Mohamed Ousman
Istanbul is a beautiful city. It is rich in Muslim history some of which goes back to the contributions of the first generation of Muslims. Allah has honored the first generation of Muslims, comprising the Muhajirun and the Ansar, who lived with Allah’s Prophet (ﷺ) and shared significantly in his struggles for the course of Allah.
Sa‘eed ibn Al Zubayr, (a tabi‘/second generation Muslim who met a Sahabi/companion of Allah’s Prophet), had a qualified definition of who constituted the Sahabah/companions of the Prophet (ﷺ). According to him, a Sahabi was a person who accepted Islam, spent a minimum of two years in the company of Allah’s Prophet, actively battled alongside him (ﷺ) and passed away as a Muslim.
This meaningful definition has been stretched to such an extent by subsequent generations of Muslim scholarship that any person who merely verbalized the Islamic article of faith, saw Allah’s Prophet (ﷺ) and passed away as a Muslim was included among the Sahabah.
This stretched definition was obviously to include deviant monarchs/Sultans, their governors as well as their drum beaters in order to afford them underserved aura, respect and absolve them from criticism.
Reasserting the correct definition of who accurately constitute the Sahabah is not the focus of this article. However, since the elasticized definition has become the preponderant one for most Muslims, this article applies it for purposes of classification and enumeration. Based on this, it is claimed that there are at least 25 known graves of Sahabis in Istanbul.
Through some research, the existence of these gravesites can be discovered. And with much difficulty these gravesites may be traced and some even visited. Thankfully this Islamic history has hitherto been preserved.
In order to preserve this information their names and addresses of their grave sites are reproduced below:
The mausoleums of the Sahabis are hardly publicized and comparatively poorly marked when compared to those of the Sultans. Their graves barely have visitors and a few are even closed to the public.
For example, in the old city, between the famous Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia, which attracts millions of tourists annually, lies buried the Sahabi Abdur Rahman Shami. The mausoleum is sealed off to the public.
Similarly, at a short distance away in one direction lies buried the Sahabi Abdur Ra’uf Samdani. This mausoleum too is closed to the public.
At a short distance away but in a different direction, within the precincts of the Yeralti Mosque and thus accessible to the public, lies buried three Sahabis, Sufyan ibn Ubayna, Wahb ibn Hushayr and Amr ibn al Aas.
Not too far away, near the famous Galata Towers, within the courtyard of the Arap Mosque, lies buried the Sahabi Maslama ibn Abdul Malik. The mausoleum is accessible to the public.
Not too far away from there, within the courtyard of the Kariya Museum-cum-Mosque, and thus accessible to the public, lies buried the Sahabi Abu Sa‘eed al Khudri.
Enroute to the Kariya Museum-cum-Mosque and accessible to the public from the time of Dhuhr, is the grave site of the Sahabi Jabir ibn Abdullah inside the Jabir ibn Abdullah Mosque.
Also, around the Kariya Museum-cum-Mosque and accessible to the public, are the roadside grave sites of the Sahabis Abdullah al Ansari, Ad’ham, Khayr ad Deen, Muhammad al Ansari, Abu Dharr al Ghifari, Abu Darda, Hafir, Abd al Sadiq bin Amir, Shu‘ba, Warr ibn Abdullah and Abdullah al Khudri.
Also enroute to the Kariya Museum-cum-Mosque and accessible to the public, within the Haji Husrev Mosque compound are the grave sites of the Sahabis Humayd bin Bakr, Abu Shayba al Khudri, Ahmed al Ansari and Ka‘b ibn Malik.
While accessible to the public, a roadside grave that has been utterly neglected is that of the Sahabi Husam ibn Abdullah. Being utterly neglected is to describe it in polite language.
It is to the credit of those who revere certain historically righteous personalities that they have elevated the enclosures, appointed a dedicated caretaker, appropriately marked such tombs and protected them from vandalism and even animal excrement.
There is a roadside grave enroute to the Kariya Museum-cum-Mosque dedicated to Hassan and Hussein. Although interaction with the caretaker leads one to believe that these belong to the grandsons of Rasulillah, the information is patently disputable and false.
Similarly disputable are the roadside graves dedicated to Abu Darda and Abu Dharr al Ghifari as more credible information indicates that they are buried in Damascus and Al Rabdha outside Madinah respectively.
Similarly, the grave dedicated to Amr ibn al Aas at Masjid Yeralti is disputable as more reliable information indicates that he is buried in Cairo, Egypt.
The mausoleum of the Sahabi Abu Ayyub al Ansari had been under construction and not accessible.
Of course, these early Muslims left the Arabian Peninsula to convey the message of Islam to others. They were instrumental in bringing Islam to today’s Turkiye, the land of the Ottomans. Centuries later the Muslim Ottomans became the rulers over these Muslim lands and the Ottoman empire ruled for many centuries.
By the time the Ottomans became the rulers in the highest political office of the Muslims, that office had already been subverted and corrupted.
This subversion and corruption began after the Khulafah al Rashidoon/rightly guided reign of Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali and Hassan ibn Ali.
It was precisely during the Arabian nationalist days of Islam’s first king, Mu‘awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan, when this subversion and corruption began.
The office of the Khalifah was not restored to its original intent and purpose except during the brief period when Umar ibn Abdul Aziz ruled. This exception can be extended to our time when Imam Khomeini and his successor became the rulers of the Muslims.
The Ottomans ruled in the tradition of kings/Sultans. The only difference was that instead of the highest office and subsequent policies having an Arabian nationalist flavor as instituted by the Umawis/Ummayads and the Abbasis/Abbasids, now there was a Turkish/Ottoman nationalist flavor.
Many Ottoman kings/Sultans passed through this worldly abode during the reign of the Ottomans.
Unlike the Sahabis’ grave sites, the grave sites of the Ottoman Sultans became the symbols/figures of Turkish national pride. Elaborate complexes-cum-Masajid, house the mausoleums of the numerous Turkish Sultans and conquerors.
Sadly, these figures became symbols/idols of Turkish national pride that even eclipsed the importance that ought to be ascribed to those Sahaba buried in Istanbul.
A comparison of the size of these complexes-cum-Masajid dedicated to the Sultans, the extravagance characterized therewith, their marketing as tourist attractions, etc. far out strip that associated with the simple tombs of the Sahaba buried in Istanbul.
These above observations have no commonality with the notions promoted by the Saudi-Wahhabi Bedouins. The Bedouins are equally guilty; they promote Saudi Arabian nationalism.
To commemorate the birth of the Prophet (ﷺ) has become a mammoth bid‘ah/distasteful innovation yet honoring the founder of the Saudi nation-state, having a national day, etc. is celebrated. The country has been renamed Saudi Arabia after its founder King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud. This is in defiance of Allah’s Prophet who named that land mass Jazeerat Al Arab/the Arabian Peninsula.
This common inconsistency related to Turkish nationalism, Saudi Arabian nationalism and any/and all other nationalisms and the manner in which they play out in the policy to increase tourism, or in furtherance of any other end has no foundation in Islam.
“And, [let it be known that] all places dedicated to [genuflection and] prostration [to Allah] belong to Allah [alone]: hence, do not call upon anyone [in devotion] side by side with Allah!” (The Ascendant Qur’an, Surat Al Jinn, verse 18).
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