Al-Abd Minaret As One Of The Largest And Oldest Historic Lighthouses In Iraq

This minaret is one of the ancient and distinctive minarets that adorned the holy shrine of Imam Al-Hussein, it was located in the northeastern corner of the shrine to the right of the Martyrs' Gate. It is one of the greatest and most luxurious minarets in the holy shrines of Karbala, Najaf, Al-Kadhimiya and Samarra'a as it is considered as the second greatest one in Iraq after the "Malwiyah"  minaret in terms of luxury and historic seniority, its base has a diameter of about twenty meters, and forty meters high.

The history of Al-Abd minaret dates back to the year 767 Hijri, it was built by Khawaja Marjan, who was the guardian of Baghdad by the second Sultan of the Galai'ri state, "Oyes al-Jalawi", who made the city of Tabriz as his capital.

The exquisite inscriptions of Al-Abd minaret have turned it to a prodigy of architecture and a wonderful archeological landmark. Even that a lot of orientalists and travelers who visited Karbala had mentioned this minaret when they described the holy shrine of Imam Al-Hussein "pbuh", such as "Khan Adib al-Malik" when he visited Karbala in 1273 H - 1857 AD, as for  the English painter "Robert Clive" who had visited Karbala in 1862 AD and drawn the holy shrine, the most beautiful features in his paintings was Al-Abd minaret, while the head of the Pennsylvania mission Ancient Antiquities "John Peters" has described this minaret when he visited Iraq in 1890 AD, that it was decorated with "Amazing bricks".

At the end of the year 1354 Hijri - 1936 AD, this monument was demolished by Prime Minister Yassin al-Hashemi on the pretext that it is about to fall and constitutes a danger to public, but the real reason was in fact the abhorrent sectarianism practiced by Al-Hashemi at the time. It is worth mentioning that when the government demolished the minaret, it discovered ancient copper coins dating back to the Galai'ri and Safawi era as these coins were deposited in the old archeological house in Baghdad.

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Sources:

1. The Heritage of Karbala: by Mr. Salman Hadi Al-To'ma.
2. The History of Karbala and the holy shrine of Al-Hussein :by Dr. Abdul-Jawad al-Kalidar.
3. Al-Hussein City: by Mr. Mohammed Hassan Al-Kalidar Vol. 1.