Summary

Beginning with the pre-Islamic Arabian notion that Rajab was one of three holy months, this chapter summarizes the historical evolution of the individual and public commemorative rites of Rajab. It also highlights the formation of the literary genres that both constituted and reflected this evolution, as well as the polemical works which defined those rites as bidʿ - unwarranted innovations.

Excursus: Arabic Treatises in Praise of the Sacred Months

This excursus is a preliminary list of 18 Sunni and Shiʿi works dedicated to the merits of Rajab, or to those of the three sacred months (Rajab, Shaʿban and Ramadan), or to all meritorious times (Faḍāʾil al-Awqāt). It is arranged in chronological order of the date of the authors’ death, from the tenth to the fifteenth century.

Rajab under the Ayyubids and Mamluks

Official rites of Rajab were not recorded in sources written under the Sunni Ayyubids, but popular devotions such as supererogatory prayer assemblies, voluntary fasting, charitable giving and the ʿumra seem to have been widespread. These rites evoking heated polemics, especially between the scholars of Damascus. Mamluk rulers sponsored public ceremonies such as the celebration of the Night of Ascension on the 27th of Rajab and the newly founded maḥmal procession.

Summary

This chapter re-examines the circumstances of the 'discovery' of the head of al-Husayn in eleventh-century Ascalon, the earlier sanctification of the place, and its lingering reputation as holy after the fall of the Fatimids. It emphasizes the belief in the power of the site, which persisted even after the transfer of its relic. The Cairene shrine, created under the Fatimid to protect the relic of their 'forefather', retained its sanctity and housed an active cult under the rule of the Sunni Ayyubids and Mamluks.

Excursus: Ibn Taymiyya on the Veneration of the Head of al-Husayn

Ibn Taymiyya, a well known critic of saint and tomb veneration, devoted several fatwas and polemical treatises to disparage the cult of the head of al-Husayn and the sacredness of his shrines in Ascalon and Cairo. He argues that the erection of shrines and the rites of ziyara originate in Shiʿi and Christian polytheistic ways, that the cult is a bidʿa, and that the relic is not authentic.

Excursus: al-Husayn and Saladin in Palestinian Lore

This excursus offers a brief glimpse into annual celebrations (mawāsim) at the sacred site of al-Husayn's head by the ruins of Ascalon, 1875 - 1947. These began with a procession from the nearby town of Majdal, and included, besides a visit to the shrine (which was reconstructed in the late 19th-century) also various festivities in the plain known by the Qurʾanic appellation Wadi al-Naml. The figure of Saladin was prominent in these events, bound with rising Palestinian nationalism.

The Shrine in Cairo under the Sunni Ayyubids and Mamluks

The re-Sunnification of Cairo, initiated by Saladin after the overthrow of the Fatimids in 1171, did not impede the veneration of the Husayni shrine and mosque. It ceased to constitute a source of political legitimation, but remained a popular pilgrimage site (as depicted by Ibn Jubayr). Under the Ayyubids and Mamluks it was frequented by Sufis, and by a circle of students of Islamic law. Some jurists, prominent among them Ibn Taymiyya, denied the authenticity of the relic and criticized the cult in its shrine.

Excursus: The Founding of an Islamic Rajab Under Fatimid RuleLunar Calendar

Addressing the pre-Islamic custom of the Arabs to use intercalation for adjusting their lunar calendar to the solar annual cycle, the Qurʾan and the Prophet's farewell sermon are said to forbid the nasīʾ. This excursus brings the explanations of the medieval scholars al-Biruni and Ibn Taymiyya and of western scholarship for the creation of a unique Islamic calendar.

The Shrine in Ascalon under the Ayyubids and Mamluks

Ascalon was regained by the Muslim in 1187, and abandoned again in 1192, when Saladin's men razed its walls in accordance with his agreement with Richard Lionheart. Badr al-Din's minbar was sent to Hebron. The empty shrine of al-Husayn remained standing, and the site was visited by Muslim travellers throughout the Mamluk period. Ascalon was not rebuilt, yet retained its religious prestige.

Excursus: Arabic Treatises in Praise of Ascalon

This excursus provides a list of six ninth- to fifteenth-century manuscripts and published works compiled in praise of Ascalon (Faḍl ʿAsqalān), or containing a chapter dedicated to this end. The authors include Abū al-Ḥasan al-Madāʾinī (d. 225/839–40), Abū Muḥammad al-ʿAsqalānī (d. 325/937?), ʿAlī Ibn ʿAsākir (d. 571/1176), Taqī al-Dīn al-Shahrazūrī (d. 643/1245), Shams al-Dīn al-Asyūṭī (d. 880/1475–6), and an anonymous author.