Encyclopedia of Islam

ziyara

  

723  J

---

in Pakpattan (Pakistan), Hajji Bektash and J

alal

al

-d

in

 r

Umi

 in Turkey, a

hmad

 

al

-b

adaWi

 in Tanta 

(Egypt), and Moulay Idris in Morocco. The shrine 

of Sunan Giri, also known Raden Paku, a legend-

ary warrior saint who is known for having won 

many converts, is one of the major pilgrimage 

sites in i

ndonesia

.

Although ziyara has become a widely accepted 

practice among the Shia, its acceptability as a reli-

gious practice has been debated by Sunni Muslims 

for centuries. Many of the 

Ulama

 and Sufis have 

approved it, or at least said it was permissible. 

Those who favored a strict interpretation of the 

Quran and the sunna believed that it was a form 

of 

bidaa

 (innovation) and should be avoided or 

forbidden. Critics also say that it is a form of 

idolatry

 (

shirk

). Among the foremost proponents 

of this opinion in the medieval era was Taqi al-Din 

ibn

 t

aymiyya

 (d. 1328). His views were revived in 

the puritanical reformism of m

Uhammad

 

ibn

  a

bd

al

-W

ahhab

 (d. 1792) and the Wahhabi brand of 

Islam that swept through the Arabian Peninsula in 

the 18th century and then was established as the 

reigning Islamic ideology of the Kingdom of s

aUdi

a

rabia

 in the 20th. Wahhabi warriors led a raid in 

1801 on Karbala in southern Iraq, killing several 

thousand and desecrating the shrine of Husayn. In 

1804 they plundered the mosque of Muhammad 

in Medina and prevented pilgrims from visiting it. 

When they retook Medina in 1925 they destroyed 

hundreds of shrines belonging to members of 

Muhammad’s family, his Companions, and promi-

nent scholars. Today the only pilgrims allowed 

into the country are those who are going for hajj or 

umra. Outside of Saudi Arabia, shrine visitation is 

opposed by Muslims who have been influenced by 

Wahhabi teachings, by reform-minded Muslims, 

and by some secularized Muslims who see such 

practices as antiquated. Nevertheless, for many 

Muslims, visiting the shrines of the holy dead 

remains an important part of their religious life.

See also 

dhikr

; 

intercession

; 

miracle

; 

saint

; 

wali

.