The Holy Kadhimiyah Shrine

The Kadhimiyah Shrine is the sacred resting place of Imam Musa Al Kadhim and his grandson, Imam Muhammad al-Jawad. Built over their tombs in the Al Kadhimiyah district north of Baghdad, the shrine stands on what was once known in the Abbasid era as the “Shuniziyya Cemetery” or “Quraysh Cemetery” a burial ground that held the graves of many prominent religious and scholarly figures.

By the early 19th century, the original tombs were removed and replaced with a mosque and two domed shrines. The site underwent several expansions throughout the 20th century, shaping the magnificent complex we see today.

Imam Musa Al Kadhim passed away in 183 AH and was buried in what is now Al Kadhimiyah then located outside the city walls of Baghdad. Before him, Jaʿfar, the son of Caliph Abu Jafar Al Mansur (founder of Baghdad), was buried in the same cemetery in 150 AH (767 CE). In 220 AH (834 CE), Imam Muhammad Al Jawad died in Samarra and his body was transferred to Baghdad to be laid to rest beside his grandfather.

The first structure over the tomb was built by Muizz Al Dawla of the Buyid dynasty in 336 AH. Later, in 367 AH, Adud Al Dawla constructed residential lodgings around the shrine to accommodate pilgrims and residents. The complex suffered two major fires, in 443 AH and 622 AH, destroying much of the earlier architecture. Following the second fire, Caliph Al Zahir son of Amr Allah and his son Al Mustansir son of llah ordered a complete reconstruction. In 624 AH, a wooden sarcophagus was placed atop the tomb by royal command.

In 769 AH, after repeated flooding caused structural damage, Sultan Uways of the Jalayirid dynasty built two domes and two minarets, installed marble sarcophagi over the graves, and adorned the shrine’s interior with Qashani tiles engraved with Qur’anic verses. The surrounding courtyards and lodgings were also restored.

After Shah Ismail I of the Safavids occupied Baghdad in 914 AH (1509 CE), he visited the shrine in 929 AH and ordered the demolition of the existing structure. He expanded the sanctuary, paved the halls with marble, and installed new wooden sarcophagi. He also ordered the construction of four minarets instead of two, and built what became known as the Safavid Mosque today locally referred to as Masjid Al Jawadayn. He relocated the animal stables outside the shrine’s walls and decorated the interior with chandeliers and hanging lamps.

When the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent entered Baghdad in 941 AH, he visited the shrine and found reconstruction efforts underway but incomplete. He ordered their completion, commissioned the pulpit in Masjid Al Jawadayn, and oversaw the construction of one of the minarets. In 1207 AH, Sultan Mahmud completed what the Safavids had begun by adding three more minarets in the Ottoman style.

Further developments included the creation of a vast courtyard surrounding the shrine from the east, south, and west, with the Great Mosque connected from the north. The interiors of the two domes and sanctuaries were richly decorated with gold leaf, enamel, and stained glass. The walls were clad in mirrored glass pieces mounted on wood. The domes and four smaller minarets were gilded using leftover gold from the re-gilding of Imam Hussein’s dome in Karbala, with additional gold added as needed. The work was completed in 1229 AH.

In 1282 AH, the eastern iwan (vaulted hall) was adorned with gold from the renovation of the domes of the two ʿAskari Imams in Samarra. Then, in 1293 AH, the courtyard was expanded and two large tower clocks were installed.

Today, the mosque complex consists of two equal-sized golden domes and four towering minarets. The ceiling rises 25 meters above the sanctuary, with the domes decorated from within with intricate Islamic motifs and Qur’anic verses. From the outside, the domes are clad with 9,000 pure gold tiles, flanked by four golden minarets each standing 35 meters tall, in addition to four smaller towers measuring 4.5 meters in height.