Bayt al-Ahzan

Bayt al-Ahzan (Arabic: بَيْت ٱلْأَحْزَان, romanized: Bayt al-Aḥzān) literally means "House of the Sorrows",^[1][2] is a structure which has been destroyed in the Al-Baqi Cemetery in Medinah, the Hejaz.^[3][4] Bayt al-Ahzan is located at the south of ‘Abbas ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib^{[dubious – discuss]};^[5][6] and likewise behind the court of four Shia Imams in Baqi', namely: Hasan ibn Ali, Zayn al-Abidin, Muhammad al-Baqir and Ja'far as-Sadiq.^[7]

Jannat al-Baqi' in the 1910s, with the Bayt al-Ahzan located on the right-hand side of the photograph

History

Considering that Fatimah al-Zahra was so sorrowful of her father's passing away and used to cry a lot for him,^[8] then her husband Ali built a structure (Bayt al-Ahzan) for her to mourn her father there.^[9][10]

Bayt al-Ahzan is considered the third probable place --after Al-Masjid an-Nabawi and al-Baqi' cemetery-- to be the grave place of Fatimah's grave.^[11][12] This building was demolished after the (second) attack of Wahhabists to Hejaz and the occupation of Medina in 1926 (1344 A.H.).^[13]

Meaning

The word bayt (بَیْت) in Arabic means "home",^[14] and the word "Ahzan" is the plural form of Hozn (sorrow) which means sorrows;^[15] and this phrase (Bayt al-Ahzan) altogether means the home of sorrows.^[16]

See also

• Islam portal

• Bayt al-Mawlid, the house where Muhammad is believed to have been born
• Book of Fatimah
• Sermon of Fadak given by Fatimah
• Muhammad's children