Najaf
يستند هذا المقام إلى الموروث الشيعي الاثني عشري، الذي يختلف تصوره للإمام المهدي عن التصور السني السائد. فالشيعة الاثنا عشرية يرون أن المهدي هو محمد بن الحسن…
This maqām is based on Twelver Shiʿi tradition, whose understanding of Imam al-Mahdī differs from the mainstream Sunni understanding. Twelver Shiʿa identify al-Mahdī as Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī, the twelfth Imam, believed to be in occultation, while Sunni Muslims also believe in the coming of al-Mahdī but generally do not identify him in the same way. The site lies within Wādī al-Salām in Najaf and is not a grave. Its main significance comes from early Imami reports stating that Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq prayed in this area and identified a location here as “the place of the minbar of al-Qāʾim” — the future pulpit of the awaited Mahdī. The complex also contains a maqām associated with Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, reflecting the tradition that he personally prayed at the site. The present shrine developed over later centuries and also contains an old well. The location is therefore best understood as a historic Shiʿi maqām associated with expectations concerning the future Mahdī, rather than as a burial place.