Karbala
This maqam north of the old city of Karbala marks the place where Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq is remembered to have bathed in the river and put on clean clothes…
This maqam north of the old city of Karbala marks the place where Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq is remembered to have bathed in the river and put on clean clothes before walking to visit the grave of his ancestor, Sayyiduna al-Husayn. The orchards around it, on the old western bank of the Alqami, came to be called al-Ja'fariyyat after him. Imam al-Sadiq is buried in al-Baqi' in Madinah, and this is one of several places in Iraq that honour his visits. A commemorative building with a tall dome of glazed tiles was first raised here in the tenth century AH by Jihan Dede, a Bektashi dervish and poet. The maqam has been rebuilt in recent decades and is now a quiet covered courtyard with a prayer hall and mihrab, where the words of the Imam's ziyara are displayed for visitors. It lies on the old road into Karbala from the north, less than a kilometre from the shrine of Imam al-Husayn.