Islamic Relics: The History of Some of the Holiest Items in Islam

Muslim relics have become sought after relatively recently, since in the tradition of Islam it is customary to bury the deceased together with his belongings. However, many religious relics have rather controversial origins. Sometimes the faithful sincerely worship artful forgeries masquerading as holy relics and things that supposedly belonged to saints. The real sanctuaries are carefully guarded and are not always accessible to believers. They are brought out for public viewing on especially festive days. It is often represented as creating a special ritual.

It is curious that the attitude towards such relics gradually changed over the centuries. If, at first, they were considered amulets used by private individuals, then over time their purpose and comprehension took on a different character. Most notably, the possession of the relics of the prophet began to be considered one of the arguments in favor of the appointment of the Caliph. The concentration of several relics in one mosque immediately sharply increased, in the eyes of the believers, the piety of such a mosque; this, in turn, immediately affected the growth of its wealth and political influence. Thus, in the published catalog of relics stored in the former Badshahi mosque of the Mughal state in Lahore (now Pakistan), there are 28 items: seven belonged to the prophet himself, three to the son-in-law of the prophet Ali, two to the daughter of the prophet Fatima, five to the grandson of the prophet Hussein, etc. It is believed that some of these items were taken out by Timur after the capture of Damascus, and some were donated by Sultan Bayazid to Timur's descendant, Babur. After the fall of the Mughal dynasty in India, they were first in private possession in the second half of the 19th century. In different ways, they came to the Lahore Mosque.