Ashrine (Latin:scrinium "case or chest for books or papers";Old French:escrin "box or case")[1] is asacred space dedicated to a specificdeity,ancestor,hero,martyr,saint,daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they are venerated or worshipped. Shrines often containidols,relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated.[2] A shrine at whichvotive offerings are made is called analtar.
Shrines are found in many of the world's religions, including Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism,Chinese folk religion,Shinto,indigenous Philippine folk religions, andGermanic paganism as well as in secular and non-religious settings such as a war memorial. Shrines can be found in various settings, such as churches, temples, cemeteries, or as household shrines.Portable shrines are also found in some cultures.[3]
Many shrines are located within buildings and in the temples designed specifically for worship, such as achurch in Christianity, or amandir in Hinduism. A shrine here is usually the center of attention in the building and is given a place of prominence. In such cases, adherents of the faith assemble within the building in order to venerate the deity at the shrine. In classical temple architecture, the shrine may be synonymous with thecella.[citation needed]
Historically, inHinduism,Buddhism andRoman Catholicism, and also in modern faiths, such asNeopaganism, a shrine can commonly be found within the home or shop.[4] This shrine is usually a small structure or a setup of pictures and figurines dedicated to a deity that is part of the official religion, toancestors or to a localisedhousehold deity.[5]
Small outdoor yard shrines are found at the bottom of many peoples' gardens, following various religions, including historically,Balinese Hinduism,Christianity. Many consist of a statue ofChrist,Virgin Mary or asaint, on a pedestal or in an alcove, while others may be elaborate booths without ceilings, some include paintings, statuary, and architectural elements, such as walls, roofs, glass doors and ironwork fences.[citation needed]
In the United States, some Christians have small yard shrines; some of these resemble side altars, since they are composed of a statue placed in a niche orgrotto; this type is colloquially referred to as abathtub madonna.[6]
Religious images, usually in some sort of small shelter, placed by a road or pathway, sometimes in a settlement or at a crossroads.[citation needed]
Shrines are found in many religions. As distinguished from atemple, a shrine usually houses a particularrelic orcult image, which is the object ofworship orveneration. A shrine may also be constructed to set apart a site which is thought to be particularly holy, as opposed to being placed for the convenience of worshipers. Shrines therefore attract the practice ofpilgrimage.[7][8]
Shrines are found in many forms of Christianity, but not all.Catholicism, the largest branch of Christianity,[9] has many shrines, as doOrthodox Christianity,Anglicanism and some forms ofLutheranism.
The Catholic1983 Code of Canon Law, canons 1230 and 1231 reads: "The term shrine means a church or other sacred place which, with the approval of the local Ordinary, is by reason of special devotion frequented by the faithful as pilgrims." In the Catholic Church, a localdiocesan bishop orarchbishop can designate a local (arch)diocesan shrine. For a shrine to be anational shrine, the approval of the country'sEpiscopal Conference is required. Similarly, the approval of theHoly See at the Vatican in Rome is required for it to be international.[10]
In unofficial, colloquial Catholic use, the term "shrine" is a niche or alcove in churches, especially larger ones, used by parishioners when praying privately. Shrines are always centered on some image (for instance, a statue, painting, mural or mosaic) ofJesus Christ, ofMary, mother of Jesus, or of a saint, and may have had areredos behind them. They were formerly also called devotional altars, since before theSecond Vatican Council they contained smallside altars or bye-altars. Today,Mass would not necessarily be celebrated at them, and they are simply used to aid or give a visual focus for prayers.[citation needed]
Islam's holiest structure, theKaaba (within theAl-Haram Mosque) in the city ofMecca, though an ancient temple (in the sense of a "house of God"), may be seen as a shrine[11][12][13] due to it housing a respected relic called theHajar al-Aswad and also being the partial focus of the world's largest pilgrimage practice, theHajj. A few yards away, the mosque also houses theMaqam Ibrahim ("Abraham's station") shrine containing apetrosomatoglyph (of feet) associated with the patriarch and his sonIshmael's building of the Kaaba in Islamic tradition.[14][15] TheGreen Dome sepulcher of the Islamic prophetMuhammad (where his burial chamber also contains the tombs of his friendAbu Bakr and close companionUmar) inMedina, housed in theMasjid an-Nabawi ("The Mosque of the Prophet"),[16][17][18] occurs as a greatly venerated place and is important as a site of pilgrimage among Muslims.
Two of the oldest and notable Islamic shrines are theDome of the Rock and the smallerDome of the Chain built on theTemple Mount inJerusalem.[19] The former was built over therock that marked the site of theJewish Temple and according to Islamic tradition, was the point of departure of Muhammad'slegendary ascent heavenwards (al-Mi'raj).[20][21]
More than any other shrines in the Muslim world, the tomb ofMuhammad is considered a source of blessings for the visitor.[22] Amongsayings attributed to Muhammad include one stated as: "He who visits my grave will be entitled to my intercession."[22][23][24] Visiting Muhammad's tomb after the pilgrimage is considered by the majority ofSunni legal scholars to be recommended.[25]
The early scholars of thesalaf,Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH),Ishaq Ibn Rahwayh (d. 238 SH),Abdullah ibn Mubarak (d. 189 AH) andImam Shafi'i (d. 204 AH) all permitted the practice ofziyāra to Muhammad's tomb.[26] Thehadith scholarQadi Ayyad (d. 554 AH) stated that visiting Muhammad was "aSunna of the Muslims on which there was consensus, and a good and desirable deed."[27]
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (d. 852 AH) explicitly stated that travelling to visit the tomb of Muhammad was "one of the best of actions and the noblest of pious deeds with which one draws near to God, and its legitimacy is a matter of consensus."[28] Similarly,Ibn Qudamah (d. 620 AH) consideredziyāra of Muhammad to be recommended and also seeking intercession directly from Muhammad at his grave.[29][30]
The tombs of other Muslim religious figures are also respected. The son ofAhmad ibn Hanbal, one of the primary jurists of Sunnism, reportedly stated that he would prefer to be buried near the mausoleum of a saintly person than his own father.[31] While in some parts of the Muslim world the mausoleums of the tombs are seen as simply places ofziyāra of a religious figure's gravesite (Mazār/Maqbara), in others (such as theIndian subcontinent) they are treated as proper shrines (Dargah).[32][33][34]
Many modern Islamic reformers oppose the building (and sometimes thevisitation of) tomb shrines, viewing it as a deviation from true Islam.[35] This mainly includes followers of theWahhabi andSalafi movements, which believe that shrines over graves encourageidolatry/polytheism (shirk) and that there is a risk of worshipping other thanGod (the dead).[36][37][38][39]
The founder of the Wahhabi movement,Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab derived the prohibition to build mosques over graves from ahadith attributed to theMuhammad in which he said "May God curse the Jews and Christians who make the graves of their prophets into places of worship; do not imitate them."[40] Additionally, he commanded leveling of the graves (taswiyat al-qubur), which the scholarImam Al-Shafi'i supported.[39]
The Wahhabi movement was heavily influenced by the works of the medievalHanbali theologianIbn Taymiyyah who was considered by them to be the "ultimate authority on a great number of issues".[41] One of these issues was the position on the visitation of Muhammad's tomb. According to Ibn Taymiyyah all theahadith encouraging the visitation of the tomb are fabricated (mawdu‘), are not contained in thesix main collections ofhadith orMusnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and violatetawhid al-uluhiya.[42]
This view of Ibn Taymiyyah was rejected by some mainstream Sunni scholars both during his life and after his death. TheShafi'i hadith masterIbn Hajar al-Asqalani stated that "This is one of the ugliest positions that has been reported of Ibn Taymiyya".[43] TheHanafi hadith scholarAli al-Qari stated that, "Amongst the Hanbalis, Ibn Taymiyya has gone to an extreme by prohibiting travelling to visit the Prophet – may God bless him and grant him peace"[44]Qastallani stated that "The Shaykh Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyya has abominable and odd statements on this issue to the effect that travelling to visit the Prophet is prohibited and is not a pious deed."[45]
Shias have severalmazars dedicated to various religious figures important in their history, and several elaborate shrines (Marqad/Maqam) are dedicated to Shia religious figures, most notably inIraq (such as in the cities ofKarbala,[46]Najaf,[47][48]Samarra[49]) and inIran (such as in the cities ofQom[50] andMashad[51]).
Specific examples of Shia shrines include theAl-Askari Shrine,[52] andImam Hussein Shrine.[53] Other Shia shrines are located in the eponymous cities ofMazar-e Sharif ("The NobleMausoleum") inAfghanistan,[54] andMashhad (al-Rida) ("Martyrium [ofAli al-Rida ]") in Iran.[55] TheMausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini inTehran houses the tombs ofRuhollah Khomenei, the leader ofIran's 1978–79 revolution,his wife, and a few other related people.[56][57][58]
In popularSufism, one common practice is tovisit or make pilgrimages to the tombs of saints, renowned scholars, and righteous people. This is a particularly common practice in theIndian subcontinent, where famous tombs include of saints such asSayyid Ali Hamadani inKulob, Tajikistan;Afāq Khoja, nearKashgar, China;Lal Shahbaz Qalandar inSindh;Ali Hujwiri inLahore, Pakistan;Bahauddin Zakariya inMultan Pakistan;Moinuddin Chishti inAjmer, India;Nizamuddin Auliya inDelhi, India; andShah Jalal inSylhet, Bangladesh.[59] Likewise, inFez, Morocco, a popular destination for pious visitation is theZaouia Moulay Idriss II.[60] The area aroundTimbuktu in Mali also has many historic Sufi shrines which were destroyed by Islamist in recent years. Many of these have since been rebuilt.[61][62][63] A saint's tomb is a site of great veneration where blessings orbaraka continue to reach the deceased holy person and are deemed (by some) to benefit visiting devotees and pilgrims according to Sufi beliefs. In order to show reverence to Sufi saints, kings, and nobles provided large donations orwaqf to preserve the tombs and renovate them architecturally.[64][65] Over time, these donation, rituals, annual commemorations formed into an elaborate system of accepted norms. These forms of Sufi practise created an aura of spiritual and religious traditions around prescribed dates.[66] Many orthodox or Islamic purists denounce these visiting grave rituals, especially the expectation of receiving blessings from the venerated saints.[67]
The two most well-knownBaháʼí Faith shrines serve as the resting places for the respective remains of the two central figures of the Baháʼí Faith, theBáb andBahá'u'lláh. They are the focal points of aBaháʼí pilgrimage:
Other sites have been designated as Baháʼí Shrines, the most notable being the home ofWilliam Sutherland Maxwell andMay Maxwell in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[70]
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InBuddhism, a shrine refers to a place where veneration is focused on Lord Buddha or one of thebodhisattvas orarahants. Monks, nuns andlaity willpay homage with the aide ofBuddhist iconography at these shrines which are also used forBuddhist meditation.
Typically, Buddhist shrines contain a statue of either Gautama Buddha, or (in theMahayana andVajrayana forms of Buddhism), one of the various Buddhas or bodhisattvas.[71] They also commonly contain candles, along with offerings such as flowers, purified water, food, and incense. Many shrines also containsacred relics, such as the famoussacred tooth of Lord Buddha installed at a shrine inSri Lanka.
Site-specific shrines in Buddhism, particularly those that contain relics of past Buddhas and revered enlightened monks, are oftendesigned in the traditional form known as theStupa orCetiya.
Ancient Filipinos, and Filipinos today who continue to adhere to theindigenous Philippine folk religions generally do not have so-called "temples" of worship under the context known to foreign cultures.[72][73][74] However, they do have sacredshrines, which are also called asspirit houses.[72] They can range in size from small roofed platforms, to structures similar to a small house (but with no walls), to shrines that look similar to pagodas, especially in the south where early mosques were also modeled in the same way.[75] These shrines were known in various indigenous terms, which depend on the ethnic group association.[note 1] They can also be used as places to storetaotao and caskets of ancestors. Among Bicolanos,taotao were also kept inside sacred caves calledmoog.[72][76][77][78]
During certain ceremonies,anito are venerated through temporary altars near sacred places. These were calledlatangan orlantayan in Visayan anddambana orlambana in Tagalog.[note 2] These bamboo orrattan altars are identical in basic construction throughout most of the Philippines. They were either small roof-less platforms or standing poles split at the tip (similar to atiki torch). They held halved coconut shells, metal plates, ormartaban jars as receptacles for offerings.Taotao may sometimes also be placed on these platforms.[72][76]
Other types of sacred places or objects of worship ofdiwata include the material manifestation of their realms. The most widely venerated werebalete trees (also callednonok,nunuk,nonoc, etc.) andanthills ortermite mounds (punso). Other examples include mountains, waterfalls, tree groves, reefs, and caves.[72][73][79][80][81]
InGermanic paganism, types of shrines were employed, but terms for the shrines show some level of ambiguity:
InHinduism, a shrine is a place where gods or goddesses are worshipped. Shrines are typically located inside aHindu temple of various forms. Most Hindu families have a household shrine as well. For example, according to memoirs of Stephen Huyler of his visits to some Hindu homes, a part of home was dedicated to the household shrine. Here, image of a deity was placed and offered prayers, instead of visits to a temple.[84] Among Tamil Hindu homes, according to Pintchman, a shrine in Kitchen is more common. If the family is wealthy, it may locate the household shrine in a separate room.[85]
The line between a temple and a shrine inTaoism is not fully defined; shrines are usually smaller versions of larger Taoist temples or small places in ahome where ayin-yang emblem is placed among peaceful settings to encourage meditation and study of Taoist texts and principles. Taoists place less emphasis on formalized attendance but include ritualized worship than otherAsian religions; formal temples and structures of worship came about in Taoism with the influence fromBuddhism.[citation needed]
Frequent features of Taoist shrines include the same features as full temples, often including any or all of the following features:gardens, running water or fountains, small burningbraziers or candles (with or withoutincense), and copies of Taoist texts such as theTao Te Ching,Zhuangzi or other texts byLao Tzu,Chuang Tzu or other Taoist sages.[citation needed]
A number ofConfucian temples and shrines exist across the sinophone world, it is a temple for the veneration ofConfucius,great sages,eminent philosophers ofConfucianism and also theDisciples of Confucius. These temples are known as "Temples of Confucius" (孔廟) or "Temples of Literature" (文廟). Unlike Taoist temples, Confucian temples usually do not installed the images of Confucius but the tablets. It is argued that the temple was to honour Confucius's teachings, not Confucius himself. The temples consist of gardens and then a large pavilion where incense is burnt. Thetablet or sometime an image ofConfucius is usually placed in the main shrine.
Confucian shrines exist outside of China too, mainly in Japan, Korea and Vietnam. There are also quite a number of Confucian shrines in Taiwan likeTainan Confucian Temple andTaipei Confucius Temple, they are well-maintained by the government. However, many Taoist temples dedicated a shrine for the worship of Confucius orWen Chang Di Jun (God of Literature).
In some countries around the world,landmarks may be called "historic shrines."[citation needed] Notable shrines of this type include:
Halls of fame also serve as shrines into which single or multiple individuals are inducted on the basis of their influence upon regions, cultures or disciplines.Busts or full-body statues are often erected and placed alongside each other in commemoration. This includes Halls of Fame that honor sports athletes, where an athlete's entrance to the hall is commonly described as "enshrinement".
By extension the termshrine has come to mean any place dedicated completely to a particular person or subject such as theShrine of the Sun inColorado Springs, Colorado.[86]
The Grand Mosque of Mecca in western Saudi Arabia. Along with the Prophet Muhammad 's Mosque in Medina, it is one of the two holiest shrines in Islam, its spiritual center, and the focus of the hajj pilgrimage. A place of worship even before the time of Muhammad, the mosque is organized around the Kaaba, a pre-Islamic "House of God" founded by Abraham and Ishmael, toward which all Muslim prayer is directed. The present layout of the Grand Mosque evolved from a series of enlargements during the Umayyad and Abbasid periods, Ottoman refinements, and recent Saudi additions.
The most distinct aspect of the mosque is a green dome called the Dome of the Prophet and marks the location of the Prophet Muhammad's tomb. Abu Bakr and Umar, the first and second caliphs, are buried near the Prophet.
Many modern Islamic reformers criticize visits to shrines as mere superstition and a deviation from true Islam.
In the eyes of Wahabis, historical sites and shrines encourage "shirk" – the sin of idolatry or polytheism – and should be destroyed. When the al-Saud tribes swept through Mecca in the 1920s, the first thing they did was lay waste to cemeteries holding many of Islam's important figures. They have been destroying the country's heritage ever since. Of the three sites the Saudis have allowed the UN to designate World Heritage Sites, none are related to Islam.
Wahhabism, the prevailing Saudi strain of Islam, frowns on visits to shrines, tombs or religio-historical sites, on grounds that they might lead to Islam's gravest sin: worshipping anyone other than God.
In most of the Muslim world, shrines have been built. Visits to graves are also commonplace. But Wahabism views such practices with disdain. The religious police go to enormous lengths to discourage people from praying at or visiting places closely connected to the time of the Prophet while powerful clerics work behind the scenes to promote the destruction of historic sites.
Ibn Taymiyya argues that the prohibition against treating graves as places of prayer is not based only on the impurity of such places;58 the true reason lies in concern over the temptation of worshiping the dead (khawf al-fitna bi alqabr). This was the opinion of Imam al-Shafi'i and other salaf, who commanded leveling these graves (taswiyat al-qubur) and effacing what might arouse the temptation (ta'fiyat ma yatafattan bihi minha).
Relying mainly on hadiths and the Qur'an, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's most famous work,The Book of God's Unicity (Kitab al-tawhid), describes a variety of shirk practices, such as occultism, the cult of the righteous (salih), intercession, oaths calling on other than God himself, sacrifices or invocational prayers to other than God, and asking other than Him for help. Important things about graves are remarked on in a chapter entitled "About the Condemnation of One Who Worships Allah at the Grave of a Righteous Man, and What if He Worships [the Dead] Himself." Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab starts by quoting a hadith: "Umm Salama told the messenger of Allah about a church she had seen in Abyssinia in which there were pictures. The Prophet said: 'Those people, when a righteous member of their community or a pious slave dies, they build a mosque over his grave and paint images thereon; they are for God wicked people.' They combine two kinds offitna: thefitna of graves and thefitna of images." He then continues with another hadith: "When the messenger of Allah was close to death, he . . . said: 'May Allah curse the Jews and Christians who make the graves of their prophets into places of worship; do not imitate them.'" From this hadith Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab derives the prohibition of building places of worship over graves, because that would mean glorification of their inhabitants, which would amount to an act of worship to other than Allah.
Ibn Taymiyya criticizes hadiths encouraging visitation of the Prophet's grave, pronouncing them all forgeries (mawdu) and lies (kidhb). According to him, most famous are "He who performs the pilgrimage and does not visit me, has shunned me" and "Who visited my grave must ask me for intercession." Ibn Taymiyya notes that although some of these hadiths are part of Daraqutni's collection, they are not included in the main hadith collections of Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, and Nasa'i, nor are they part of the Musnad of Ibn Hanbal. He observes that with regard to visiting the Prophet's grave,ulama rely only upon hadiths according to which the Prophet must be greeted (al-salam wa al-salat alayhi).56 As for the contents of hadiths encouraging visitation, they contradict the principle oftawhid al-uluhiya.
The Arbaeen has provided many modern-day Shia martyrs, murdered by Saddam Hussein, al-Qaeda and Isis, but its purpose is to mourn the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the revered Shia leader, killed in the battle for Kerbala in AD680. The long ritual walk to his golden-domed shrine in that city – some walkers spend 10 or 12 days on the road from Basra or Kirkuk, others two or three days from Najaf – comes on the 40th day of the mourning period as religious fervour reaches its peak among the faithful.
One of Iraq's two holiest cities (Karbala is the other one). Reputedly founded by the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid in 791. A Shii religious center located south of Baghdad and six miles west of Kufa. Site of Ali ibn Abi Talib's (the first Shii imam) tomb. Kufa retained its importance as the locus of Shii activities until the fifteenth century, when Najaf replaced it. Hospices, schools, libraries, and Sufi convents were built around the shrine. Late nineteenth-century Qom replaced Najaf as the center of Shii learning; this was reversed with the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini (d. 1989) and Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr (d. 1980).
Every year, during the annual Shia pilgrimages to the Holy Shrines in Najaf, Karbala and Samarra, millions of Iranians, in numbers two or three times higher than the entire traditional Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, cross the Iraqi border; they are spontaneously fed and housed by the poorest Iraqi Shia families free of any charge.
Leading center of Shii theological seminaries and site of Hazrat-i Masumah, which is the second most important Shii shrine in Iran. Burial site of numerous shahs of the Safavid and Qajar dynasties and many religious scholars. Major center of political activity in 1963, 1975, and 1977 – 79 . The shrine and the Borujerdi mosque are important places for leading communal prayers and sermons. The shrine has been an economic and state institution, the focus of endowments and commercial rents dedicated to its upkeep, and a symbolic site whose opening and closing each day are accompanied by state-appointed guards extolling the sovereignty of the reigning government under God. Qom's madrasas in particular were a major center of resistance to the Pahlavi monarchy. When Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran from exile, he went immediately to Qom, which remains a key seat of the ulama's educational and political organizations.
On Wednesday, 22 February 2006, unidentified assailants bombed the Al-Askari Mosque in Samarra, one of the holiest Shia'a sites in Iraq, containing the shrines of Ali Al-Hadi and Hassan Al-Askari, two of the most important Shia'a Imams, and the mausoleum of Mohammad Al Mehdi, known as the "hidden Imam", and hosting millions of pilgrims annually.
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