Ezra's Tomb

[
thumb|right|300px|EzraDonald Maxwell, c.1918]

Ezra's Tomb or the Tomb of Ezra ( _ar. اعزير Al-'Uzair, Al-'Uzayr, Al-Azair) is a location in Iraq on the western shore of the Tigris that was popularly believed to be the burial place of the biblical figure Ezra. Al-'Uzair is the present name of the settlement that has grown up around the tomb.

Legend of discovery

The poet Yehuda Alharizi, who visited the tomb in the 12th century, related that some 160 years earlier a local shepherd had a recurring dream that a holy man was buried nearby. On digging at the indicated spot, an iron coffin was found, marked with characters that were interpreted to read "Ezra the priest"; the remains were reburied at the current site of the shrine. [http://www.jameswbell.com/a012ezrastomb.html Ezra's Tomb at Al-Azair] ] It was also visited by Petachiah of Ratisbon, who gave a similar legend of the discovery of the remains.Benisch, A. (transl.) "Travels of Rabbi Petachia of Ratisbon", Trubner, London, 1856, p. 38]

The tomb became a place of pilgrimage for Jews, especially those of Basra and Baghdad, and was respected and venerated by Muslims. It was reputed that on certain nights an "illumination" would go up from it.Sirriyeh, E. "Sufi Visionary of Ottoman Damascus", Routledge, 2005, p.122] Alharizi, after stating that he initially considered the accounts "fictitious", claimed that on his visit he saw a light in the sky "clear like the sun [...] illuminating the darkness, skipping to the right and left [...] visibly arising, moving from the west to the east on the face of heaven, as far as the grave of Ezra".Alharizi, transl. in Benisch, A. "Travels of Rabbi Petachia of Ratisbon", pp. 92-93]

The shrine

The present buildings, which unusually comprised a joint Muslim and Jewish shrine, are possibly around 250 years old; there is an enclosing wall and a blue-tiled dome, and a separate synagogue, which though now disused has been kept in good repair in recent times. Yigal Schleifer, [http://www.dangoor.com/issue76/articles/76056.htm Where Judaism Began] ]

Claudius James Rich noted the tomb in 1820; a local Arab told him that "a Jew, by name Koph Yakoob, erected the present building over it about thirty years ago". Rich, C. J. " [http://books.google.com/books?id=_NcazrFIfZcC Narrative of a residence in Koordistan] ", J. Duncan, 1836, p.391] Rich stated the shrine had a battlemented wall and a green dome (later accounts describe it as blue), and contained a tiled room in which the tomb was situated.

The shrine and its associated settlement seem to have been used as a regular staging post on journeys upriver during the Mesopotamian Campaign and British Mandate of Mesopotamia, so is mentioned in several travelogues and British military memoirs of the time.Most mention the striking blue dome, a notable landmark in a region with few buildings. An example is in the memoirs of Sir Ronald Storrs, who states: "That entertaining writer's mausoleum is in my opinion a seventeenth-century structure" ("The Memoirs of Sir Ronald Storrs", Ayer, 1972, p.230)] T. E. Lawrence, visiting in 1916, described the buildings as "a domed mosque and courtyard of yellow brick, with some simple but beautiful glazed brick of a dark green colour built into the walls in bands and splashes [...] the most elaborate building between Basra and Ctesiphon".T. E. Lawrence, [http://telawrence.net/telawrencenet/letters/1916/160518_family.htm Letter of 18/05/1916] , telawrence.net] Sir Alfred Rawlinson, who saw the shrine in 1918, observed that a staff of midwives was maintained for the benefit of women who came to give birth there.Rawlinson rather flippantly characterises the shrine as "a kind of hotel" (Rawlinson, A. "Adventures in the Near East, 1918-1922", Melrose, 1923, Ch.2)]

The vast majority of the Iraqi Jewish population emigrated in 1951-52. The shrine has continued in use, however; having long been visited by the Marsh Arabs, it is now a place of pilgrimage for the Shi'a of southern Iraq.Raphaeli, N. " [http://memrieconomicblog.org/bin/content.cgi?article=15#_edn7 The Destruction of Iraqi Marshes and Their Revival] ", memri.org] The Hebrew inscriptions of the wooden casket, the dedication plaque, and large Hebrew letters of God's name is still prominently maintained in the worshiping room.

Al-Uzair town

Al-Uzair is one of the two sub-districts of Qalat Saleh district, Maysan Governorate, Iraq. The town itself now has a population of some 14,000 people.

References

External links

*Salman, R. [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/08/baghdad-amid-wa.html Amid war, a prophet's shrine survives] , Los Angeles Times: report with photographs.

ee also

*Islamic view of Ezra