HILLAH, Iraq — Each year for the Feast of the Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha), Umm Mariam visits the Mashhad al-Shams shrine in Hillah to decorate its walls with henna. She told Al-Monitor that the shrine had cured her daughter of a chronic illness after she slept there one night. Some believe the shrine also has the power to solve social problems and make infertile women able to bear children.
It is traditional for visitors to frequent the historical shrine, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, and pray for God’s blessing. What is interesting about this particular place, however, is that it has not always been Islamic. The shrine once served as a temple of Shamash, the sun god, during the First Babylonian Dynasty. Based on the monotheistic principles of Islam, the shrine's prior history would ordinarily make it a symbol of idolatry and polytheism, which contradict the principle of oneness. The Arabic name “Mashhad al-Shams” means “emergence of the sun,” but otherwise, the monument lacks any traces of its Babylonian heritage. In fact, as far as many visitors know, the Hillah monument is purely Islamic.