Inside the Umayyad Mosque it is alleged that the relic had been there since the time of its first builder, al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik. But would any rational person accept this? Certainly not—no one but those people make such a claim. We categorically reject their view and affirm that neither any Companion nor any Successor ever saw an exposed grave in the Umayyad Mosque or anywhere else. At most, some weak reports from Zayd ibn Waqid mention that, during renovation work, a grotto was discovered containing a chest, and inside the chest a safat (a receptacle resembling a wicker basket). In the safat lay the head of Yahya ibn Zakariya—peace be upon them both—with an inscription: “This is the head of Yahya, peace be upon him.” Al-Walid ordered that it be put back in its place and said, “Make the column above it different from the others.” Accordingly, they replaced the original column with a cast one marking the location of the head. The report is transmitted by Abu-l-Hasan al-Rub‘i in Fada’il al-Sham (p. 33) and, through his chain, by Ibn Asakir in his Tarikh (vol. 2, fol. 1, pp. 9–10). The isnad is extremely weak, for it contains Ibrahim ibn Hisham al-Ghassani, whom Abu Hatim and Abu Zur‘a branded a liar, and al-Dhahabi deemed “abandoned.” Even so, we are certain that no trace of a grave existed in the mosque until late in the second century. Al-Rub‘i and Ibn Asakir report that al-Walid ibn Muslim was asked, “Where do you think the head of Yahya ibn Zakariya is?” He replied, “I have been told it is over there,” pointing to the fourth sunken column from the eastern corner. This shows that no grave was present in the time of al-Walid ibn Muslim, who died in 194/809. Whether that head is truly the head of Yahya—peace be upon him—cannot be proven. Hence historians have disagreed markedly, and the majority maintain that the head of Yahya—peace be upon him—is buried in the mosque of Aleppo, not in the mosque of Damascus, as our shaykh has demonstrated.