Damascus, Syria
It is not always easy searching for 14th century graves in a city like Damascus which has mushroomed in recent years, but one Friday morning Khaled and I set out to pay our respects to those whom Ibn Battuta deemed worthy of mention, almost 700 years ago. We began in the east part of the city,
“In the village called al-Maniha to the east and at a distance of four miles from Damascus, is the grave of Sa’ad ibn Obada. Over the grave there is a small and nicely built mosque and at its head is a stone with this inscription: ‘This is the grave of Sa’ad ibn Obada, chief of the Khazraj and Companion of the Apostle of God, bless and give him peace.’
His story is a curious one; he was indeed elected chief of the Khazraj tribe after the death of the Prophet Mohammed, but the decision was voided by the election of the first Caliph, Abu Bakr. Ibn Obada refused allegiance to Abu Bakr and was exiled to Syria where he died in 636. Legend however says he was killed by the jinn......
A new, large (and rather unattractive) mosque is now built over his tomb.
“In a village to the south of town and a league distant from it is the tomb of Umm Kulthum, daughter of Ali ibn Abu Talib by Fatima. It is said that her name is Zainab......the people of Damascus call it the grave of the Sitt Umm Kulthum.”
Not anymore, it is now known as Sayyida Zainab and you cannot miss it. The Iranians have built an enormous shrine in her honor in their style; gold dome, blue tile, calligraphy, and inside, lots of mirrored glass. I was once chased out of this shrine by a furious official and I am still not sure why.
On we continued in our quest for engraved marble;
“In the western cemetery there is another tomb which is said to be that of Sukaina, daughter of al-Husain ibn Ali........in a village called Darraya four miles to the west of the town, are the graves of Abu Muslim al-Khawlani and Abu Sulaiman al-Darani...”
In Darraya we found the Tomb of Sukaina along with busloads of black chador-clad Iranian pilgrims and what will shortly be another Iranian-funded shrine being built over the tomb. There may not be much tourism to Syria from the West, but there are thousands of Iranian pilgrims. As the Saudis have funded the construction of mosques and madrasas throughout the world, so too are Iranians funding the construction of shrines honoring family members of Ali and Hussein - Shi’ite martyrs. 
These two images are taken outside the 'under-construction' Tomb of Sukaina.
There is quite a business growing on the back of this pilgrimage trade, especially for some reason, cloth vendors. Outside the shrine hundreds of bolts of cloth were being traded or perhaps bartered off hand carts, and from the back of vehicles - it was a textile flea market, and although they were selling mainly black crepe, there were other fabrics and items of clothing too.
A good market in black crepe
We went inside the tomb. I have already written about my shrine experience in Cairo at the Sayyida Hussein mosque and the intense grief that Shi’ite mourners exhibit. (Cairo - part 2) This was no different. I went down the steps to the shrine where women in the corner were rocking back and forth, wailing mournfully or moaning quietly into their chadors. Suddenly as I was standing there gazing at the tomb behind its glass and silver lattice-work casing, wondering for the umpteenth time what exactly they were saying, one of the corner mourners stood up, handed me a camera and gestured that she would like me to take a picture of her and the tomb. In a second the rocker got up and stood next to her, and as I took their picture they smiled brilliantly then went back to their wailing. I shall never wonder overmuch again why they wail or what they are saying.
This might be a good moment to say however that there is another tomb of Sukaina in the Little Cemetery (at Bab Saghrir) near that of Fatima. The Iranians visit them both and don’t seem to mind that not only does she have two tombs in Damascus, but she died in Medina so is almost certainly buried there, and is also said to have been buried in Tiberius in present day-Israel. Mind you, the lady was know for her ‘brilliant marriages’ and salon, so she undoubtedly deserves four graves. 
The Tomb of Fatima in the Bab Saghrir cemetery or Little cemetery. It is however generally accepted that she is not buried here.
There were no such crowds at the very quiet and peaceful tomb of Abu Muslim al-Khawlani. His tomb is inside the mosque but surrounding the mosque is a small cemetery, and the very helpful caretaker got the key and took us there where we made a startling discovery; the real grave of Bilal was here, as indicated by the plaque in the wall. Apparently he had been married to the daughter of al-Khawlani. Bilal was an Ethiopian slave freed by the Prophet who was the very first muezzin (the person who calls the faithful to prayer.) According to Ibn Battuta his tomb is in the Little Cemetery and indeed when we later visited, we saw it. But it is a cenotaph only and the real grave is in a dusty little town in the south of the city. 
Bilal the Muezzin is buried at the back of the domed building, inside the building is the grave of Abu Muslim al-Khawlani
Not far from al-Khowlani was the shrine of Suleiman al-Darrani who was from Darraya. He has an elegant shrine and perhaps being Friday, it was ladies’ day at the shrine. I pushed open the door and came upon a coven of much older women and one young girl. Delighted to see me as if my arrival was the most natural thing in the world, they bade me sit down and join in the singing and praising which I dutifully did. Seeing my sneaking a glimpse at the holy man, they broke off from singing and clapping to ask where I was from. I told them, then they were full of questions - I tried to explain that I was following Ibn Battuta - but clearly ‘lost in translation’ was the order of the day because they said he could not come in and would have to wait for me outside. When we eventually sorted it out they roared with glee; it was hard to know if they were laughing more at me and my execrable Arabic, or the fact that I was following a 14th century man but I thought it was a good moment to take my leave - leaving a suitable domation for the holy man of course. Women in this part of the world are perfectly ruthless about getting donations from you - something I have also written about in Cairo. (Cairo - part 2) Mohammed Yunis has it right - give the women control of the money and you’ll start to see things happen - they are formidable.
The scene I found inside the shrine of Suleiman al-Darrani belied its calm exterior.
We went to visit the cemetery at the “Little Gate” to visit the tombs of Umm Habiba, Bilal, Uwais al-Qarani and Ka’ab al Ahbar. The cemetery still exists and people are still buried there although it is getting very, very crowded. This was where I first heard that a tomb ‘had moved’. Ka’ab al Ahbar was a Jewish Yemeni convert and was considered an authority on Biblical lore. Although some historians say he is buried in Homs, I was told by the caretaker that he ‘had moved’, but nobody knew where. We found the cenotaph of Bilal as well as the tomb of Uwais al-Qarani even though he is said to be buried in Raqqa having died fighting for the cause of Ali at Siffin, north of the Euphrates in 656. Ibn Battuta himself believed this to be the most likely place. 
The unlikely place of al-Qarani's burial but a tomb is here nonetheless.
Bilal the Muezzin's tomb was visited by many men when we were here.
It being Friday the 'Little Cemetery' was seeing busloads of Iranian pilgrims from Tehran and Qoms. Shi’a pilgrimage has become something of an industry; visiting the tomb of the 8th Imam Reza in Mashad, or the tombs of Ali and Hussein at Kerbala and Kufa in Iraq, and now Syria to visit the tombs of Fatima, Zainab, Sukaina and the 16 ‘heads of Kerbala’. I am not entirely clear on the latter and I do not know to whom the heads belonged, having come across the site in the search for Umm Habiba. We found her opposite the 16 heads, in the same tomb as the Imam (?) Zaid Abdeen who is officially buried in Medina.....and I did not go in as there were lots of pilgrims praying. The heads of 16 martyrs from the battle at Kerbala that killed Hussein and ignited the permanent schism between Sunni and Shi’a are however in the Little Cemetery in Damascus which is a major place of pilgrimage for the Shi’a.
Pilgrims outside the shrine of Umm Habiba.