When Caliph Walid discovered St. John's relics

There exists substantial controversy as to when and how Damascus' chief Byzantine church, erected within the walls of the ancient Roman temenos, was dedicated to St.. John the Baptist. Indeed, it is not at all certain that it had been designated as such prior to the sixth century of the Common Era. Adding to the confusion are legions of traditions placing the discovery of "St. John's head"  in numerous places all over the Near East as far back as 200 years prior to the advent of Islam. 

Along comes the twelfth century Damascene historian ibn Asakir, author of a voluminous -and largely biographical- dictionary,  to provide us with what ought to be the earliest and most detailed narrative concerning the manner according to which the precious relics where discovered during the first decade of the 8th century. 

As the demolition of the church and/or remnants of the temenos proceeded, Caliph al-Walid I was alerted by his workmen who "incidentally' spotted a cavity under the site of the future mosque. The Caliph entered the cavern -his descent hastily lit by candles- to come upon a box enclosing a basket containing the head of Prophet Yahya son of Zechariah (the Muslim equivalent of St. John the Baptist). Promptly, al-Walid had the head reburied and incorporated within the Mosque marking the spot with a column as an added precaution. 

Whatever the authenticity of the discovery in question, its political expediency is unlikely to have eluded  the shrewd Caliph who had thus found a convenient mean to ensure a smooth transition to Muslim tradition of a cherished Christian belief. 

A cenotaph was to eventually replace the column as one of the mosque's chief objects of veneration. It unfortunately was wiped out of existence during the disastrous 1893 fire to be replaced by a late Ottoman aedicule (attached photo).  

Finbarr Barry Flood. The Great Mosque of Damascus: Studies in the Makings of an Umayyad Visual Culture. Brill 2001.

Nancy Khalek. Damascus after the Muslim Conquest: Text and Image in Early Islam.  Oxford University Press 2011. 

Nikita Elisséeff. La Description de Damas d'Ibn 'Asakir. Institut Français de Damas, 1959.

Ross Burns. Damascus: A History. Routledge 2005. 

Dorothée Sack. Damaskus. Entwicklung und Struktur einer orientalisch-islamischen Stadt. von Zabern, Mainz 1989.