Tomb of Muhammad (Islamic Studies)

Introduction

The “Tomb of Muḥammad” refers to the grave of the Prophet Muḥammad (d. 632) as it is contained within a constructed sepulcher in addition to the surrounding area, which is at the same time an integral part of the Prophet’s mosque (al-masjῑd al-nabawῑ) in Medina, Saudi Arabia. Within the enclosed sepulcher of Muḥammad’s tomb, the first two Sunni Caliphs, Abū Bakr (d. 634) and ʿUmar (d. 644), are also interred. The section of the Prophet’s mosque dominated by this tomb marks the skyline of Medina with its distinctive green dome. During the history of renovation and expansion by its various caretakers, periodic controversy accompanied elaboration of Muḥammad’s tomb, inspired by statements in the Hadith extolling burial by a simple grave, level with the ground. Functioning as a shrine that has hosted countless visitors, the tomb of Muḥammad is known in Arabic as al-ḥujra al-nabawiyya (“the chamber of the prophet”), al-ḥujra al-sharīfa (“the noble chamber”), al-qabr al-sharīf (“the noble grave”), or al-rawḍa (“the garden”). Despite periodic controversies, Muḥammad’s tomb has become a central destination of pious visitation (as part of a visit to Medina appended to the pilgrimage to Mecca) throughout Islamic history and throughout the Muslim world since at least the 2nd Islamic century.

General Overviews

Although debated among early traditionalists, monograph Halevi 2007 explains how it came to be widely accepted by Sunni historians that the deathbed of the Prophet Muhammad served as his place of burial, and he was inhumed within the earth of the room (ḥujra) assigned to his wife ʿĀ’isha, where he died in 632. The expansion of the Prophet’s mosque adjacent to this space, which took place between 706–709 during the reign of the Umayyad Caliph al-Walīd I (r. 705–715) and under the authority of the governor of Medina and future Umayyad Caliph, ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (d. 717), marks the most significant elaboration of his place of burial and a fundamental transformation of the space surrounding the grave. The general transformation of the space throughout Islamic history is covered in Behrens 2007, Kurdī 2002, Marmon 1995, and Munt 2014. During this first Umayyad renovation of the burial space, the quadrangle walls of the original ḥujra were replaced by an irregular hexagonal stone sepulcher (appearing as a pentagon in artists’ renderings, but technically six-sided), the ceiling of which was sealed. This innermost sanctum, for which entry was forbidden, henceforth became known as the ḥujra al-nabawiyya. During the same restoration, the Prophet’s mosque was extended to encompass this enclosed tomb-sepulcher as well as the rawḍa within its southeast corner. Use of the term rawḍa (“garden”) has additional meaning, but various Hadith cite the term in this spatial context of the mosque by quoting the Prophet: “Between my house and my pulpit is a garden of the gardens of Paradise (rawḍat al-jinna).” Schöller 2004 (cited under Visitation to Muḥammad’s Tomb and Religiosity Associated with the Tomb) outlines the numerous variants and sources of this Hadith. The rawḍa proper refers to the south portico bordered by the minbar (pulpit), ʿĀ’isha’s ḥujra, and the Prophet’s miḥrāb. Because of its adjacency to the enclosed ḥujra, as well as the paradisiacal connotations of the term rawḍa, the entire portion of the Prophet’s mosque containing the sepulcher, as well as the space that hosts its visitors, is often referred to simply as the rawḍa in modern colloquial usage (i.e., roza mubarak, or “the blessed garden”). A partial history of the sacred nomenclature for Muḥammad’s tomb is discussed in the context of both epitaphs and poetic sources in Schöller 2004.

Ayyad, Essam S. “The ‘House of the Prophet’ or the ‘Mosque of the Prophet’?” Journal of Islamic Studies 24 (2013): 273–334.
DOI: 10.1093/jis/ett053Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A thorough overview on academic literature concerning the history and theory of the mosque structure in general, as well as its influence on later design. The argument outlined in the article about the sacral nature of the mosque in part hinges on the discussion of Muḥammad’s tomb within.
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Behrens, Marcel. “Ein Garten des Paradieses”: Die Prophetenmoschee von Medina. Würzburg, Germany: Ergon Verlag, 2007.
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The most important German source on Muhammad’s tomb: a general account of the history of the Prophet’s mosque and its significance in Islam. Includes a history of renovations and evolution of piety.
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Damluji, Salma Samar. The Architecture of the Prophet’s Holy Mosque: Al-Madïnah. London: Hazar, 1998.
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A large pious volume published in commemoration of the expansions of the Prophet’s mosque commissioned by King Fahd ibn ʿAbdul ʿAzīz. The volume contains a survey of the history of the mosque’s architecture by dynasty, including Muḥammad’s tomb and its additions. The advantage of this volume is its impressive size, with many pull-out features. A technical and aesthetic achievement, this also contains an extensive bibliography of sources in Arabic.
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Esin, Emel. Mecca the Blessed Madinah the Radiant. New York: Crown, 1963.
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A pious volume in the longue durée style, this contains many illustrations and photographs and an extended account of the Umayyad reconstruction.
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Halevi, Leor. Muhammad’s Grave: Death Rites and the Making of Islamic Society. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.
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The bulk of Halevi’s study concerns how Muslims of the foundational centuries constructed distinctively Islamic rites of death and burial. His study also discusses early ḥadīth literature regarding the topics of tombstones and constructed, or raised tombs. Halevi’s treatment of issues surrounding burial and tomb construction (chapter 6) provides a necessary foundation to the controversy surrounding the site of Muḥammad’s tomb.
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Kurdī, ʿUbayd Allāh Muḥammad Amῑn. The Holy Kaʿbah and the Two Holy Mosques: Construction and History. Medina, Saudi Arabia: Saudi Bin Ladin Group, 2002.
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An oversized pious volume, this is an official Saudi commemorative account of the history and ongoing expansion program of the sacred sites of Mecca and Medina. Its academic value lies in the inclusion of many vintage photographs as well as detailed and technical diagrams of the Prophet’s mosque, including the tomb.
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Makki, M. S. Medina, Saudi Arabia: A Geographic Analysis of the City and Region. Amersham, UK: Avebury, 1982.
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A geographic and economic history of the city of Medina. In line with its technical emphasis, the growth of the Prophet’s mosque is charted by square meters.
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Marmon, Shaun. Eunuchs and Sacred Boundaries in Islamic Society. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
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A historical analysis of Muḥammad’s tomb from the perspective of the influential Mamlūk dynasty, during which time the tomb became “the charismatic center” of the empire (p. 28). A careful analysis of the development of the tomb through Mamlūk imperial culture.
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Munt, Harry. The Holy City of Medina: Sacred Space in Early Islamic Arabia. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781107323773Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This history of early Islamic Medina includes overview of early controversy surrounding pious visitation to Muḥammad’s tomb as well as an extensive survey of Hadith literature on the practice and its controversy.
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Winder, R. B. “Al-Madīna.” In The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by H. A. R. Gibb, E van Donzel, P. J. Bearman, et al. Leiden: Brill, 1986–2009.
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A full survey of the history of Medina, including a discussion of the development of the Prophet Muḥammad’s mosque and tomb.
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Historical

The tomb of Muḥammad originally existed as a discrete space apart from the mosque of the Prophet. However, for most of its history, the tomb has been incorporated within the Prophet’s mosque (al-masjid al-nabawī) as a central feature, dominating its southeast section. Thus, aspects of the tomb of Muḥammad cannot be separated from the discussion of the larger mosque complex nor, for that matter, from the history of Medina. For that reason, the general histories of Medina are included here in this subsection.

al-Āqshahrī. Al-rawḍah-firdawsiyya wa-al-ḥaḍra al-qudsiyya. 2 vols. Edited by Qasim al-Samarra’i. London: al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation, 2010.
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A primary-source history of Medina, al-Āqshahrī (d. 1338) demonstrates the convention to include a section on visiting the tomb of Muḥammad in his general history of Medina. The relevant section is in Volume 1, pp. 75–247.
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Ibn Shabba, ʿUmar. Ta’rῑkh al-Madῑna al-munawwara. Edited by F. M. Shaltūt. 4 vols. Beirut, Lebanon: Dār al-Turāth, 1990.
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One of several publications of this early (9th century) and incomplete history of Medina, which became one of the sources for later Medinan historians. Although large sections on the Prophet’s mosque and the entire description of the tomb of Muḥammad is missing, other tombs of Medina are described.
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al-Marāghī, Abū Bakr. Taḥqīq al-nuṣra bi-talkhīṣ maʿālim dār al-hijra. Edited by al-Rahim ʿUsaylān. Medina, Saudi Arabia: al-Rahim ʿUsaylān, 2002.
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A Medinan historian, al-Marāghī (d. 1414) includes a passage related to the history of Muḥammad’s tomb in this edition (pp. 161–183).
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al-Marjānī, ʽAbd Allāh. Bahjat al-nufūs wa-al-asrār fī ta’rīkh dār hijrat al-nabī al-mukhtār 2 vols. Edited by M. A. Fadl. Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Gharb al-Islami, 2002.
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A primary source history of Medina. See Volume 2, pp. 906–975 for al-Marjānī’s (d. after 1369) discussion of the history of the tomb.
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al-Maṭarī, Jamāl al-Dīn. al-taʿrīf bimā ansat al-hujra man maʿālim dār al-hijra. Edited by Sulayman Dufayda Ruhayli. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Dar al-malik ʿAbd al-ʿAziz, 2005.
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A primary-source history of Medina, al-Maṭarī (d. 1340) includes a passage on Muḥammad’s tomb in line with the convention of Arabic histories of Medina.
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al-Sakhāwī, Shams al-Dīn. Al-tuḥfa al-laṭīfa fῑ-tarῑkh al-madῑna al-sharīfa. 6 vols. Medina, Saudi Arabia: Markaz Buhuth, 2008.
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A biographical history of Medina from early Islam until the 15th century by the Egyptian scholar al-Sakhāwī (d. 1497). Written after spending some years in the Hijaz in scholarly residence, it includes a detailed discussion of the eunuch society charged with guarding Muḥammad’s tomb when the society was first installed in the 12th century.
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al-Samhūdī, Nūr al-Dīn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh. Wafā’ al-wafā’ bi-akhbār dār al-muṣṭafa. Edited by Muhammad Nizam al-Din Futayyih. Medina, Saudi Arabia: Dar al-zaman, 2008.
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Composed in 1496, this work is based on the author’s original history of Medina entitled, Iqtiḍā’ al-wafā’ bi-akhbār dār al-muṣṭafa, (completed in 1481), which was lost in a fire. A culmination of earlier historical writings on Medina (see Ibn al-Najjār, al-Āqshahrī, al-Maṭarī, and al-Marāghī), al-Samhūdī’s (d. 1506) history of Medina (and especially his history of the Prophet’s mosque and tomb within) is considered the foremost authoritative account covering the period up until the end of the 15th century of the Common Era.
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al-Samhūdī, Nūr al-Dīn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh. Khulāṣat al-Wafā’ bi- akhbār sār al-muṣṭafa. Edited by Muhammad al-Jakani. Medina, Saudi Arabia: M. al-Jakani, 1998.
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Completed before his death in 1506, this is al-Samhūdī’s abridged version of his Wafā’al-wafā’ bi-akhbār dār al-muṣṭafa. This later work is also frequently cited when mentioning the history of Muḥammad’s tomb.
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History of Architecture and Decorative Arts of Muḥammad’s Tomb

Despite the fact that it has been an object of intense pious focus, the early history of Muḥammad’s enclosed tomb, as well as its precise contents, are obscure. As Marmon 1995 explains, “The difficultly of any kind of reconstruction of the architectural history of the tomb is due in part to a certain sense of religious ambiguity about looking on the actual grave of the Prophet or entering into its physical proximity” (p. 45). The first significant elaboration of Muḥammad’s burial site was initiated during the reign of the Umayyad Caliph al-Walīd (r. 705–715) when the original walls of ʿĀ’isha’s ḥujra were replaced by permanent stone walls in an irregular shape (so designed in order to discourage rites parallel to the cubic kaʿba, as some early accounts describe a similar circumambulation of Muḥammad’s tomb). Creswell 1969 and Sauvaget 1947 are earlier analyses of this important period for the architectural history of the tomb. In 1256 the larger mosque was destroyed by fire and the walls of the tomb were damaged. After the Mamlūk Sultan Baybars (r. 1233–1277) made a pilgrimage to the Hijaz in 1269, he ordered the mosque (including the tomb) rebuilt. During his renovation, a wooden maqṣūra (enclosure) was constructed around the sepulcher/ḥujra of Muhammad and the adjacent sepulcher/ḥujra of his daughter Fāṭīma. The next major feature added to the tomb area was a wooden dome by the Mamlūk Sultan Qalāwūn in 1279. In 1481 a second major fire (set off by a lightning strike) engulfed the Prophet’s mosque and damaged the inner sanctum of the tomb. It was after this fire that al-Samhūdī (d. 1506), the foremost historian of Medina, was given rare passage beyond the damaged walls of the inner sanctum: according to his testimony, no tombs were visible at all, raised or otherwise. Marmon 1995 (p. 144, note 235) discusses the issue of rare eye-witness testimony. During the Ottoman period, and especially during the reign of Sulaymān the Magnificent (r. 1520–1566), repairs and decorative additions were made to Muḥammad’s tomb, but with no large-scale renovations until modern times. During the reign of the Ottoman sultan Mahmūd II (r. 1808–1839), the Mamlūk dome over the tomb was replaced and painted green, which is the color it has remained to this day. The use of domes predates the Romans in the ancient Middle East. Despite the controversy of domes such as this one, driven ostensibly by Islamic concerns, the domed mausoleum (especially this one) has become emblematic of Islamic funerary aesthetic, as shown in Grabar 1963. Further permanent features of the tomb added during the Ottoman period include the installation of the massive brass screens at the façade of the inner sanctuary before which visitors pause to perform various rites. The installation of the screens was overseen by the Ottoman ʿAbd al-Majīd I (r. 1839–1861). All throughout the various caretakers, meaning has also been reflected in the decorative arts as shown in the studies of Ipek 2011, al-Mojan 2013, and Porter 2012.

Ariffin, Syed Ahmad Iskandar Syed. Architectural Conservation in Islam: Case Study of the Prophet’s Mosque. Skudai, Malaysia: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 2005.
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Sets forth Islamic principles to guide the conservation of the Prophet’s mosque. However, the language is obtuse, and it is unclear what the author’s practical recommendations for the Prophet’s mosque actually are, especially regarding the 21st-century agenda of massive expansion. Provides technical details architectural historians may find useful, including blueprints of renovations of the mosque including the tomb in chapter 4 entitled, “Care and Conservation of the Prophet’s Mosque.”
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Creswell, K. A. C. Early Muslim Architecture: Umayyads A. D. 622–750. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon, 1969.
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A massive two-volume second edition based on the original 1932 publication. The Umayyad renovation of the Mosque of Medina is narrated and included in the section “The Works of al-Walīd.” Details and technical features based on the Arabic sources. History of the mosque is posited within its Umayyad building agenda throughout the empire. Based on the works of art historian Leone Caetani, Creswell’s book interprets early Islamic sources related to the building in order to argue for the non-sacral purpose of the original masjid.
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Grabar, Oleg. “The Islamic Dome. Some Considerations.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 22 (1963): 191–198.
DOI: 10.2307/988190Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A useful background study on the history of the dome structure in Islamic mausoleums.
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Ipek, Selin. “Dressing the Prophet: Textiles from the haramayn.” Hali 168 (2011): 49–51.
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A discussion of the Topkapi Palace Museum’s holdings of textiles used to cover the kaʿba as well as the inner sepulcher of Muḥammad’s tomb. As the “Custodians of the Two Noble Sanctuaries” (khādim al-ḥaramayn), the Ottoman sultans maintained an extensive collection of these textiles from the 16th to the 20th centuries.
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al-Mojan, Muhammad H. “The Textiles Made for the Prophet’s Mosque at Medina.” In The Hajj: Collected Essays. Edited by Venetia Porter and Liana Saif, 184–194. London: British Museum, 2013.
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Historical overview of the textiles produced and preserved to cover features of the Prophet’s mosque in Medina, including the kiswa of the inner sepulcher of Muḥammad’s tomb.
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Porter, Venetia. “Textiles of Mecca and Medina.” In Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam. Edited by Venetia Porter, 256–265. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012.
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Brief overview and selection of iconic textiles of Mecca and Medina. Includes several interior textiles from the Prophet’s mosque and tomb.
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Sauvaget, Jean. La Mosquée Omeyyade de Médine: Étude sur les Origines Architecturales de la Mosquée et de la Basilique. Paris: Vanoest, 1947.
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A detailed technical history of the architectural history of the mosque renovations and expansions especially under the Umayyads and Mamlūks, when most of the re-design and renovation activity took place. Details on Muḥammad’s tomb included as part of the general survey.
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Visitation to Muḥammad’s Tomb and Religiosity Associated with the Tomb

For Muslims all over the world, the tomb of Muḥammad is a major destination of pious visitation usually taken in conjunction with the hajj or ʿumra to Mecca. Munt 2014 traces pilgrimage to Medina and Muḥammad’s tomb within as a discernable practice back to at least the 2nd Islamic century based on historical narrative evidence, Hadith and fiqh sources, as well as the sacralization of the space through architecture beginning with the Umayyads. Legally speaking, visitation to the Prophet’s mosque and tomb in Medina is not an obligation, but rather a supererogatory rite referred to as ziyāra. However, in English usage, the term “pilgrimage” is often applied to both the hajj proper as well as to the Medinan ziyāra. Munt 2014 examines the increased intensity of veneration of the Prophet Muḥammad that took place in the 12th century as reflected in the ritual, ceremonial, and architectural development of Muḥammad’s tomb during that time under the directives of the Ayyūbid and Mamlūk sultans. During the Islamic Middle Period, the belief became widespread that the visitor to Muḥammad’s tomb received in a direct way the Prophet’s charismatic blessing (baraka), as surveyed in Schöller 2004. Numerous legendary tales about the fearsome charisma of the space appear with increasing frequency during the Middle Period. Eschatology has also influenced beliefs surrounding Muḥammad’s tomb, such as the assertion that in addition to the graves of Muḥammad, Abū Bakr, and ʿUmar, the enclosed sanctuary also hosts an empty space awaiting the corpse of the Qurʾanic Jesus, where he will be buried after his end-time mission is completed. Commentators such as al-Baydawī (d. 1286) tended to add such detail to the eschatological return of Jesus, as revealed in Qurʾan 43:61. Historical legal rulings issued to control aspects of popular practice performed at Muḥammad’s tomb could give insight into the nature of these practices, including patronage by women, physical contact with and circumambulation of the inner sanctuary, and other such practices as they evolved throughout Islamic history.

Kister, M. J. “Sanctity Joint and Divided: On Holy Places in the Islamic Tradition.” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 20 (1996): 18–65.
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A general overview on the theory and practice of sacred space in Islam, including discussion of the religious significance of Muḥammad’s tomb and its connection to other sacred Islamic places.
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Maury, Charlotte. “Les representations des deux sanctuaires à l’époque Ottomane: Du schema topographique à l vue perspective.” In Routes d’Arabie: Archéologie et histoire du royaume d’Arabie Saoudite. Edited by Ali Ibrahim al-Ghabban, Béatrice André-Salvini, et al., 546–559. Paris: Louvre, 2010.
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A survey of Ottoman manuscript illustrations of the kaʿba and the Prophet’s mosque, in which the dome of the tomb is often represented. Part of a large commemoration volume on archeological collaboration between the Saudi and French governments.
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Munt, Harry. The Holy City of Medina: Sacred Space in Early Islamic Arabia. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781107323773Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Traces the historical development of Medina as a sacred city in the early Islamic centuries. The analysis of Muḥammad’s mosque and tomb is contextualized within the development of other Medinan tombs that were also early destinations of ziyāra.
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Nomachi, Ali Kazuyosi. Mecca the Blessed, Medina the Radiant. New York: Aperture, 1997.
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An oversized volume that should be categorized as a general pious work commemorating the two sacred cities. Its academic value lies in a section on the expansions of the Prophet’s mosque in Medina, as well as clear interior photographs of the tomb giving insight into the pious practice surrounding the tomb today. Text by Seyyed Hossein Nasr.
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Schimmel, Annemarie. And Muhammad Is His Messenger: The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995.
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A wide-ranging examination of the Prophet Muḥammad in Islamic piety, including a well-balanced discussion of the trope of longing for his tomb in Islamic poetics in chapter 10, “Poetry in Honor of the Prophet.”
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Schöller, Marco. The Living and the Dead in Islam: Studies in Arabic Epitaphs. 3 vols. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2004.
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Volume 2, Epitaphs in Context, discusses the paradigmatic role of the Prophet’s tomb, or “garden” through traditional and poetic sources. Has a general discussion of the role of Muḥammad’s tomb in pious literature in which sources are examined concerning the “Letters to the Prophet” (risāla ‘ilā ḍarīḥ al-nabī), which is genre of pious literature wherein the author writes a letter to the Prophet, usually pleading intercession, to be delivered personally by a visitor to the tomb.
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Role of Muḥammad’s Tomb in Islamic Thanatology

Just as the larger mosque of the Prophet has served as a model throughout the Islamic world for the design of mosques, Marmon 1995 establishes that Muḥammad’s tomb has also served as inspiration for grave, tomb, and sepulcher construction. The Islamic burial practice of arranging the corpses oriented toward Mecca is traced to the grave of Muhammad. Early traditions established that Muḥammad was buried with the laḥd (niche) perpendicular to the qibla in the “Medinese style.” Although Muḥammad was not the first to be buried facing toward the qibla in this way, after his burial it became standard practice among Muslims. From the construction of similar tombs within mosques, to the graves placed near the Prophet’s, throughout the history of its development Muḥammad’s tomb has influenced Muslims’ practical, theological, and aesthetic ways of dealing with death, burial, and entombment, as seen in the studies of Dickie 1978, Ragib 1970, and Simpson 1995. Given the universal importance of Muḥammad’s tomb, it may seem that construction of funerary architecture throughout the Muslim world took the Medinan sanctuary as its prototype. However, evidence that this influence had the opposite effect is also strong: that is, funerary architecture in other places drove the expansion agenda of Muḥammad’s tomb in Medina, especially during the Mamlūk period, as explained in Marmon 1995. This phenomenon has fueled debate over the legitimacy of certain features of Muḥammad’s tomb, especially its scale, elaborateness, and dome as well as the debate over practices associated with Muḥammad’s tomb visitation (see works cited under Travelers’ Accounts).

Dickie, James. “Allah and Eternity: Mosques, Madrasas and Tombs.” In Architecture of the Islamic World: Its History and Social Meaning. By James Dickie, 15–47. London: Thames and Hudson, 1978.
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The section on tombs in this chapter surveys aspects of traditional Islamic burial practice, noting practices that originated with the burial of the prophet. The chapter also explains the technical aspects of grave, tomb, and mausoleum construction in Islamic civilization.
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Marmon, Shaun. Eunuchs and Sacred Boundaries in Islamic Society. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
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One of the central themes of this nuanced study is the power connection established by the Mamlūks between “Sultan and Prophet.” This connection manifested itself by parallel tomb development among the powerful elites of Cairo and Muḥammad’s tomb in Medina. The main analysis concerns the implications of “royal” eunuch guards at Muḥammad’s tomb.
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Ragib, Yusuf. “Les premiers monuments funéraires de l’Islam.” Annales Islamologiques 9 (1970): 21–36.
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Based on historical narrative sources, this study surveys the early establishment of burial places of pious visitation (mashhad) during the lifetime of Muḥammad and his companions.
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Simpson, St. John. “Death and Burial in the Late Islamic Near East: Some Insights from Archaeology and Ethnography.” In The Archaeology of Death in the Ancient Near East. Edited by Stuart Campbell and Anthony Green, 240–249. Oxford: Oxbow, 1995.
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Using the example of Muḥammad’s tomb implicit, this is a survey of Islamic burial practices and sources via an “ethnoarchaeological” approach.
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Sourdel-Thomine, J., and Y. Linant de Bellefonds. “Ḳabr.” In The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Leiden: Brill, 1986.
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A general discussion on funerary and burial practices in Islam.
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Travelers’ Accounts

Travelers’ accounts, both European and Muslim, are valuable in their observations of Muḥammad’s tomb during the various epochs as well as of the practices associated with Muḥammad’s tomb, especially before the Wahhābi reformists took over Medina in the early 19th century. After that time, certain traditional practices associated with visiting Muḥammad’s tomb were rarely observed in public.

European

Although this article divides travel accounts into European and Muslim sections, often the sympathies and religious identities of the European authors, such as Richard Burton’s, are complex, calling into question the stringent Orientalist/Muslim dichotomy that is often assumed in the study of Islam. The accounts of Burckhardt 1829, Burton 1964, and Philby 1946 especially attest to the difficulty in assigning firm identities and loyalties to the authors.

Burckhardt, Jean-Louis. Travels in Arabia: Comprehending An Account of Those Territories in Hedjaz which the Mohammedans Regard as Sacred. 2 vols. London: H. Colburn, 1829.
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A Swiss Orientalist, Burckhardt (d. 1817) made the journey to the Hijaz disguised as a pilgrim. At the Prophet’s mosque in Medina in 1814, he describes an atmosphere of censure at Muḥammad’s tomb, coinciding with the establishment of the Saʿūd regime and implementation of Wahhābi standards of pious conduct. Includes a detailed account of contemporary rites both observed before the tomb as well as contemporary distain for such practices voiced by “The Puritans.”
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Burton, Richard Francis. Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah And Meccah. 2 vols. New York: Dover, 1964.
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As part of this account by one of the most famous Western visitors to make the hajj disguised as a Muslim pilgrim, an extensive and colorful description of Muḥammad’s tomb is given in Volume 1. Includes intercessory rites observed by Burton in 1853 as well as texts of incantations recited at Muḥammad’s tomb. His several diagrams of the inner sanctum are based on interviews, observation, rumor, and speculation.
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Peters, F. E. The Hajj: The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Places. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994a.
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Sections entitled “Medina the Radiant” and “A Visit to Medina,” succinctly anthologizes relevant travelers’ descriptions of Muḥammad’s tomb.
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Peters, F. E. Mecca: A Literary History of the Muslim Holy Land. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994b.
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Peters’s compilation of travel literature (both Muslim and European) includes accounts of Medina and the Prophet’s tomb.
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Philby, H. St. John. A Pilgrim in Arabia. Bristol, UK: Robert Hale, 1946.
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The description of the ḥaramayn including Muḥammad’s tomb by this British politician and Orientalist is considered authoritative. Includes a detailed account of pilgrims’ religiosity associated with it in the section “The Visitation.” Describes the dilapidated state of Medinan tombs during the interwar period.
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Roches, Leon. Dix ans à travers l’Islam, 1834–1844. Paris: Perrin, 1904.
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An apparatchik of the French government, Roches reports on his travels throughout Arabia including a detailed account of Muḥammad’s tomb in 1841.
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Rutter, Eldon. The Holy Cities of Arabia. London: G. P. Putnam, 1928.
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A British traveler who visited the Hijaz in 1925, Rutter’s book is one of the last accounts of the ceremonial performed by the eunuch society dedicated to Muḥammad’s tomb.
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Varthema. The Travels of Ludovico di Varthema in Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and Arabia Felix, in Persia, India and Ethiopia, A. D. 1503–1508. Translated by J. W. Jones. London: Hakluyt Society, 1863.
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The first full European account of the Hijaz, Varthema’s description of Muḥammad’s tomb served to counter popular European legend that Muḥammad’s tomb was suspended in air in Mecca.
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Muslim

Although this article divides these accounts between European and Muslim authors, these sources are usefully viewed as complementary observations, as in the compilations Peters 1994a and Peters 1994b, which feature visitations to Muḥammad’s tomb (both cited under Travelers’ Accounts: European).

Gemici, Nurettin, ed. Evliyā Çelebī in Medina: The Relevant Sections of the Seyāhatnāme. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2012.
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Evliyā Çelebī (d. after 1682), the famous Ottoman travel writer, observed the Prophet’s mosque in Medina after he performed the hajj in 1673. The description of Muḥammad’s tomb, which includes details on its elaborate decoration, its guards, and attendants, as well as religiosity surrounding it, is included in the section entitled, “Description of the Interior of the Ravḍa al-Muṭtahhara and Account of How We Entered the Tomb of the Prophet with our Patron, Vezier Ḥusayn Pasha.”
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al-Harawī, ʿAlī ibn Abī Bakr. A Lonely Wayfarer’s Guide to Pilgrimage. Translated by Josef W. Meri. Princeton, NJ: Darwin, 2004.
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The original title is Kitāb al-ishārāt ilā maʿrifat al-ziyārāt. This is a catalogue of pilgrimage destinations from North Africa to Iran, including the ḥaramayn. Although the description of Muḥammad’s tomb is brief, the Persian traveler al-Harawῑ (d. 1215) includes numerous descriptions of tombs and visitation practice throughout his geographic coverage.
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Ibn Jubayr, Abū al-Ḥusayn. The Travels of Ibn Jubayr. Translated by Roland Broadhurst. London: Goodword, 2001.
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Ibn Jubayr (b. 1145–d. 1217), an Andalusian traveler, made the hajj in 1184, during which he visited Medina and other places in Mesopotamia and Syria. In the Prophet’s mosque, he gave details on the decoration and design of Muḥammad’s tomb as well as the religiosity associated with it. The account of Ibn Jubayr is the most detailed and authoritative description of Muḥammad’s tomb before the Mamlūk additions.
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Ibn al-Najjār, Muḥib Allāh. “Kitāb al-durra al-thamīna fī akhbār al-madīna.” In Shifāʼ al-gharām bi-akhbār al-balad al-ḥarām. 2 vols. Edited by Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Fāsī, Saʻīd ʻAbd al-Fattāḥ, ʻAbd al-Ḥamīd ʻAdawī, et al. Mecca: Al-Maktaba, 1996.
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Composed in 1198, this is the Baghdadi historian Ibn al-Najjār’s account of his previous visit to Medina. Special attention paid to the sacred topography of the city.
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Iqbal, Muzaffar. Dawn in Madinah: A Pilgrim’s Passage. Islamabad, Pakistan: Dost, 2009.
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An account of a month-long sojourn in the Prophet’s mosque of Medina. A pious reflection on the meaning of the Prophet’s life and death to this Pakistani-Canadian public intellectual.
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Nāṣir-i Khusraw. Nāṣer-e Khosraw’s Book of Travels (Safarnāma). Translated by W. M. Thackston Jr. New York: Persian Heritage Foundation, 1986.
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Seljuk administrator, theologian, and poet Nāṣir-i Khusraw gives a terse account of the Prophet’s mosque and tomb is valuable for its early (pre-Mamlūk) description. Nāṣir-i Khusraw (d. 1088) conducted his travels in the Hijaz in 1048.
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Rifʿat Pasha, Ibrahim. Mir’āt al-ḥaramayn. 2 vols. Cairo: Cairo National Library, 1927.
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“View of the Two Sanctuaries” is an Egyptian general’s account based on several pilgrimages in the early part of the 20th century and includes a description of the rites of ziyāra to Muḥammad’s tomb. Still relevant for its numerous photographs revealing rites carried out in association with numerous tomb sanctuaries of Mecca and Medina.
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Shafiʿ, Muhammad. “A Description of the Two Sanctuaries of Islam by Ibn ʿAbd Rabbihi (d. 940).” In ʿAjabnāma: A Volume of Oriental Studies Presented to Edward G. Browne. Edited by T. W. Arnold and Reynold A. Nicholson, 416–438. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1922.
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This article describes Ibn ʿAbd Rabbihi’s observations of the Hijaz. The Andalusian writer and traveler’s description of the Prophet’s mosque is valued for its early date (before 940).
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Controversy over Muḥammad’s Tomb

A long and complex history within juridical thought, legal opinions regarding the visitation to the Prophet’s tomb (ziyāra qabr al-nabī) span a range from commanded to condemned, as surveyed in Beranek and Tupek 2009. In modern times, the act of visiting Muḥammad’s tomb as well as the tomb itself has become controversial once again. What the ḥadith literature recommends as “leveling the graves” (taswiyat al-qubūr) (i.e., covering the corpse with earth level to the ground and nothing more) is the guiding principle for those critical of the architectural form that has developed around Muḥammad’s place of burial as well as visitation to it. These critics contend that the Prophet Muḥammad rejected the ostentation of constructed monuments to commemorate the deceased. Indeed, the initial transformation of Muḥammad’s grave into a tomb-shrine by the Umayyads in 706–709 seems to have ignited protest among contemporary pietists. The actual shape of Muḥammad’s grave on the ground within the enclosed sepulcher has been a matter of speculation, compounded by the conflicting reports of those few who had gained access to this inner sanctum (or had claimed they had). In a separate but related set of objections, it is the practice of seeking intercession from the Prophet before his tomb that is singled out for condemnation. Yet others have defended the practice, pointing to Hadith narratives that attest to the Prophet’s visitation of gravesites during his lifetime, especially to those in the Medinan cemetery of Baqīʿ al-Gharqad, where early Muslim martyrs are buried. Although the most characteristic feature of the Medinan skyline and a universal symbol of Muḥammad’s tomb, “The Green Dome” above the tomb is also its most controversial feature. Advocates of iconoclastic action to counter non-Islamic visual and religious culture, whether they were Ḥanbalite pietists, protégés of Ibn Taymiyya, or factions of modern reformers, especially Wahhābῑ, often cite monumental funerary domes for violent reproach. An example of this was after the Wahhābῑ-inspired Saʿūdi regime initially captured Medina in 1806, many of the city’s famous funerary domes were destroyed and then later rebuilt by the Ottomans. Then in 1925, based on a fatwā condemning these structures issued from the local ʽulamāʼ, the domes within the cemetery of al-Baqῑʿ al-Gharqad were again completely leveled under the authority of King Ibn Saʿūd. And while the “Green Dome” remained, the interior of Muḥammad’s tomb was stripped of its decorative jewels and gold plating. Historically, the Shiʿa have upheld visitation to Muḥammad’s tomb. In that way, the modern campaign advocating tomb-destruction can be seen as a visible manifestation of anti-Shiʿi sectarian violence.

al-Alawi, Irfan. “The Destruction of Holy Sites in Mecca and Medina.” Islamica Magazine 15 (2006): 71–74.
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A journalistic overview of the most recent foment in Saudi Arabia over the call for the destruction of Muḥammad’s constructed tomb. Al-Alawi is the most consistent voice in the popular press warning about Saudi governmental plans to destroy the architecture of Muḥammad’s tomb as it currently stands.
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Beranek, Ondrej, and Pavel Tupek. “From Visiting Graves to their Destruction: The Question of Ziyara Through the Eyes of Salafis.” Brandeis University, Crown Center for Middle East Studies (July 2009).
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References current advocacy to return Muḥammad’s tomb to its “original” condition emanating from Saudi Arabia and the Yemen. Reviews the current controversy and the specific proposals for the demolition of the dome over Muḥammad’s tomb, as well as the “leveling” of the graves of Muḥammad, Abu Bakr, and ʿUmar. This paper published online through Brandeis University challenges this with Islamic counter-arguments.
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Ibn Taymiyya, Aḥmad. Ziyārat al-qubūr wa al-istinjād bi’l-maqbūr. Tanta, Egypt: Dar al-Sahabah lil-Turath, 1992.
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Ibn Taymiyya was particularly critical of intercessory requests made before tombs. After his hajj to Mecca and ziyāra to Medina in 1292–1293, he dedicated his career to campaign against the objectionable practices he observed there. This treatise is representative of his objections.
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Leisten, Thomas. “Between Orthodoxy and Exegesis: Some Aspects of Attitudes in the Shariʿa toward Funerary Architecture.” Muqarnas 7 (1990): 12–22.
DOI: 10.2307/1523118Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
On the legal complexity and pre-modern debate regarding “building over tombs.” Establishes that funerary architecture has always been both present and controversial in Islam. A clear exposition of the arguments prohibiting and allowing funerary architecture through ḥadῑth, other legal sources, commentary, and theological works.
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McLoughlin, Seán. “Holy Places, Contested Spaces: British Pakistani Accounts of Pilgrimage in Makkah and Madinah.” In Muslims in Britain. Edited by Peter Hopkins and Richard Gale, 132–149. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009.
DOI: 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748625871.003.0008Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Gives insight into difficulties pilgrims face in undertaking traditional intercessory rites in contemporary ziayāra, including ziayāra to Muḥammad’s tomb, from an ethnographic perspective.
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Ochsenwald, William. “Islam and Loyalty in the Saudi Hijaz, 1926–1939.” Die Welt des Islams 47 (2007): 7–32.
DOI: 10.1163/157006007780331471Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Reconstructs the religious transformation of the Hijaz during the Wahhābῑ consolidation of power, including the status of tombs.
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Peskes, Esther, and W. Ende. “Wahhābiyya.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam. Leiden: Brill, 1986.
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General survey of the movement including an overview of the controversial period of Wahhābī jurisdiction over the ḥaramayn from 1805–1806 until 1812–1813. During this time, widespread destruction of tombs and domes occurred, including an aborted attempt to level the Green Dome over Muḥammad’s tomb.
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Ragib, Yusuf. “Structure de la tombe d’après le droit musulman.” Arabica 39 (1992): 393–403.
DOI: 10.1163/157005892X00085Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A discussion of jurists’ ruling on the digging of graves and correct placement of the body during the early years of Islam. Contains a description of the original internment of Muhammad from the earliest sources.
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al-Wahhāb, Muḥammad Ibn ʿAbd. The Book of Tawheed. Translated by Sameh Strauch. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: International Islamic, 1998.
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Among the modern reformists, Muḥammad Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb (b. 1703–d. 1792), leader of the muwaḥḥidūn (monotheist) movement, was most influential in promoting suspicion regarding the form tombs the Muslim world. The first years of the movement he inspired in Arabia resulted in the destruction of many popular tombs that were destinations of ziyāra. His condemnation of constructed tombs, stemming from concerns about innovation (bidʿa) and intercession (shafāʿa) is discussed in several chapters of this translation of his Kitāb al-tawḥῑd.