Al-Kadhimiya Mosque

The Kadhimiya Mosque (Arabic: ), also known as the Jawadayn Shrine (Arabic: ), is the mausoleums of the seventh and ninth Shia Imams, respectively Musa al-Kazim and his grandson Muhammad al-Jawad, located in the Kazimiya suburb of Baghdad, in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq. It is a holy site in Shia Islam. Also buried within the premises of the shrine are the historical scholars Shaykh Mufīd and Shaykh Naṣīr ad-Dīn aṭ-Ṭūsi. Directly adjacent to the mosque are two smaller shrines, belonging to the brothers Sayyid Raḍī (who compiled Nahjul-Balāghah), Sayyid Murtadā, and Qadi Abu Yusuf al-Ansari.

The mosque was built on the site of a Quraysh cemetery, which was created with the original Round City of Baghdad in 762 CE. The cemetery in an old Arab town named "Shoneezi" (Meaning the Black Grain) was founded by Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur so that members of his family and internment can be buried in it. It is generally believed that Zubaidah bint Ja'far and al-Mansur himself were also buried in this location. The town, along with its tombs, would become al-Kadhimiya, an area and suburb located north of central Baghdad. This cemetery became the burial site of the seventh Twelver imam Musa al-Kadhim in 799, followed by his grandson, the ninth imam Muhammad al-Jawad, in 834 CE. The current building dates to the restoration carried out by the Safavid Iranian Shah Ismail I from 1502 to 1524. It was further ornamented by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent after he conquered Baghdad in 1534. Since then, it has continued to be kept in a state of good repair. Similar to many other Islamic settlements throughout history, settlements throughout time started to develop around the mosque which came to be known as al-Kadhimiyya area. In 1611, the Ottoman Sultan and Caliph Ahmed I granted Jamal al-Din bin Mullah Ali, a descendant from Bani Shaiba, a firman, a royal decree, allowing him and his family to have full custodianship of the mosque and its shrine. Ancestors of Jamal became known as the al-Jamali family who were entrusted with the mosque and kept the firman. Among the most notable members of the al-Jamali family was Sheikh Abbas al-Jamali, who lived next to the mosque with visitors meeting him and was the father of Iraqi Statesman Muhammad Fadhel al-Jamali, who would become one of the founders of the United Nations in 1945. During the 1920 Iraq Revolt against the British Empire, al-Kadhimiya Mosque was among the many sites around Baghdad to see national gatherings aimed to revolt against the British. These gatherings were noted by Musa al-Shabandar who saw similar gatherings such as in the Haydar-Khana Mosque. These gatherings coincided with Mawlid and Husayni condolences and saw significant Islamic unification as noted by al-Shabandar.

During and after the Iraq War, the mosque was among the many sites across Iraq to be targeted by terrorist attacks. On 2 March 2004, at least 75 people were killed and hundreds of others were wounded as crowds had gathered to commemorate Ashura. The event caused outrage and led to angry crowds injuring two American soldiers by stoning them. Iraq's Governing Council blamed the attack on terrorists inflaming sectarian tensions. Concurrent explosions also occurred at the Imām Husayn Mosque in Karbalā. This mosque was the destination of the crowd that was caught up in the Baghdad bridge stampede. On 6 June 2007, at least seven people were killed after twin car bombings occurred near the mosque, one at al-Zahra'a Square, and the second 300 metres (980 ft) away at the Aden intersection. The event coincided with police officers discovering the 47 victims of torture conducted by Shi'i Sectarianist militants. Almost exactly a year later on the evening of 27 June 2007, a car

Monument data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).