Categories : Field-specific (academic)

Workshop: The Materiality of Ziyāra in the Early Islamic World
Tombs, Shrines, Practices and Politics (ca. 650-1300 CE)
Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, 27-29 October 2025
Marking graves, building tombs, and performing funeral rites are disapproved of—or outright forbidden—by certain segments of Islamic law, with the strictest interpretations labelling these practices as anti-Islamic innovations (bidaʿ). Various prophetic ḥadīths in the canonical collections of the 3rd/9th century categorically prohibit plastering (tajṣīṣ), constructing (bināʾ), and inscribing (kitāba) on graves and firmly oppose visiting, praying at, or even sitting near them. The effects of this radically prohibitive stance have persisted in modern times as manifested in the systematic destruction of tombs and mausolea by the Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia.
This notwithstanding, a substantial body of material and textual evidence attests to precisely the opposite: namely, that by at least the 3rd/9th and 4th/10th centuries, marking, constructing, and visiting tombs was already firmly established as one of the most distinctive features of Islamic culture and practice. As Oleg Grabar notes, “one of the most characteristic buildings of Islamic architecture is, without doubt, the monumental tomb”—a phenomenon suggesting the pre-existence of a cultural and ritual dimension in early Islam centred around ziyāra, the visitation of holy places associated with revered figures and their legends. This challenges the common notion that a prohibitive Islamic orthodoxy concerning burials and commemoration was followed by a deviant innovation in the 3rd/9th-4th/10th centuries. Instead, it suggests that commemorative practices and prohibitive stances both emerged at an early stage, as coexisting and interdependent phenomena.
But how, when, and where did ziyāra originate, and what are the earliest material records of it?
In 1966, Grabar theorised that the original impetus for building—and visiting—mausolea stemmed between the 2nd/8th and the 3rd/9th century from Shīʿism, for which visitation to the tombs of the Imams was—and remains—among the foremost pious obligations. Other scholars, such as Teresa Bernheimer and Christopher Taylor, have highlighted both the inter-communal nature of these visits—driven by a devotion to the Prophet’s family that transcended sectarian boundaries—and the phenomenon of Sunni patronage of major Imami shrines during the medieval period. Although partly prompted by a shared reverence for the ahl al-bayt, such patronage often served specific political agendas among Sunni rulers. Indeed, the persistent involvement of governing powers in the history of these sites—through either sponsorship or attempted suppression—underscores their political significance. There is substantial evidence that interactions with tombs and their material settings—whether in a shrine, cemetery, building, or open space—played a pivotal role in shaping sectarian identities, fostering communal meaning, promoting group cohesion, and at times inciting unruly behaviours.
Last but not least, the rise of ziyāra practices in the early Islamic period needs to be considered within the broader, cross-religious framework of memorialisation in Late Antique Western Asia and the Mediterranean. For instance, the commemoration of burials through epigraphy and built structures, the veneration of saints, and pilgrimage to their tombs were integral aspects of the devotional life of Christian communities, which underscores the porous boundaries between religious groups and the shared ritual mechanisms behind the act of grave visitation. Evidence suggests that early Islamic societies did intersect and overlap with existing sacred landscapes, with sites of Christian pilgrimage becoming embedded within new Islamic religious and political topographies.
The emergence of ziyāra therefore raises a complex range of questions about the materiality and spatiality of death and burial in early Islam, as well as its social, ritual, and political dimension. Yet, our understanding of this practice, its material emergence, and its relationship with the socio-religious landscape of Late Antique Western Asia and the Mediterranean remains fragmented: on one hand, the archaeological record is often scarce and difficult to interpret, on the other, a divide persists between scholars who focus on material culture and those whose work is primarily text-based. New evidence, however, is continually coming to light and calls for interdisciplinary engagement that encompasses archaeology, material culture, architecture, epigraphy, a consideration of spatiality and spatial networks, and their connection to rituals.
It is with this aim that the present workshop—organised jointly by the ERC Horizon Starting Grant Project “Embodied Imamate: Mapping the Development of the Early Shiʿi Community 700-900 CE” at Leiden University and the Kunsthistorische Institut in Florenz—seeks to foster dialogue among art and architectural historians, archaeologists, and historians/philologists who engage with materiality to address, from a variety of angles, the issue of the early crystallisation of ziyāra practices and the broader socio-political transformations reflected in evolving topographies of cemeteries and sacred landmarks in the early Islamic realm.
Submissions that engage with architectural, archaeological, and epigraphical evidence are particularly encouraged. This includes both new archaeological field reports and reassessments of established architectural, material, and archaeological data. The geographical scope covers the entire Islamicate world, with a strict chronological focus on periods before the 8th/14th century.
Specific questions include (but are not limited to):

How did early Muslims negotiate the apparent textual prohibitions on marking and building over graves with the emergence of large-scale tomb architecture and commemorative practices?
At what point, and in which regions, do we first find clear archaeological or architectural evidence of ziyāra-related activity?
In what ways did the first Islamic commemorative buildings incorporate or adapt pre-Islamic local building traditions, aesthetics and topographies?
To what extent did early Islamic sacred landscapes emerge through interaction with pre-existing pilgrimage sites, and in what ways did ziyāra practices develop in relation to established traditions of saint veneration? How did the location and prominence of specific tombs or shrines connect to broader pilgrimage routes, trade circuits, or travel networks?
How do acts of erasure, translation, manipulation of the burial sites of revered figures serve the political agendas of rulers and elites?
How did the spatial arrangement of cemeteries, tombs and shrines shape communal identity and social hierarchies? What role did these sites play in constructing a “sacred topography,” and how did that topography shift over time?
Which ritual practices became materially inscribed in cemeteries, and how do we detect their traces in the archaeological record?
What visual strategies were used to mark the sanctity of tombs, and how did these evolve across different regions or periods in the early Islamic era?

If you wish to participate, please submit a title, an abstract of no more than 500 words, and a CV to the following email address: a.santi@hum.leidenuniv.nl
All submissions must be received no later than May 18th, 2025
Notifications of acceptance will be sent by late June.

‘Shii News Chats’ aims to profile academics across the world whose research focuses on Shiism and Shii communities across the world. These thereby highlight the diversity of the researchers but also the diversity of the faith and its practitioners.
The link to these can be found on the menu along the top of the site’s main page.
The third of these, with Yafa Shanneik, presently at Lund University but coming to SOAS in December, is now available.

An online exhibition, exhibition catalog, and academic edited volume in one, this website offers an alternative museological space for exploring the Emamzadeh Yahya shrine complex’s many looks, functions, resonances, and stories over the last 700 years. The mirrored website in English and Persian includes six thematic galleries and about 70 contributions in various formats, including essays, films, digital interactives, and catalog entries. About 20% of the multilingual contents (English, Persian, and French) is available in translation. At the time of launch in January 2025, the website was about 90% complete.

The primary mission of the Emamzadeh Yahya Project is to increase awareness and understanding of the shrine complex and its dispersed tiles, collections, and archives, without pursuing commercial, political, or institutional objectives. Through our interdisciplinary collaborations and diverse modes of presentation, we chart an alternative course for how research is conducted and shared across disciplines, languages, and audiences. Through our curatorial interventions, we seek a more balanced and inclusive museological space for experiencing and exhibiting Persian art. Through our holistic study of one relatively small site, we offer a general exploration of Persian art and Iranian culture from the medieval period to the present.

The Emamzadeh Yahya Project is an independent research initiative created and governed by individuals beyond institutions. Directed by Keelan Overton since 2021, it has involved a research team dedicated to the shrine, a production team responsible for the website and academic publication within, and a cast of over 40 contributors worldwide. The website is an independent production of 33 Arches, is hosted by Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, and has been partially supported by academic grants.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@EmamzadehYahyaProject2025

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