Part-1 History of shrine of Hazrat Imam Reza (AS) روضہ حضرت امام رضا علیہ السلام کی تاریخ

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Part-1

History of shrine of Hazrat Imam Reza (AS).

Asslamoalaikum sisters brothers friends and elders We are describing in this islamic informative about holiest sties video provides a comprehensive overview of the history of the shrine of Imam Reza, tracing its origins and development over the centuries. Viewers will gain insight into the significance of this sacred site within the context of Islamic history and its enduring importance to followers of the faith.

If Qom is the center of Shi’i jurisprudence and clerical authority in Iran, Mashhad serves as the nation’s spiritual capital. The Imam Reza Shrine complex, also known as the Haram, is located at the heart of the city, and sprung up after the Muslim leader’s passing. As the second-largest city in Iran today with over three million inhabitants, Mashhad owes much of its significance to the Imam Reza shrine, which has been built and rebuilt numerous times over the course of history. This article will look at how different governments claiming suzerainty over Mashhad left their mark on the architecture and urban space.

Like the city itself, the shrine complex grew gradually over time as political elites tried to establish their legitimacy. Rulers strove not only to appease the local religious establishment by funding elaborate building projects around the site, but also hoped to create physical testaments to their political authority. Due to the inherent political nature of these structures (as well as the value of many of materials used in construction), the site was destroyed and subsequently rebuilt as it changed hands from dynasty to dynasty.

Because of Mashhad’s status as a holy city, construction is highly ideologically charged. The sacred here becomes spatial, and the spiritual becomes interpreted and articulated through the physical. These building projects offer indications of the complex, intertwined histories of power and religion in Iran. They also reveal how political and religious actors have used the physical space of the holy city as a site on which to articulate and contest ideological projects, a process that continues until the present day.

Mashhad is the burial site of Ali Ibn Musa al-Ridha, the eighth imam (spiritual leader) in the Twelver Shi’i tradition, and is better known to Persian speakers as “Imam Reza.” Born in 765 AD in Medina, Imam Reza traveled to and spent the later years of his life in Khorasan, a historical region that spans what is today northeastern Iran, Western Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan. Although the exact date of his passing is debated, Shi’i sources agree that in 818 AD, Harun al-Rashid’s son and successor Al-Ma’mun murdered Imam Reza with poisoned grapes in the city of Tus. Buried next to Harun al-Rashid, Imam Reza’s resting place became known as “Mashhad” or “Mashad al-Ridha” meaning “[al-Ridha’s] place of martyrdom,” making Imam Reza the only Shi’i imam to be killed and buried inside Iran’s modern borders.

Shortly after Imam Reza’s death, Muslims of various backgrounds began visiting Mashhad as a place of pilgrimage, and the city was quickly established as a spiritual center. Within decades of his passing, a dome was built over the grave to serve as a visual marker for the shrine. Not all those who traveled to Mashhad left after their pilgrimage, and gradually the city became a center of commerce and travel in the region.

From the Ghaznavids (977–1186 CE) to the Ilkhanids (1260–1335 CE), the Imam Reza Shrine followed a cycle of expansion, destruction, reconstruction, and renovation. It was not until the Timurid period (1370–1507 CE) that the shrine complex and the city experience a substantial and sustainable growth.

Following the death of Timur in 1405 CE, the Iranian Plateau was divided amongst his descendants. The de facto political fragmentation of the empire led to rivalries amongst relatives, which fostered a culture of patronage in the arts as the ruling elite tried to outdo one another. Some of the most active patrons of this period were from the court of Shahrukh (1377–1447 CE), based in Herat. The Sultan’s wife, Gohar Shad (d. 1457), was responsible for commissioning the eponymous mosque that is considered the architectural jewel of the shrine complex. Built near the shrine by the renowned court architect Qavam al-Din Shirazi in 1416, the mosque served as a place of congregation for the ulema and other city residents.

This program of construction and renovation continued during the latter years of the Timurid period. However, the building projects were no longer instigated solely by members of the royal family, but also increasingly powerful advisors and officials. For example, during the reign of Sultan Husayn Bayqara (1470-1506 CE), Amir Ali Shir Nava’i – the famous politician and celebrated poet- built hundreds of religious and academic structures. Nava’i was responsible for creating the oldest open space in the Shrine complex (called the Old Courtyard) as well as its highly ornate gates.

Upon coming to power in 1501, the Safavids declared Iran a Shi’i state. Although the Safavids were not the first Shi’is to rule Persia, they were the first dynasty to promote Twelver Shi’ism as the official state religion, beginning a process of proselytization with the objective of spreading the faith among their subjects. The Safavid conversion of Persia to a Shi’i empire beginning in the 16th century made Imam Reza’s Haram an extremely significant site for articulating their ruling ideology.

Early Safavid rulers were consumed with establishing their legitimacy and maintaining control of the empire, but by the end of the sixteenth century, changes to the visual landscape of Shi’ism in Iran started appearing as well. Shah Abbas I was the first Safavid ruler to devote resources for renovations to the shrine complex after making the pilgrimage from his capital of Isfahan to Mashhad on foot in 1597. Through a series of renovations starting in 1601, he was responsible for doubling the size of the Old Courtyard and adding two more ivans; his patronage is most visible on the Ivan-e Sa’at, where he installed the large clock tower above the balcony and employed master calligraphers to decorate the walls of the gate.

So friends today we are stoping to describe history of Shrine Imam Reza (AS) here and remaining history will be described in second part InshaAllah tomorow same time. Allah Hafiz.

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