my intercession.” The high esteem in which this
pilgrimage is held is also reflected in the murals
painted on the houses of Egyptian pilgrims, which
often display images of Muhammad’s mosque in
Medina next to images of the kaaba in Mecca.
Another major pilgrimage shrine connected with
Muhammad is the Noble Sanctuary in JerUsalem,
where he is believed to have traveled during his
night JoUrney and ascent.
There are literally hundreds of other pilgrim-
age shrine sites connected with prophets and
saints (known as walis). Some of these have
ancient pre-Islamic origins, but most began to
noticeably appear in Muslim communities only
between the 13th and 15th centuries, with some
developing as recently as the late 20th century.
Many of the most prominent are identified with
descendants of Muhammad’s family, the ahl al-
bayt. These include the tombs of hUsayn ibn ali,
Zaynab, and Nafisa in Cairo. The most important
shrines visited by the Shia are those of the Imams
and their descendants, especially ali ibn abi talib
in Najaf (Iraq), Husayn in karbala, the Kazimayn
(the seventh and ninth Imams Musa al-Kazim
and Muhammad al-Taqi) in a north Baghdad
suburb, Ali al-Hadi and Hasan al-Askari (the
10th and 11th Imams) in Samarra (Iraq), al-Rida
(or Reza, the eighth Imam) in Mashhad (Iran),
and his sister Fatima in Qumm. In recent years
the shrine of zaynab bint ali ibn abi talib, in
Damascus has attracted large numbers of Shii pil-
grims. Major pilgrimage shrines connected with
Sufi saints include those of Mum al-Din Chishti
in aJmer (India), Baba Farid al-Din GanjshakarPilgrims visit the tomb of the wife of the Chishti saint Bakhtiar Kaki in Mehrauli, New Delhi, India. ( Juan E. Campo)
ziyara 723 J