القاهرة
This mosque in the Abdeen district of central Cairo is honoured as the resting place of Sayyiduna Abdullah al-Mahd, the great-grandson of Sayyiduna Ali ibn…
This mosque in the Abdeen district of central Cairo is honoured as the resting place of Sayyiduna Abdullah al-Mahd, the great-grandson of Sayyiduna Ali ibn Abi Talib and Sayyida Fatima al-Zahra, and one of the most respected members of the Prophet's ﷺ family in the generation after Karbala. The quarter around it takes its name from him and is still known as al-Shaykh Abdullah. His lineage and the name al-Mahd He was Abdullah, son of al-Hasan al-Muthanna, son of Sayyiduna al-Hasan ibn Ali. His mother was Sayyida Fatima, daughter of Sayyiduna al-Husayn, who is herself honoured in Cairo at her mosque in al-Darb al-Ahmar. Because the lines of al-Hasan and al-Husayn met in him, he was given the name al-Mahd, meaning the pure, and he was said to be the first man descended from both grandsons of the Prophet ﷺ. He was born in Madinah around 70 AH and grew up among the scholars of the city. Scholar and elder of Banu Hashim Abdullah al-Mahd was known for his dignity, eloquence and generosity, and in his later years he was regarded as the elder of Banu Hashim. He transmitted hadith from his mother Fatima and from others of his family, and the hadith critics counted him trustworthy. The caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz held him in great honour and would receive him with special respect when he came to him. He passed away in 145 AH, at around seventy-five years of age. His children His sons became some of the best-known figures of the Hasani line. Muhammad, known as al-Nafs al-Zakiyya, and Ibrahim, known as al-Jawad, were respected leaders of the family in Madinah and Basra, and Cairo honours Sayyid Ibrahim at his mosque in al-Matariyya. Another son, Idris, travelled to the far west of the Islamic world, where he founded the Idrisid state and the city of Fez grew under his son, and Musa al-Jawn became the ancestor of many of the Hasani sharifs of the Hijaz. Cairo also honours a son named Sa'dullah at a shrine in al-Darb al-Ahmar. The shrine The mosque and maqam stand on the street named after him in Abdeen, a short walk from the old government quarter of downtown Cairo. A green dome rises over the shrine, and a marble plaque beside the door records his name, his lineage through al-Hasan and al-Husayn, and his dates. The people of the neighbourhood visit throughout the year, and shrines in his name are also honoured in Iraq, in the countryside of Hillah and of Diwaniyah.