Ali Al Rasuli - Al Jazeera Net

One of the oldest Muslim cemeteries in Iraq and the Islamic world faces the threat of bulldozing, under the pretext of building roads and building a new market in the city of Basra, southern Iraq.

Al-Hassan Al-Basri's tomb dates back to the Umayyad period, that is, more than 1,300 years ago, according to researchers in Islamic history.

The cemetery occupies a large area of ​​Basra Governorate, and it is called the Cemetery of Al-Hassan Al-Basri, after the venerable follower who was buried there in 110 AH and the cemetery took his name.

Al-Basri is an imam, a judge, and a modernist from among the scholars of the followers and one of the most prominent figures in the era of early Islam. He lived in Basra until he died there.

The shrine of Hassan al-Basri, topped by a lighthouse decorated according to ancient Islamic architecture (Al-Jazeera Net)

Unaware of many, the


cemetery of Hassan al-Basri, and according to a survey by Al-Jazeera Net, was ignorant of young people and forgotten by some of the elderly in Iraq, and it is located 25 kilometers west of Basra.

Although he was ignorant of what the cemetery contained, the young Basri Jassim al-Maliki refused plans to convert part of it into investment land, and said that "it includes the remains of our fathers and grandfathers, it is not possible to allow their graves to be cut even if centuries have passed on them."

Al-Maliki added to Al-Jazeera Net, that his city includes many large areas on which projects can be constructed, so there is no justification that might convince him and the visual people to attack the cemetery.

The tomb of the great poet Badr Shaker Al-Sayyab in the Hassan Basri cemetery (Al-Jazeera Net)

Notable personalities


and the cemetery of Al-Hassan Al-Basri, the remains of many prominent religious, cultural and political figures, including the famous interpreter of dreams Abu Bakr Muhammad bin Sirin Al-Basri, who was a follower and an imam in interpretation, hadith and jurisprudence, in addition to the interpretation of dreams, and died 100 days after Al-Hassan Al-Basri.

And in the cemetery is the remains of Rabaa Al-Adawiya, named for Umm Al-Khair, one of the famous figures in the world of Islamic mysticism, and is considered the founder of one of the doctrines of Islamic mysticism, which is the doctrine of divine love.

In the same cemetery, Mrs. Umm al-Sahaba, Muadhha al-Adawiya, was buried.

There is also the tomb of the hadith imam Abu Sattam bin Al-Hajjaj bin Al-Ward, the tomb of Ulem Ibn Yahya Malik bin Dinar, and the scholar of Islamic mysticism Abu Muhammad Sahl bin Abdullah Al-Tastari.

The cemetery also includes the remains of the Umayyad poet Farazdaq, the Abbasid poet Khalid bin Safwan, and contemporary poets Abd al-Ghaffar al-Akhras al-Mawsili, who died in 1873, as well as the tomb of the great poet Badr Shaker al-Sayyab, who died in 1964.

The cemetery also contains the graves of contemporary political figures such as Mahmoud Pasha Al Abdul Wahid, Sheikh Abi Al-Khasib, a visual figure who held important positions in the Wilayat of Basra during the Ottoman Empire.

It also contains the graves of two Iraqi ministers in the first transitional Iraqi government, Abd al-Latif Basha al-Mandil, the first minister of trade in modern Iraqi history, and the captain called the Basra people’s candidate for the throne of Iraq and the first minister of the interior in the country's contemporary history.

Part of Al-Hassan Al-Basri cemetery, which includes the remains of prominent religious, cultural and political figures (Al-Jazeera Net)

The sanctity of cemeteries The


graves of the dead in Islam are inviolable, and their violation is forbidden according to Sharia.

In view of this, the leader of the Al-Muntafaj and Al-Saadoun tribes, Sheikh Jamal Al-Saadoun, expressed his strong rejection of such a scheme.

He added to Al-Jazeera Net that the visual community in all its spectrums categorically rejects the demolition of graves and the opening of shops on them.

The pilot expressed his rejection and refusal of Basrien to be exposed to the cemetery and bulldozed (Al-Jazeera Net)

As for Jawad Al-Tayyar, Emir of the Emirate of Al-Sada Al-Jaafar Al-Tayyar (the leader of the clan of Al-Sada Al-Jafar Al-Tayyar), he accused your Sunni Endowment Office in Baghdad of having a role in your efforts to convert parts of the cemetery into an investment land and build commercial stores on it.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, the pilot explained that this scheme was raised 4 years ago, and caused a sensation in Basra, which prompted its suspension.

He indicated that the project aims to cut the cemetery fence and enter a depth of more than 10 meters, which could expose thousands of graves to bulldozing and razing.

Al-Mulla: There are hidden hands in Baghdad that want to attack the cemetery and make an investment project on parts of it (Al-Jazeera Net)

The Sunni endowment is


secret matters prepared in Baghdad to be enforceable in Basra. This is what the director of the Sunni endowment in Basra, Sheikh Muhammad Al-Mulla, commented on when asked about the party that wants to invest in the Hasan al-Basri cemetery of the endowment.

Al-Mulla explained to Al-Jazeera Net, that there are hidden hands that want to invest in this cemetery, which in addition to being rejected by the people and administratively, is rejected and condemned by the Sunni Endowment Office in Iraq altogether.

After the investigation, Sheikh Al-Mulla confirmed that unidentified parties in Baghdad are leading this project, and have directed the investor - believed to be one of the sons of Basra - to start implementing the project and build more than 450 shops 10 meters deep inside the cemetery.

Al-Mulla concluded his speech by saying that razing and exhuming graves and constructing shops on top of them is immoral or religious, especially since the cemetery of Hassan al-Basri is filled with graves of the dead and is still receiving the deceased from the people of Basra.