Husayn's Dirt: The Beginnings and Development of Shi'i Ziyara in the Early Islamic Period

Abstract

This paper focuses on the earliest attestations of Shia pilgrimage (ziyara) in the early Islamic era, its origins, and development. The practice of Shia ziyara, whether in the modern or pre-modern era has not been the subject of many studies. Most studies on Shiai ritual tend to focus on Ashura rituals that developed in the modern period, including the Shia passion play (taziyya), and self-flagellation or other self-mortification practices (tatbir, zangir zani), and therefore do not shed light on early Shiism. Ziyara to Husayns tomb is one of the earliest rituals of the early Shia community. For that reason, understanding its origins and development is important for understanding the demarcation of confessional boundaries in the early Islamic era. The goal of this paper is to identify the time in which Shia ziyara began, the social and political circumstances surrounding the practice, and identifying institutions interested in promoting the practice for their own purposes. Through analysis of early Arab chronicles, the earliest extant Shia pilgrimage manual Kamil al-Ziyarat by Ibn Qulawayh, and both Sunni and Shia bibliographical dictionaries, I argue for the late 8th/early 9th century as the beginning of the circulation of ziyara traditions and the practice of ziyara. I assert that the development of ziyara coincided with the institution of the Imami network of agents and envoys, who were tasked with collection the khums tithe and served as mediators between the Imam and the Shia community. Finally, I argue that ziyara traditions must be understood in the context of the fadail genre, which represented an early Islamic contestation of sacred space, and that the Shia scholars in the late 8th-9th century adopted this genre and its motifs to promote ziyara to Karbala and to construct an authoritative discourse that affirmed the spiritual authority of the Imams and those who claimed to represent them.