Jannat al-Baqi — the Garden of Baqi — is the oldest Islamic cemetery in existence, lying immediately east of the Prophet's Mosque. Muslims have been buried here since the earliest years of Islam, and the list of those interred is remarkable: members of Muhammad's family including his wife Khadijah's grave in Mecca and his daughter Fatimah al-Zahra here, many of his companions, and generations of Islamic scholars who lived and taught in Medina.
Today the cemetery is a vast, austere expanse of plain stone markers. The elaborate tombs that generations of pilgrims had visited and prayed at were demolished in the twentieth century, leaving a deliberately unadorned landscape. Despite this austerity, the cemetery is one of the most visited spots in Medina — pilgrims walk through in silence, offering prayers for the dead, and the sheer density of history in one place is quietly overwhelming.