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Mashhad - History

Mashhad - History: Encyclopedia II - Mashhad - History

The city was founded around 823 CE, and its name derives from mashhad-e-reza, "place of martyrdom". It is a reference to the death of Imam Reza, the Eighth Imam of Shi'ite Islam, who is believed by members of the Shi'ia sect to have been poisoned there upon orders of Caliph Al Ma'mun. Before his death the place was a small village by the name of Sanabad. A shrine was built there to commemorate the Imam, and gradually the town grew around it. Among the first major buildings was a mausoleum built by Sultan Mahmood Ghaznavi. Today the ho ...

Mashhad: Encyclopedia II - Mashhad - History

Mashhad - History

The city was founded around 823 CE, and its name derives from mashhad-e-reza, "place of martyrdom". It is a reference to the death of Imam Reza, the Eighth Imam of Shi'ite Islam, who is believed by members of the Shi'ia sect to have been poisoned there upon orders of Caliph Al Ma'mun. Before his death the place was a small village by the name of Sanabad. A shrine was built there to commemorate the Imam, and gradually the town grew around it. Among the first major buildings was a mausoleum built by Sultan Mahmood Ghaznavi. Today the holy shrine and its museum hold one of the most extensive cultural and artistic treasuries of Iran, in particular manuscript books and paintings. Several important theological schools are associated with the shrine of the Eighth Imam.

As a city of great religious significance, it is also a place of pilgrimage. It is said that the rich go to Mecca but the poor journey to Mashhad. Thus, even as those who complete the pilgrimage to Mecca receive the title of Haji, those who make the pilgrimage to Mashhad – and especially to the Imam Reza shrine – are known as Mashtee, a term employed also of its inhabitants. It is thought that over 12 million Muslims a year make the pilgrimage to Mashhad.

Besides its religious significance, Mashhad has played an important political role as well. It saw its greatest glory under Nadir Shah, ruler of Iran from 1736 to 1747 and great benefactor of the Imam Reza shrine, who made the city his capital.

Though primarily a Muslim city, Mashhad has harbored a number of religious minorities over the centuries. Among these were the Jews, who were forcibly converted in 1839. After their "conversion" they were known as "Jadid al-Islam," or "New of Islam." However, in truth they lived a double life: outwardly, they conformed to Islamic ways, but inwardly they preserved a Jewish identity and Jewish traditions.

In 1912, the sanctuary of the Imam Reza was bombed by the Russian forces, causing widespread and persisting resentment in the Shiite Muslim world.