page_title: Relics of Muhammad
hierarchical_section_title: Relics of Muhammad
caption_attribution_description: The Beard of the Islamic prophet Muhammad; Mevlâna mausoleum; Konya, Turkey
context_page_description: Traditionally, Islam has had a rich history of the veneration of relics, especially of those attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. There exists historical evidence that some of the earliest Muslims practised the veneration of relics, and the practice continued to remain popular in many parts of the Sunni Islamic world until the eighteenth-century, when the reform movements of Salafism and Wahhabism began to staunchly condemn such practices due to their linking it with the sin of shirk. As a result of the influence of these perspectives, some contemporary Muslims influenced by these ideologies have rejected the traditional practice of relic-veneration altogether. The most genuine prophetic relics are believed to be those housed in Istanbul's Topkapı Palace, in a section known as Hirkai Serif Odasi.
  The traditional Sunni attitude towards relics is concisely summarized in the words of the fourteenth-century hadith master Al-Dhahabi, who passionately sermonized: "Ahmad ibn Hanbal was asked about touching the Prophet's grave and kissing it and he saw nothing wrong with it. His son 'Abd Allāh related this from him. If it is asked: 'Why did the Prophet's Companions not do this?'
context_section_description: Traditionally, Islam has had a rich history of the veneration of relics, especially of those attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. There exists historical evidence that some of the earliest Muslims practised the veneration of relics, and the practice continued to remain popular in many parts of the Sunni Islamic world until the eighteenth-century, when the reform movements of Salafism and Wahhabism began to staunchly condemn such practices due to their linking it with the sin of shirk (idolatry). As a result of the influence of these perspectives, some contemporary Muslims influenced by these ideologies have rejected the traditional practice of relic-veneration altogether. The most genuine prophetic relics are believed to be those housed in Istanbul's Topkapı Palace, in a section known as Hirkai Serif Odasi (Chamber of the Holy Mantle).
  The traditional Sunni attitude towards relics is concisely summarized in the words of the fourteenth-century hadith master Al-Dhahabi, who passionately sermonized: "Ahmad ibn Hanbal was asked about touching the Prophet's grave and kissing it and he saw nothing wrong with it. His son 'Abd Allāh related this from him. If it is asked: 'Why did the Prophet's Companions not do this?' We reply: 'Because they saw him with their very eyes when he was alive, enjoyed his presence directly, kissed his very hand, nearly fought each other over the remnants of his ablution water, shared his purified hair on the day of the Greater Pilgrimage, and even if he spat it would virtually not fall except into someone's hand so that he could pass it over his face. Since we have not had the tremendous fortune of sharing this, we throw ourselves on his grave as a mark of commitment, reverence, and acceptance, even to kiss it. Do you not see what Thābit al-Bunānī did when he kissed the hand of Anas ibn Malik and placed it on his face saying: 'This is the hand that touched the hand of the Messenger of God?' Muslims are not moved to these matters except by their extreme love for the Prophet, as they are ordered to love God and the Prophet more than their own lives."
  The 17th-century French explorer Jean-Baptiste Tavernier wrote about his discussions with two treasurers of Constantinople, who described the standard, mantle and the seal. Two centuries later, Charles White wrote about the mantle, the standard, the beard, tooth, and footprint of Muhammad, the last of which he saw personally.
caption: Box with a part of Muhammad's beard. 
   Maulâna Rumi mausoleum, Konya, Turkey
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