Dr. Noor Zaidi Leads Major Project to Preserve Sayyida Zainab Shrine Archives
- SMF
- 13 hours ago
- 3 min read
The Shia Muslim Foundation commends Dr. Noor Zaidi for leading an important international effort to preserve, restore, and digitize the Sayyida Zainab shrine archives in Damascus. The project brings serious academic scholarship together with the knowledge and stewardship of the families and institutions that have protected this history for generations.
A recent UMBC feature details the work of Dr. Zaidi, an assistant professor of history at UMBC whose research focuses on the Middle East and South Asia, gender, sectarianism, and Shi’a Islam. Her current project centers on the Makam of Sayyida Zainab, one of the most important sacred sites in Shi’a Islam and one of the comparatively few major Islamic shrines associated with a woman.
Dr. Zaidi is working with Father Columba Stewart and the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library in Minnesota, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik in Lebanon, and the Mourtada family of Damascus. UMBC reports that the Mourtada family has served as custodians of the shrine for more than 800 years. The result is an international interfaith preservation effort that respects scholarly standards and the local custodianship that kept these records alive.
Years of patient scholarship
Dr. Zaidi first visited the shrine with her family more than two decades ago and has researched it for about fifteen years. She began archival work at the shrine in 2012. During the conflict, Hani Mohsen Mourtada opened the family archive to her, including photographs and legal records. After his death, Sayed Mazen Al Mourtada continued that cooperation and preserved materials that had been moved to Beirut for safekeeping.
“The Makam (Shrine) of Sayyeda Zainab in Damascus is not merely a religious site; it is a historic institution whose significance extends across centuries, borders, and communities. Associated with Zainab bint ‘Ali, the granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad, the shrine has preserved traditions, archives, and religious practice that constitute an important part of the cultural and historical heritage of Syria and the wider Islamic world.”
Her persistence is visible throughout the project. War in Syria, threats to the shrine, difficult travel, and the pandemic interrupted the research. Zaidi returned to the work when conditions allowed.
“The continued independence of the Shrine of Sayyeda Zainab is of profound historical importance. Its autonomy allows the shrine to remain a living religious and cultural institution rather than becoming an instrument of changing political interests or state agendas.”
Recording what was lost
The digitization project will not treat the surviving archive as complete. UMBC reports that missing or destroyed documents will be identified as such. Future scholars will be able to see not only what survived, but where war, displacement, and time broke the record.
"Shia sacred history is too often discussed in public only through conflict or geopolitics. This project preserves another record: religious life, community memory, legal documents, craftsmanship, architecture, and the people who cared for the Makam across generations. It also gives students and scholars a stronger basis for studying Sayyida Zainab as a religious, historical, and cultural institution."
UMBC notes that the shrine has attracted visitors across communities and that renovations at the Makam preserved local Damascene tilework and craftsmanship. Zaidi’s work takes that layered history seriously. It does not reduce the shrine to a single political era or a single modern narrative.
Dr. Zaidi deserves real credit for staying with this research through years of instability and for building a project that places Shi’a history within serious academic study while respecting the people who preserved the archive. Her work also shows what can happen when universities, religious institutions, archivists, and local custodians cooperate with care and transparency.
SMF congratulates Dr. Zaidi and the full project team. The digitization of the Sayyida Zainab shrine archives can become a lasting resource for scholars, students, and communities seeking a fuller understanding of one of Shi’a Islam’s most significant sacred sites.
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