crimes and vices, have made him the Judas Iscariot of Al-Islam. I have
heard Hanafi Moslems, especially Sayyids, revile him; but this is not,
strictly speaking, correct. The Shi’ahs, of course, place no limits to
their abuse of him. You first call a man “Omar,” then “Shimr,” (the slayer of
Al-Hosayn), and lastly, “Yazid,” beyond which insult does not extend.
[FN#25] Ukayl or Akil, as many write the name, died at Damascus, during
the Caliphate of Al-Mu’awiyah. Some say he was buried there, others that
his corpse was transplanted to Al-Madinah, and buried in a place where
formerly his house, known as “Dar Ukayl,” stood.
[FN#26] Some are of opinion that the ceremonies of Ziyarat formerly
did, and still should begin here. But the order of visitation differs
infinitely, and no two authors seem to agree. I was led by Shaykh
Hamid, and indulged in no scruples.
[FN#27] Burckhardt makes a series of mistakes upon this subject. “Hassan
ibn Aly, whose trunk only lies buried here (in El Bakia), his head
having been sent to Cairo, where it is preserved in the fine Mosque
called El-Hassanya.” The Mosque Al-Hasanayn (the “two Hasans”) is supposed to
contain only the head of Al-Hosayn, which, when the Crusaders took
Ascalon, was brought from thence by Sultan Salih or Beybars, and
conveyed to Cairo. As I have said before, the Persians in Egypt openly
show their contempt of this tradition. It must be remembered that
Al-Hasan died poisoned at Al-Madinah by his wife Ja’adah. Al-Hosayn, on
the other hand, was slain and decapitated at Kerbela. According to the
Shi’ahs, Zayn al-Abidin obtained from Yazid, after a space of forty days,
his father’s head, and carried it back to Kerbela, for which reason the
event is known to the Persians as “Chilleyeh sar o tan,” the “forty days of
(separation between) the head and trunk.” They vehemently deny that the
body lies at Kerbela, and the head at Cairo. Others, again, declare
that Al-Hosayn’s head was sent by Yazid to Amir bin al-As, the governor
of Al-Madinah, and was by him buried near Fatimah’s Tomb. Nor are they