Diwaniyah
This shrine, known as al-Hamza al-Sharqi, is honoured as the grave of Sayyid Ahmad ibn Hashim al-Gharifi, a sayyid and scholar from the village of al-Ghurayfa…
This shrine, known as al-Hamza al-Sharqi, is honoured as the grave of Sayyid Ahmad ibn Hashim al-Gharifi, a sayyid and scholar from the village of al-Ghurayfa in Bahrain whose lineage goes back to Imam Musa al-Kazim through Ibrahim al-Mujab. Local tradition relates that he came to Iraq to visit the shrines of his ancestors and gave his life at this spot defending his family from highway robbers, together with his wife and his son Mansur. Visitors also call him Ahmad al-Muqaddas, and the name "eastern Hamza" distinguishes his shrine from al-Hamza al-Gharbi, the shrine of Hamza ibn al-Qasim near Hillah. The tribes of the area settled around the grave, and the town of al-Hamza, now the centre of a district of Qadisiyyah, grew up beside it and took its name. The present shrine has a tall dome of coloured tiles flanked by two minarets, a wide courtyard and an old bronze window over the grave, and it draws visitors from across southern Iraq. The shrine of his son Mansur stands nearby.