Qutham ibn Abbas (Shah-i-Zinda)

Son of the Prophet's uncle al-Abbas, and a Companion. He is known as the last person to touch the Messenger of God; his grave at Samarkand is called Shah-i Zinda (the living king). His full name is Qutham ibn al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib al-Hashimi.

His mother, Umm al-Fadl Lubaba bint al-Harith al-Hilaliyya, was the first woman to embrace Islam after Khadija, and the sister of Maymuna, one of the Prophet's wives. Qutham was a foster brother of al-Husayn. The Messenger of God, whom Qutham was said to resemble, once saw him playing with his friends and took him up behind him on his mount.

He was present at the washing of the Prophet's body, turned the body from side to side, laid the Messenger of God in his grave and was the last to come out of it. For this reason he is known as the last person to touch the Prophet.

During Ali's caliphate he was appointed governor of Mecca and held the post until Ali's death; it is also said that he governed Medina. Besides his administrative duties at Mecca he led the pilgrimage (38/658) and issued legal opinions. He objected when Mu'awiya, in the year 39 (659), appointed Yazid ibn Shajara al-Rahawi as leader of the pilgrimage. Thereupon an army of 3000 men under the command of Yazid ibn Mu'awiya set out for Mecca; Qutham called on the people to keep the army from entering the city but found no adequate support, and the army entered Mecca without meeting resistance. Qutham repeated his request that someone other than Yazid ibn Shajara be placed over the pilgrimage; on the advice of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri the pilgrimage was entrusted to Shayba ibn Uthman.

In Mu'awiya's time he took part in the conquests around Khurasan under the governor of Khurasan, Sa'id ibn Uthman ibn Affan. When he was offered a special share of the booty in reward for his valour, he said that the booty should first be divided into fifths and the rights of others given, and only then should a share be set aside for him. Remembered as a man of virtue and piety, Qutham joined Sa'id ibn Uthman on the campaign against Samarkand (56/675) and was martyred at Samarkand; the other reports on the date and place of his death are given under the Multiple Views.

His Circle of Influence — He transmitted hadith from the Prophet and from his father, and also from his brother al-Fadl and from Talha ibn Ubayd Allah; Hani ibn Hani, Abd al-Malik ibn Muhammad ibn Amr and Abu Ishaq al-Sabi'i transmitted from him.

His Tomb and Complex — His grave in time became a place of visitation, and a mosque and a madrasa were built around it; this grave, which the people of Samarkand call “Shah-i Zinda”, was given the name Mazarshah in the time of Babur. The southern slopes of the rise known as the Afrasiyab hill, north of the city, were held a sacred site for centuries because he had come to the region to spread Islam and was martyred there; tombs and a cemetery grew up around the grave, and the name “Shah-i Zinda” came to denote the whole site. It appears that the Mongols under Genghis Khan destroyed the cemetery together with old Samarkand in 1220; the Tomb and Mosque of Qutham ibn al-Abbas, which had partly survived the Mongol destruction, were revived in 1335. From the 1360s the area was favoured as a burial ground, and building activity reached its peak in the XV century under Timur and Ulugh Beg. Today the site is entered through the monumental portal built by Ulugh Beg (1434). The tomb and mosque dedicated to Qutham ibn al-Abbas stand in the uppermost part, which holds the oldest dated buildings of the complex, and were built over the remains of earlier structures; the mosque dates from the second half of the XV century. Work carried out after 1960 showed that the tomb and place of visitation dated 735 (1335) had been relocated in the Timurid period. The section is faced with mosaic tiles dominated by blue, white and green.