Companion Kumayl ibn Ziyad Shrine

The Shrine of Kumayl ibn Ziyad is the place where the noble companion Kumayl ibn Ziyad Al Nakha'i Al Kufi was buried after being killed by Al Hajjaj ibn Yusuf Al Thaqafi.

Kumayl ibn Ziyad Al Nakha'i Al Kufi was a noble companion born in Yemen seven years before the Hijra. He embraced Islam young and met the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family). He was one of the leaders of his people and held great standing and esteem among them.

He pledged allegiance to Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib after the assassination of Uthman and was sincere in his pledge. He was among Imam Ali's trusted companions and the bearer of his secrets, accompanying him closely and receiving knowledge from him. The Imam singled him out with one of the greatest supplications, known as "Du'a Kumayl." He participated with him in the Battle of Siffin, and the Imam appointed him as administrator of the treasury, then governor of the city of Hit.

After Al Hajjaj ibn Yusuf Al Thaqafi assumed the governorship of Iraq, he earnestly sought Kumayl intending to kill him. Kumayl concealed himself for a period of time, but Al Hajjaj cut off the stipend of Kumayl's tribe, which was in dire need of it. Kumayl was thus compelled to surrender himself, saying: "I am an old man whose life has run its course, it is not right that I deprive my people of their stipend." When he appeared before Al Hajjaj, he informed him that Imam Ali had told him that Al Hajjaj would be his killer. Al Hajjaj ordered his beheading, and he was buried in the Thawiyya region on the outskirts of Kufa in 82 AH.

The shrine of Kumayl is located in an ancient area that used to be called Al Thawiyya, historically designated for the cemeteries of Quraysh, where a number of companions and Muslim notables were buried. In the late Ottoman era it was abandoned in a desert visited only by those who knew of it.

The first construction of the noble shrine was in the 1950s when a group of believers built a new dome with a room for the grave and the shrine. Then construction continued in the 1970s with the addition of an arcade and an outer portico. In 2000, Hajj Abd Al Hussein Al Sarraf donated the construction of a new dome over the shrine, clad with Karbala tiles and Islamic ornamentations bearing the names of the Imams (peace be upon them), the name of God, and the name of the Noble Prophet.