Shrine of Imam Musa Kazim's Daughter in Azerbaijan

 Bibi Heybat Mosque in Baku

Dr.Mazhar Naqvi

Bibi Heybat Mosque, a magnificent example of the Shirvan School of Azerbaijani architecture, also contains the holy shrine of Fatima al Sughra-daughter of seventh Imam Musa Kazim. She is the only one out of the four daughters of Imam who lies buried out of Iran. The other three, namely Fatima al Kubra, has her shrine in Qum, Fatima al-Wusta is buried in Isfahan and Fatima al-Ukhra has her last resting place in Rasht.

Sheikh Mufid in his accounts has mentioned that Imam Musa Kazim had 37 children-19 sons and 18 daughters. He had named two of these daughters as Fatima al-Kubra and Fatima al-Sughra. In his work, Sibt ibn Jawzi, the famous 8th century Islamic scholar however has claimed that Imam has named his four daughters as Fatima. Of these, Fatima al-Kubra is popular as Masooma Qum and her shrine is a world famous place of pilgrimage. The shrine of Fatima al-Wusta and Fatima al-Ukhra are less known despite being in Iran. Likewise, there is not much awareness about the 13^th century shrine of Fatima al Sughra, also called as Bibi Heybat, on the outskirts of Baku in Azerbaijan. Before the arrival of communists, the building was known as Mosque of Fatima. It was completely destroyed by Bolsheviks in 1936 and remained unheard till the disintegration of Soviet Union. More than 60 years after its destruction, the mosque was rebuilt as a re-creation of the original mosque built in 1281 by Shirvanshah Farrukhzad II Ibn Ahsitan II.

The history of mosque goes back to the 7th century when many Imamis migrated to Iran following constant persecution by Abbasids caliphs. migrated to the North. After the death of Harun ar Rashid, his son Mamun, asked the eighth Imam, Ali ibn Musa Al-Reda to go to Khorasan. The Imam  left his wife and son, Muhammad Ibn Ali al Jawad and went to Khorasan.. After the Imam left Baghdad his sister Fatima al Kubrayt left Medina to join her brother. She could not meet Imam as she fell ill, died and was  buried in Qum. 

Another sister of Imam, Fatima as-Sughra,whose name is also pronounced as Okuma Khanam settled in Baku due to persecution. She soon earned great respect among the locals as a holy and blessed woman from the house of Prophet Muhammad. After her death, the people erected a small crypt over her grave. Religious people, particularly Imami scholars started settling near the site and the village came to be known as Sheikhovo or Shikhovo (place of Sheikhs). Pilgrims from distant Muslim countries flooded to the land to visit the shrine. Later a small mosque was constructed over the tomb with an inscription saying “Built by Mahmud ibn Saad”. There is also carved on a stone inscription stating “Here was buried Ukeyma Khanum, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, the granddaughter of the sixth Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, the daughter of the Seventh Imam Musei Kazym, sister of the eighth Imam Riza".

Famous French writer, Alexandre Dumas, who visited the mosque in 1840s, has written in his book titled "The World" : “The mosque - a place of worship for infertile women, they come here on foot, worship, and within a year gain the ability to give birth.”.The mosque also figures in the works of local and ,  European travelers such as the Abbasgulu Bakikhanov, Ilya Berezin, Johannes Albrecht Bernhard Dorn, Nicholas Khanykov and Yevgeni Pakhomov. The old mosque was situated in the southern part of the tomb, with a 20 meter high minaret. Its interior was decorated with ornaments. The inside of mosque included an oblong rectangular room with a lancet arch. Under the dome, there were chandelier-candlestick and a hook on which it hung surrounded by beautiful stained glass.

The mosque earned the name of Bibi Heybat, for it was not considered proper to call a woman by her first name during medieval period. Hence, the locals gave named it as Bibi-Heybat mosque because Fatima al Sughra had a servant named Heybat. In Azeri language ‘Bibi’ means aunt. Hence, calling the mosque Bibi-Heybat was like saying ‘the mosque of Heybat’s aunt’, rather than saying ‘Okuma Khanim’s Mosque.’

 The re-erected mosque has three domes decorated with the green and turquoise mirrors that are bordered with gilded inscriptions from holy Quran. The men's praying room is in south while that of women on the north side. In between lies the mausoleum. It is just ironical that the advisors of Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not brief him about the existence of the shrine of Imam Musa Kazim’s daughter in Azerbaijan. He would have surely mentioned it in his speech during his recent visit to Azerbaijan while dwelling with the traditional relations between the two countries. A word about Fatima al Sughra from his mouth would have gladdened a large majority of Muslims in both the nations as imam Musa Kazim is held in high esteem in both the countries. (References available on request).