves of four of the Twelve Imams. Its shrines were demolished in 1925 and Twelvers mark the anniversary as a day of sorrow." Shia (Twelver)'s own account: "Four of the imams are buried in the cemetery beside the mosque, and the destruction of the monuments over their graves is mourned annually as a day of sorrow." The Jafari School is Twelver Shia Islam's own legal school; these two rows state one community's mourning under two of its own names, not two bodies independently agreeing.

The Other Side, in Its Own Words

Wahhabism's own account gives the opposing position directly: "The mosque is held as the second holiest in Islam while the domed tombs raised over the graves in the adjoining cemetery were levelled in 1806 and again in 1925, on the ground that monuments over graves invite the living to seek help from the dead." Two positions, not three: one community mourning a demolition recorded under two of its own names, and the tradition that carried the demolition out explaining, in its own words, why.

Where To Read More

• The Prophet's Mosque and Jannat al-BaqiIslamic SitesThe mosque and cemetery together; three bodies counted, reducing to mourning and its justification
• Jafari SchoolMarks the 1925 demolition of the Baqi shrines as an annual day of sorrow, Twelver Shia Islam's own legal school
• Shia (Twelver)IslamStates the identical mourning under the community's own sectarian name
• WahhabismIslamIts own justification for the 1806 and 1925 demolitions: monuments over graves invite the living to seek help from the dead