Qualla: Tomb of Daniel: A Prophet Shared Between Faiths

Tomb of Daniel: A Prophet Shared Between Faiths: Introduction

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Adel Bazmeh, CC BY-SA 4.0. The argument over Daniel's bones lasted for generations. On one bank of the Choaspes River in Susa, the residents prospered. On the opposite bank, they did not. Both sides agreed on the cause: Daniel's grave was on the wealthy side, and the prophet's remains brought good fortune to whoever possessed them. The solution was to alternate -- the bier would rest one year on each bank. The arrangement held until the Seljuk sultan Sanjar visited the city and decided the back-and-forth was undignified. He ordered the coffin chained to the middle of the bridge, suspended over the water between the two communities, and built a chapel on the spot for Muslims and Jews together. The story, recorded by the twelfth-century traveler Benjamin of Tudela, captures everything about this place: the power attributed to the dead, the quarrels of the living, and the strange compromises that arise when multiple faiths share a single holy site.

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Image: Adel Bazmeh | CC BY-SA 4.0

Tomb of Daniel: A Prophet Shared Between Faiths: The Prophet in Persia

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Robert Wielgórski a.k.a. Barry Kent, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Book of Daniel places the prophet in Babylon during the captivity of the sixth century BC and mentions a vision he received at the palace of Susa. Where Daniel died, the text does not say. But Jewish and Muslim traditions converge on Susa as his burial place, and the tomb the...

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Image: Robert Wielgórski a.k.a. Barry Kent | CC BY-SA 3.0

Tomb of Daniel: A Prophet Shared Between Faiths: A Bridge Between Believers

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CeeGee, CC BY-SA 4.0. Benjamin of Tudela, a Jewish traveler from Navarre, visited Susa between 1160 and 1163 CE and recorded the most famous account of the tomb. He was shown the site at a synagogue facade, though he noted the tradition that Daniel's actual remains had been discovered around 640 CE. T...

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Image: CeeGee | CC BY-SA 4.0

Tomb of Daniel: A Prophet Shared Between Faiths: The Shrine That Endures

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit ninara, CC BY-SA 2.0. The current structure in Shush, Iran, is topped with a distinctive white cone that rises above the town's low skyline. Much of what stands today dates to renovations ordered in 1870 by the Shia scholar Sheikh Jafar Shooshtari, with the work carried out by Haj Mulla Hassan Memar. ...

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Image: ninara | CC BY-SA 2.0

Tomb of Daniel: A Prophet Shared Between Faiths: Susa's Sacred Geography

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bobyrr, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Tomb of Daniel sits within one of the most historically layered landscapes on Earth. Susa itself was continuously inhabited for over six thousand years, serving as the capital of Elam and a winter residence of the Achaemenid Persian kings. The Book of Esther is set here. Dari...

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Image: Bobyrr | CC BY-SA 4.0