Shrine of Husayn's Head

A historical shrine, Mashhad al-Husayn, once stood on this site in Ashkelon (Ascalon) marking a Fatimid-era tradition that the head of Husayn ibn Ali was secretly moved here from Damascus before later being relocated again to Cairo in the 12th century. The 15th Fatimid caliph traced the site in 985 CE and it was formally "rediscovered" in 1091; a shrine was subsequently built and described as the most magnificent building in Ashkelon. Saladin demolished the surrounding city in 1191 for strategic reasons, transferring its minbar to the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, but the shrine itself survived into the 20th century as a hilltop maqam still visited by pilgrims through the British Mandate period. In July 1950, more than a year after the fighting in the area had ended, the Israeli army destroyed the shrine on the orders of Moshe Dayan as part of a broader policy of removing Muslim historical sites. This entry is retained as a historical record only — nothing remains standing to visit.