It is located in Sheikh Ma'ruf Cemetery in the Karkh side of Baghdad, and the site was built at the patronage of Zumurrud Khatun and her son.

By most accounts, Zumurrud Khatun is identified as a formerly-enslaved Turkic woman who became a prominent noblewoman during the Abbasid Caliphate.

Sources state that this type of mosque and mausoleum might have originated in Iraq although there are similar structures in locations around regions of Iran.

[8] The Mausoleum's dome is made out of muqarnas, (also known as stalactite or honeycomb vaulting) one of the most original inventions of Islamic architecture which can appear in a variety of materials such as; stucco, brick, stone, and wood.

Muqarnas can be applied in multiple architectural forms including; cornices, corbelled transitions, capitals, vaults, and domes, as with the Zumurrud Khatun Mosque.

"[11] Not only does the dome consist of an octagonal base it also includes geometric decorations that support the conical brick vault.

[10] Each of the cells embodies a tiny opening covered by thick glass, giving the viewer an obscured view.

[8] The history of this misunderstanding has been explored by Vincenzo Strika, who believes it was created by earlier scholars but was first challenged by Guy Le Strange and later solved by Mustafa Jawād.

In the past, researchers have considered if the two women were, in reality, a single person who had been confused as being two separate people, but since it has been determined that Sitta Zubayda was, in fact, a different noblewoman.