A group of Sunni scholars from Nepal attended meeting on late Imam Khomeini’s (RA) views on Muslim women held at the holy shrine of Hazrat Masumah (AS) in the Iranian city of Qom on Tuesday.
The meeting by a delegation of religious and cultural figures’ from Nepal was held on threshold of the demise anniversary of the late founder of Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini to attend the ceremony held for the occasion.
“Imam Khomeini (RA), reviver of Muslim women’s identity” is the title of meeting attended by Nepalese scholars held at the holy shrine of Hazrat Masumah (AS) and library of Ayatollah Mar’ashi Najafi in the Iranian city of Qom on Tuesday.
Prominent figures like Mufti Mohammad Abubakr Seddiqi Qassemi, director of Dar-ul-Ifta and Mohammad Mansour prayer leader of Nepalese capital, Qari Mohammad Salman Ghaffari, Qur’anic activist participated in the meeting held in Qom on Tuesday.
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HUjjat-ul-Islam Mojtaba Fazel highlighted the role of Qur’an in promoting the affairs of Muslims and said.” The special view of Muslims towards Qur’an has turned the book into a priceless axis for the Islamic nation.
He referred to the commonalities of Islamic denominations and stressed,” These shared assets including Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), holy Qur’an and the Hadith of Thaqalayn can lead to promotion of religious teachings.
The Nepalese clerics also visited the library of Ayatollah Mara’shi Najafi, a unique library in Iran and the third biggest of its kind in the world.
THE HOLY SHRINE:
The Shrine of Fatima Masumah is located in Qom, which is considered by Shia Muslims to be the second most sacred city in Iran after Mashhad. Fatima Masumah was the sister of the eighth Imam Reza and the daughter of the seventh Imam Musa al-Kadhim. In Shia Islam, women are often revered as saints if they are close relatives to one of the Twelve Imams. Fatima Masumah is therefore honoured as a saint, and her shrine in Qom is considered one of the most significant Shi’i shrines in Iran. Every year, thousands of Shi’i Muslims travel to Qom to honour Fatima Masumah and ask her for blessings. Also buried within the shrine are three daughters of the ninth Twelver Shī‘ah Imām Muhammad al-Taqī.
The mosque consists of a burial chamber, three courtyards and three large prayer halls, totalling an area of 38,000 m2 (410,000 sq ft). The three prayer halls are named: Tabātabā’ī, Bālā Sar, and A‘dham.
Though Shi’i theology formally states that the relatives of the Imams, or imamzadehs, hold a lower status than the Imams, popular Shi’ism still strongly venerates imamzadehs. In Iran, there are many more burial places of the Imams’ relatives than there are for the Imams themselves. Imamzadehs are considered to be close to God and religiously pious because of their close relation to Imams. Shi’is commonly travel on pilgrimages to shrines of imamzadehs, such as the Shrine of Fatima Masumah , the sister of the 8th Imam ‘Ali al-Rida, in Qom, Iran. Men and women seek cures to ailments, solutions to problems, and forgiveness of sins at these sites. Many hadiths, or teachings, are recorded from Shi’i Imams praising the veneration of Fatima Masumah, and proclaiming that those who make a pilgrimage to her Shrine will “certainly be admitted to heaven.”
Fatima Masumah’s Shrine in Qom is crowded every day of the year with Shi’i men, women, and children from all around the world. Some stay for hours or days praying at the mosque and circumambulating her tomb. The economy of Qom has become reliant on this pilgrimage for the tourism it brings. In turn, Qom has remained conservative and traditional to maintain a pious environment for pilgrims. Many miracles have been recorded as taking place at this shrine, and they are documented in a special office within the shrine complex. Some are published in the shrines monthly newspaper, the Payam-e Astan. Pilgrims at the Shrine of Fatima Masumah follow rituals that have been passed down for centuries. Imam Ali al-Rida, Fatima Masumah’s brother, outlined these ritual acts as he described the way he visited her Shrine. The prayer Imam al-Rida dictated to his sister continues to be part of the pilgrimage. Since the Safavid period, additional rituals have been added that are now typical for many Shi’i pilgrimages including ritual washing beforehand, dressing in perfumed clothing, and entering the site with one’s right foot.
Since the beginning of Qom’s history in the 7th century, the city has been associated with Shi’ism and set apart from the Sunni caliphate. Many Shi’i hadiths referred to Qom as a “place of refuge for believers,” calling it a deeply religious place. After Fatima Masumah’s death in Qom and the construction of her Shrine, scholars began to gather in Qom and the city gained its reputation for religious learning. Today, Qom is still noted for its religious seminaries and organizations.
Fatima Masumah died in Qom in 201 A.H. as she travelled to join her brother, Imam Ali al-Rida in Khorasan. The caravan she travelled in was attacked in Saveh by enemies to the Shi’i’s, and 23 of Fatima Masumah’s family and friends were killed (Jaffer). Fatima Masumah was then poisoned by a woman from the enemies, fell ill, and asked to be taken to Qom, where she died. Fatima Masumah’s host in Qom buried her in his plot of land.
The style of Fatima Masumah’s Shrine has developed over many centuries. At first, her tomb was covered with a bamboo canopy. Fifty years later, this was replaced by a more durable domed building, at the request of the daughter of Imam Muhammad at-Taqī, Sayyida Zaynab. The family of Sayyida Zainab later added a further two domes to the Shrine. These architectural projects marked the beginning of female patronage of the tomb of Fatima Masumah.
In 1519, Tajlu Khanum, the wife of Shah Isma’il I, led a project to improve the drainage around the Shrine, embellish the Shrine with an iwan and two minarets, and reconstruct the tomb chamber as a domed octagon. During the Safavid dynasty, the women of this family were very active in embellishing the Shrine of Fatima Masumah. In times of war, Safavid royal women found refuge in Qom and likely compared their situation to that of Fatima Masumah. These women donated beautiful fabrics and other items to the Shrine. Shah Abbas I of the Safavids did not patronize the Shrine of Fatima Masumahas much as he did other shrines of Imams, but he did offer books to the Shrine’s seminary library. Over the years, many Safavids of royal birth were buried close to the Shrine of Fatima Masumah.
From 1795-1796, Fath-Ali Shah Qajar converted two Safavid Sahn or courtyards into one large courtyard and, in 1803, fixed the golden dome. In 1883, Amin al-Sultan added the new sahn e-jadid or “New Court” to the Shrine complex.
