Jawad Nasrallah


Jawad Kadhim Nasrallah was an Iraqi nobleman that served as the 43rd custodian of the Imam Husayn shrine from 1802 until 1808.

Biography

Nasrallah was born c. 1725 to Kadhim Nasrallah. His grandfather Nasrallah al-Faizi, is the patriarch of the Nasrallah family, and a prominent scholar and poet. He hails from the noble Al Faiz family.
After Musa al-Wahab was killed in the sack of Karbala on April 22, 1802, some of the city's dignitaries, Sayyid Ali al-Tabatabei, Sayyid Murtadha Al Daraj, Sheikh Ali Abd al-Rasool, sent a transcript to the governor, Sulayman Pasha, requesting that Nasrallah be the saden of the Husayn shrine, and so on June 2, 1802, an imperial decree was issued declaring Nasrallah the saden of the Husayn shrine.
Due to his position, Nasrallah was sometimes known as Jawad al-Killidar, which roots from the Persian words, kileet and dar, which translates to key holder. This was a name often given to those that take on the role of tending to holy shrines. However, Nasrallahs descendants did not carry the name, and remained with Nasrallah.
With the help of the son of Sayyid Muhammad Mehdi al-Shahristani, he combined the mosque that headquartered the Sunni mufti of Karbala with the grand courtyard, forcing the garrison of Karbala, Amin Agha Turk, to relocate the mufti to the small courtyard also known as the Buyid graveyard.
In 1804, he supervised the expansion of the precinct of the grave, adding Ibrahim al-Mujab's grave and rawaq to the north west side of the precinct.
His son Ali al-Tawil, was appointed as saden, after his death.

Death

Nasrallah died on Saturday, January 2, 1808, and was buried in the Al Nasrallah graveyard in the Imam Husayn shrine.