Lady Khadija's House: Difference between revisions

According to Abu l-Walid al-Azraqi, a historian of the third/ninth century, this house was taken over by [['Aqil b. Abi Talib]] after the Prophet(s) migrated to [[Medina]]. [[Mu'awiya b. Abi Sufyan]] bought the house and turned it into a mosque and opened a door to it from Abu Sufyan's house.<ref>Azraqī, ''Akhbār Makka'', vol. 2, p. 199; Ibn Zahīra, ''al-Jāmiʿ al-laṭīf'', p. 286; Kurdī, ''al-Tārīkh al-qawīm'', vol. 1, p. 289.</ref> This house was later called Dar Abi Sufyan.<ref>Kurdī, ''al-Tārīkh al-qawīm'', vol. 1, p. 289.</ref> Elsewhere, al-Azraqi says that the house was occupied by Mu'attib, the son of [[Abu Lahab]], one of the stubborn enemies of the Prophet(s) after his migration,<ref>Ibn Saʿd, ''al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā'', vol. 4, p. 45.</ref> but the Prophet(s) did not claim the house after the [[conquest of Mecca]].<ref>Azraqī, ''Akhbār Makka'', vol. 2, p. 245.</ref>

Ibn Jubayr (d. 614/1217-8) mentioned this house in his travelogue at the end of the 6th/12th century. This house had two domes at the time. The larger dome was called the Dome of the Revelation, which was the place where the Prophet(s) used to worship, and the place where Gabriel descended on the Prophet(s), and the other is a small dome, where [[Lady Fatima(a)]] was born.<ref>Ibn Jubayr, ‘’Rihla Ibn Jubayr'', p. 81-82.</ref>

Al-Fasi says this place is more like a mosque because it has a portico with seven arches and eight columns. In the middle of the front wall are three altars; in front of it is a colonnade with four arches and five columns. The other part of the house is the rooms. One is Fatima's birthplace, the other is the [[Qubbat al-Wahy]].<ref>Fāsī, ''Shifāʾ al-gharām'', vol. 1, p. 360.</ref> Some believe that these rooms are the old area house that was in the time of the Prophet(s) and the mosque was added to it later.<ref>Fāsī, ''Shifāʾ al-gharām'', vol .1 p.360.</ref> The shorter descriptions of other writers are also consistent with al-Fasi's description until the eleventh/seventeenth century.<ref>Yamānī, ''Dār Sayyida Khadīja bint Khūwaylīd'', p. 48.</ref>

In a travelogue from the end of the period of [[Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar]] (R. 1313-1264 AH), it is mentioned in the description of the house of [[Lady Khadija(s)]] that it had a marble floor, a dome was on Lady Fatima's birthplace and a room in it was called the place of the Prophet's worship.<ref> Miqat-i Hajj, Num. 63, p. 70.</ref> According to a report in 1265/1849, in the place of Khadija's house, a [[takiyyah]] known as "Takiyyah al-Sayyida Fatima" was built for the use of the poor.<ref>Kurdī, ''al-Tārīkh al-qawīm'', vol. 1, p. 289-290.</ref>  

The Egyptian writer Mohammed Hussein Heikal (d. 1956) visited the place of this house in 1354/1936. He writes: [[Wahhabis]] have destroyed the birthplace of Lady Fatima(s) and now this place is an empty land and there is no trace of it.<ref>Haykal, ‘’Fī manzil al-waḥy’’, p. 227.</ref> Muhammad Lutfi Jum'a also confirms the destruction of the house in his travelogue.<ref>Lutfi,''ayyam al-mabrurra'', p. 78.</ref>

In Jumada I of 1370/1951, a building was built as a school of the Quran on the grounds of Lady Khadija's house.<ref>Yamānī, ''Dār Sayyida Khadīja bint Khūwaylīd'', p. 58.</ref> Muhammad Tahir al-Kurdi (d. 1400/1980) has mentioned the building as takiyya.<ref>Kurdī, ''al-Tārīkh al-qawīm'', vol. 1, p. 290.</ref> The building was constructed by Sayyid 'Abbas Qattan and it was known as al-Sayyid 'Abbas's School in Umm al-Mu'minin Khadija's House.<ref>Yamānī, ''Dār Sayyida Khadīja bint Khūwaylīd'', p. 58.</ref>

At the end of the year 1410/1989, the school of the Quran was destroyed for the eastern expansion of [[al-Masjid al-Haram]]. During the demolition operation, the remains of old building of Lady Khadija's house were excavated.<ref>Yamānī, ''Dār Sayyida Khadīja bint Khūwaylīd'', p. 60.</ref> Ahmad Zaki al-Yamani, was present at the site during the operation and took pictures and maps of the remains of Lady Khadija's house and gave a report of his observations in his book ''Dar Sayyida Khadija bint Khuwaylid''.<ref>Yamānī, ''Dār Sayyida Khadīja bint Khūwaylīd'', p. 93 onwards.</ref>

* Ibn Jubayr, Muḥammad b. Aḥmad. ‘’Rihla Ibn Jubayr''. Beirut: Dār Maktabat al-Hilāl, 1986.

* Ibn Saʿd, Muḥammad b. Manīʿ. ''Al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā''. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyya, 1410/1990.  

* Ibn Ẓahīra, Muḥammad. ''Al-Jāmiʿ al-laṭīf fī faḍl Makka wa ahl-hā wa bināʾ al-Bayt al-Sharīf''. Cairo: Maktabat al-Thiqāfat al-Dīnīyya, 1423AH.

* Kurdī, Muḥammad Ṭāhir. ''Al-Tārīkh al-qawīm li-Makka wa Bayt Allāh al-karīm''. Beirut: Dār Khiḍr, 1420 AH.

* Yamānī, Aḥmad Zakī. ''Dār Sayyida Khadīja bint Khūwaylīd''. London: Muʾssisat al-Furqān li-l-Turāth al-Islāmī, 1434AH.