Jabal Zayn al-Abidin and Its Shrine

Jabal Zayn al-Abidin is a hill of 620 metres rising about 5 kilometres north of Hama. On top stands a small shrine attributed to Zayn al-Abidin. Medieval geographers named the hill, together with Jabal Kafra, “Qurun Hama”, the horns of Hama: a traveller approaching from the north or the south knew the city was near once the two hills came into view.

Where it is

The hill stands east of Qamhana and west of Jabal Kafra. As the only clear high point north of Hama, it is easy to pick out from the roads leaving the city. The sources do not describe the state of the path up to the summit and the shrine; ask on the spot.

Whose shrine is it

Two accounts sit side by side here. Arabic sources say the shrine belongs to Zayn al-Abidin Ali ibn Abdullah al-Haraki, a descendant of Husayn, and that people often confuse him with Husayn’s son Zayn al-Abidin. English-language sources say the shrine was built in memory of Ali Zayn al-Abidin, the son of Husayn.

The shrine is a small place of pilgrimage used by more than one community. Shia visitors and Iranian pilgrims come here. In the 20th century, after the Ismaili religious leadership banned visits to shrines, it became one of the few that Syrian Ismailis went on honouring. Historically, local Alawites visited it too.

The horns of Hama

Yaqut al-Hamawi (d. 1229) wrote in his Mu’jam al-Buldan: “Qurun Hama: two hills facing each other.” Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari (d. 1349) reports that the poet Imru’ al-Qais named these hills and Shayzar in a poem on his way to the Byzantine emperor. Ibn al-Shihna (d. 1485) adds a correction: in his view the hills stood well away from the city, not at its edge.

How long it takes

About an hour. The climb, a short stop at the shrine and a look down over the city fit into that; ask locally about the way up.

What most people miss

Jabal Kafra. The hill east of Zayn al-Abidin is the other half of the “horns”. Without seeing the two together, Yaqut’s “two hills facing each other” stays half a picture.