Mashhad

Lore & Background

The name Mashhad comes from Arabic, meaning a mausoleum or 'place of martyrdom.' The older name was Sanabad. The ancient Parthian city of Patigrabanâ, mentioned in the Behistun inscription of Darius the Great, may have been located at Mashhad. In 808, the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid died and was buried under the palace of Humayd ibn Qahtaba in Sanabad. In 818, Ali al-Ridha was martyred and buried beside Harun's grave. During the Mongol invasions of 1220, many large cities in Khurasan were destroyed, but Mashhad remained relatively intact because of the cemetery of Ali al-Rezza and Harun al-Rashid, and survivors of the massacres migrated there. The traveller Ibn Battuta visited in 1333 and reported it was a large town with abundant fruit trees, streams, and mills, with a great dome surmounting the mausoleum. The dish 'sholeh Mashhadi' dates back to the Mongolian invasion era. In 1389, Tus was sacked by Miran Shah, and survivors settled in Mashhad, which then replaced Tus as the district capital. In 1418, Goharshad funded the construction of the Goharshad Mosque beside the shrine. Between 1736 and 1796, Mashhad became the capital of Iran under the Afsharid dynasty founded by Nader Shah, whose tomb is located in the city.

Reader's Guide

Mashhad's religious significance stems from the Imam Reza Shrine, which receives nearly 30 million pilgrims annually, making it the most visited site in Islam and one of the largest pilgrimage destinations in the world. The shrine is the world's largest mosque after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina. The city is also a leading center of Shia religious scholarship, home to numerous seminaries, libraries, museums, and institutions dedicated to Islamic learning. On 30 October 2009, Iran's then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Mashhad 'The spiritual capital of Iran.' The city has been named the Cultural Capital of the Islamic World by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Mashhad is also associated with the Persian poet Ferdowsi, author of the Shahnameh, who was born in Tus, and many institutions in Mashhad are named after him. In the modern era, it became the hometown of significant literary figures and artists such as the poet Mehdi Akhavan-Sales and the traditional Iranian singer Mohammad-Reza Shajarian. The economy of Mashhad has become reliant on pilgrimage, and the city has remained deeply conservative.

Did You Know?

• Mashhad was originally called Sanabad before the martyrdom of Imam Reza.
• The city became the capital of Iran between 1736 and 1796 under the Afsharid dynasty.
• The dish 'sholeh Mashhadi' dates back to the Mongolian invasion and is thought to be a Mongolian word.
• The Goharshad Mosque, built in 1418, still stands relatively intact today.
• The ancient Parthian city of Patigrabanâ, mentioned in the Behistun inscription of Darius the Great, may have been located at Mashhad.