Ras al-Husayn

Ras al-Husayn (The Head of al-Husayn) is a treatise by the Hanbali scholar Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728 AH / 1328 CE) addressing the historical whereabouts of the head of al-Husayn ibn Ali and refuting the authenticity of the shrines attributed to it in Ashkelon and Cairo al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1.

Background and Inception

The work was composed in response to a detailed inquiry submitted to Ibn Taymiyya concerning the authenticity of the shrine (mashhad) in Cairo attributed to al-Husayn Kashf Shubuhat al-Sufiyya+1. The questioner asked whether al-Husayn's head had been transported to Damascus and then to Egypt, or sent to Medina from Iraq; whether the shrine previously established in Ashkelon held any historical validity; and which early and late authorities had confirmed that the Cairo and Ashkelon sites were inauthentic Kashf Shubuhat al-Sufiyya+1.

Core Arguments and Historical Analysis

Ibn Taymiyya states that while al-Husayn's body was buried at Karbala by scholarly consensus, the claim that his head is in Cairo is a fabricated falsehood unsupported by reliable scholars Marifat al-Mamur bihi wal…+1. He presents multiple historical arguments to demonstrate that the head was never transferred to Egypt:

• Chronological Discrepancy: The Cairo shrine was erected during the Fatimid era in the 540s AH following the purported transfer of the relic from Ashkelon, whereas the Ashkelon site itself had only been invented after 490 AH—more than 430 years after al-Husayn's death in 61 AH al-Munazarat al-Aqadiyya …+1.
• Early Historiographical Silence: Early compilers of narratives concerning al-Husayn's martyrdom, such as Ibn Abi al-Dunya and Abu al-Qasim al-Baghawi, made no mention of the head being carried to Ashkelon or Cairo Ras al-Husayn+1. Ibn Taymiyya also cites Abu al-Khattab Ibn Dihya's al-ʿIlm al-mashhur fi fadaʾil al-ayyam wa-l-shuhur, which noted an agreement among historians of the event that the head was not taken to distant foreign lands Ras al-Husayn+1.
• Burial in Medina: Relying on genealogists and historians such as al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar and Muhammad ibn Sa'd, Ibn Taymiyya maintains that the head was dispatched to Medina and buried in al-Baqiʿ alongside his brother al-Hasan ibn Ali al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1.
• Scholarly Rejection: Ibn Taymiyya lists several scholars who rejected the authenticity of the Cairo shrine, including Abu Abd Allah al-Qurtubi, Ibn Daqiq al-ʿId, Ibn Khalaf al-Dimyati, Ibn al-Qastallani (who asserted that the tomb contained the remains of a Christian), and Abd al-Aziz al-Dayrini Marifat al-Mamur bihi wal…+1.

Ibn Taymiyya also examines the hadith reports concerning the aftermath of the battle of Karbala, noting that authentic transmissions in Sahih al-Bukhari and Ahmad's Musnad place the poking of al-Husayn's head with a cane in front of Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad in Iraq in the presence of Anas ibn Malik and Abu Barza al-Aslami, refuting severed-chain narrations claiming this occurred before Yazid ibn Mu'awiya in Damascus al-Khilafa al-Umawiya min….

Broader Context and Publication

Within the treatise, Ibn Taymiyya situates the dispute over al-Husayn's shrine into a broader theological and historical examination of unverified tombs across the Islamic world, comparing it to spurious shrines attributed to biblical prophets and early figures such as Ubayy ibn Ka'b in Damascus or Jabir ibn Abd Allah in Harran Majallat al-Buhuth al-Isl…+1. The text also includes a recorded disputation he held with Christian monks concerning grave veneration al-Munazarat al-Aqadiyya ….

The text was preserved as part of Ibn Taymiyya's Majmuʿ al-fatawa (volume 27) and has also been published as an independent epistle in various collections of his treatises al-Alam lil-Zirikli+2.