182-529: Mashhad ( Persian : مشهد ; [mæʃˈhæd] ) is the second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about 900 kilometres (560 miles) from Tehran . In the Central District of Mashhad County , it serves as the capital of Razavi Khorasan province, the county, and the district. It has a population of about 3,400,000 (2016 census), which includes
364-655: A Dari dialect. In the 19th century, under the Qajar dynasty , the dialect that is spoken in Tehran rose to prominence. There was still substantial Arabic vocabulary, but many of these words have been integrated into Persian phonology and grammar. In addition, under the Qajar rule, numerous Russian , French , and English terms entered the Persian language, especially vocabulary related to technology. The first official attentions to
546-540: A civil war ensued in which al-Amin was killed and Baghdad was occupied by al-Mamun's general, who nevertheless remained in Marv in Kuharasan , apparently determined to make there his new capital. Al-Rida, who, according to a tradition narrated by Ibn Babawayh and al-Tabarsi , had informed one of his companions that Ma'mun would kill Amin, kept himself away from the conflicts between the two. The period of Amin's caliphate
728-821: A considerable number of Islamic schools (madrasas, the majority of them, however, dating from the later Safavid period. Mashhad Hawza (Persian: حوزه علمیه مشهد) is one of the largest seminaries of traditional Islamic school of higher learning in Mashhad, which was headed by Abbas Vaez-Tabasi (who was Chairman of the Astan Quds Razavi board from 1979) after the revolution, and in which Iranian politician and clerics such as Ali Khamenei , Ahmad Alamolhoda , Abolghasem Khazali , Mohammad Reyshahri , Morteza Motahhari , Abbas Vaez-Tabasi , and Madmoud Halabi (the founder of Hojjatieh and Mohammad Hadi Abd-e Khodaee learned Islamic studies). The number of seminary schools in Mashhad
910-418: A dictionary called Words of Scientific Association ( لغت انجمن علمی ), which was completed in the future and renamed Katouzian Dictionary ( فرهنگ کاتوزیان ). The first academy for the Persian language was founded on 20 May 1935, under the name Academy of Iran . It was established by the initiative of Reza Shah Pahlavi , and mainly by Hekmat e Shirazi and Mohammad Ali Foroughi , all prominent names in
1092-479: A distinct Arabian culture, cuisine and religious practices. There are also over 20 million pilgrims who visit the city every year. 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 . The second-largest holy city in
1274-455: A eunuch to accompany al-Rida on this trip. In the same year, al-Rida might have also made the pilgrimage to Mecca with his five-year-old son Moḥammad al-Jawad . After some initial resistance, al-Rida set out for Marv in 816. According to a narration that some ancient sources have confirmed, Ma'mun had ordered that the Imam not be taken via Kufa and Qum , as he was worried that the feelings of
1456-587: A final rupture between Shi'ite clergy and the Shah. According to some Mashhadi historians, the Goharshad Mosque uprising, which took place in 1935, is an uprising against Reza Shah's decree banning all veils (headscarf and chador) on 8 January 1936. Mashhad experienced population growth after the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in 1941 because of relative insecurity in rural areas, the 1948 drought, and
1638-520: A group of Alids to examine the body of al-Rida and testify that he had died of natural causes. At the funeral, al-Mamun recited the last prayers himself. The reports note his display of grief during the funeral. Madelung does not view these emotions as necessarily insincere, noting that on other occasions in the reign of al-Mamun, cold political calculation appears to have outweighed the personal sentiments and ideals. A year later, in Safar 204 (August 819),
1820-480: A hadith for them that has become known as the Hadith of Golden Chain . In Marv, al-Mamun first offered al-Rida the caliphate, though this was turned down by the latter. According to Madelung, al-Rida resisted al-Mamun's proposals for about two months until he reluctantly consented to an appointment as heir to the caliphate. The sources seem to agree that al-Rida was reluctant to accept this nomination, ceding only to
2002-537: A history of over six centuries. There are some six million historical documents in the foundation's central library. A museum is also home to over 70,000 rare manuscripts from various historical eras. The Astan Quds Razavi Central Museum , which is part of the Astan-e Quds Razavi Complex, contains Islamic art and historical artifacts. In 1976, a new edifice was designed and constructed by the well-known Iranian architect Dariush Borbor to house
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#17327904641822184-516: A joint-stock in the field of restaurants, tourism and construction, with a football club ( Padideh F.C. ; formerly named Azadegan League club Mes Sarcheshmeh). In January 2015, the company was accused of a "fraud" worth $ 34.3 billion, which is one eighth of Iran budget. Several credit institutions have been established in Mashhad, including Samenolhojaj ( مؤسسه مالی و اعتباری ثامن الحجج ), Samenola'emmeh ( مؤسسه اعتباری ثامن ) and Melal (formerly Askariye, مؤسسه اعتباری عسکریه ). The depositors of
2366-505: A language name is first attested in English in the mid-16th century. Farsi , which is the Persian word for the Persian language, has also been used widely in English in recent decades, more often to refer to Iran's standard Persian. However, the name Persian is still more widely used. The Academy of Persian Language and Literature has maintained that the endonym Farsi is to be avoided in foreign languages, and that Persian
2548-417: A literary language considerably different from the spoken Persian of the time. This became the basis of what is now known as "Contemporary Standard Persian". There are three standard varieties of modern Persian: All these three varieties are based on the classic Persian literature and its literary tradition. There are also several local dialects from Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan which slightly differ from
2730-467: A means of discrediting the Shia doctrine of Imamate, and Tabatabai writes that al-Mamun might have also hoped to undermine the position of al-Rida as a Shia religious leader by engaging him in politics. Al-Rida's rejection of al-Mamun's initial offer for replacing him as the caliph has been used to argue that al-Rida's ultimate aim was not temporal and political power. Rather, Mavani suggests that such power
2912-399: A meeting with his uncle, Muhammad ibn Ja'far , the Imam warned him against opposing the way of his father and brother ( Ja'far al-Sadiq and Musa al-Kazim ) and warned him that his rebellion would be unsuccessful. The Imam even quarreled with his brother, Zayd ibn Musa al-Kazim , and left him. Nevertheless, al-Rida called the current situation in his time as the rule of a false government and
3094-547: A merit-based caliphate, though he made no mention of rules governing the succession to al-Rida during the ceremony. It has been suggested that al-Mamun might have wanted to heal the Sunni-Shia division, while Lapidus and others hold that al-Mamun wanted to expand his authority by adopting the Shia views about the divine authority of religious leaders, alongside his later religious inquisition ( mihna ). Bayhom-Daou considers it likely that al-Mamun saw this appointment as
3276-536: A period of several centuries, Ottoman Turkish (which was highly Persianised itself) had developed toward a fully accepted language of literature, and which was even able to lexically satisfy the demands of a scientific presentation. However, the number of Persian and Arabic loanwords contained in those works increased at times up to 88%. In the Ottoman Empire, Persian was used at the royal court, for diplomacy, poetry, historiographical works, literary works, and
3458-560: A return to the Quran and the Sunna . Ibrahim, a half-brother of al-Mamun's father, is said to have been a weak statesman and a mere figurehead, whose rule was largely confined to Baghdad. There were also military engagements in Baghdad, Kufa, and Wasit between al-Mamun's forces and the supporters of Ibrahim who were themselves much harassed by financial and logistical difficulties. Al-Rida
3640-493: A ruined bathhouse and a barren qanat , but when the Imam arrived, the water in that qanat flowed again, and the people rebuilt that bathhouse, and it was named after the Imam, and people sought blessings from that tree and this bathhouse. As related by Ibn Babuwayh, at the beginning of al-Rida's presence in Khorasan, it did not rain much. Al-Mamun asked al-Rida to pray for rain. He accepted and appointed Monday for this work. In
3822-425: A shroud, and some coins, to make rings for his daughters. As Reyyan was leaving, however, al-Rida called to him, "Do you not want one of my shirts to keep as your shroud? And would you not like some pieces of money for rings for your daughters?" Reyyan left after al-Rida fulfilled his wishes. The famous nickname of the eighth Imam is Reza . According to al-Tabari , when Ma'mun chose him as heir apparent, he gave him
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#17327904641824004-599: A speaker of Persian. Persian is a member of the Western Iranian group of the Iranian languages , which make up a branch of the Indo-European languages in their Indo-Iranian subdivision . The Western Iranian languages themselves are divided into two subgroups: Southwestern Iranian languages, of which Persian is the most widely spoken, and Northwestern Iranian languages, of which Kurdish and Balochi are
4186-404: A term employed also of its inhabitants. As an important problem, the duration when new passengers stay in Mashhad has been considerably reduced to 2 days nowadays and they prefer to finish their trip immediately after doing pilgrimage and shopping in the markets. There are about 3000–5000 unauthorized residential units in Mashhad, which, as a unique statistic worldwide, has caused various problems in
4368-399: A thoughtful and likable man. He was of medium height, according to Ibn Sabbagh, and his skin color was dark or wheatish. He ate slowly and little and used to wear cheap and rough clothes, but when he met people, he wore luxurious clothes. When he laughed, he did not giggle and smiled. He used to sit and eat with his slaves. He did not make his guests to work for him and tried to respect them in
4550-463: Is Persian with a variating Mashhadi accent, which can at times, prove itself as a sort of dialect. The Mashhadi Persian dialect is somewhat different from the standard Persian dialect in some of its tones and stresses. Long a center of secular and religious learning, Mashhad has been a center for the Islamic arts and sciences, as well as piety and pilgrimage. Mashhad was an educational centre, with
4732-424: Is Iran's second largest automobile production hub. The city's economy is based mainly on dry fruits, salted nuts, saffron, Iranian sweets like gaz and sohaan, precious stones like agates, turquoise, intricately designed silver jewelry studded with rubies and emeralds, eighteen carat gold jewelry, perfumes, religious souvenirs, trench coats, scarves, termeh, carpets, and rugs. According to the writings and documents,
4914-615: Is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages . Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and used officially within Iran , Afghanistan , and Tajikistan in three mutually intelligible standard varieties , respectively Iranian Persian (officially known as Persian ), Dari Persian (officially known as Dari since 1964), and Tajiki Persian (officially known as Tajik since 1999). It
5096-467: Is a comprehensive collection that includes the religious debates, sayings, biographical details, and even the miracles which have occurred at his tomb. Al-Mamun showed interest in theological questions and organized debates between the scholars of different sects and religions in which al-Rida participated. One of these debates was about Divine Unity, led by Sulaiman al-Mervi, a scholar from Khorasan . Another discussion with Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-Jahm
5278-664: Is a continuation of Middle Persian , an official language of the Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE), itself a continuation of Old Persian , which was used in the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE). It originated in the region of Fars ( Persia ) in southwestern Iran. Its grammar is similar to that of many European languages. Throughout history, Persian was considered prestigious by various empires centered in West Asia , Central Asia , and South Asia . Old Persian
5460-628: Is a direct descendant of Middle and Old Persian. Gernot Windfuhr considers new Persian as an evolution of the Old Persian language and the Middle Persian language but also states that none of the known Middle Persian dialects is the direct predecessor of Modern Persian. Ludwig Paul states: "The language of the Shahnameh should be seen as one instance of continuous historical development from Middle to New Persian." The known history of
5642-495: Is also part of the chain of mystical authority in Sunni Sufi orders. He was known for his piety and learning, and a number of works are attributed to him, including Al-Risala al-Dhahabia , Sahifa al-Rida , and Fiqh al-Rida . Uyun al-Akhbar al-Rida by Ibn Babawayh is a comprehensive collection that includes his religious debates and sayings, biographical details, and even the miracles which have occurred at his tomb. He
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5824-799: Is also spoken natively in the Tajik variety by a significant population within Uzbekistan , as well as within other regions with a Persianate history in the cultural sphere of Greater Iran . It is written officially within Iran and Afghanistan in the Persian alphabet , a derivative of the Arabic script , and within Tajikistan in the Tajik alphabet , a derivative of the Cyrillic script . Modern Persian
6006-675: Is attested in Old Persian cuneiform on inscriptions from between the 6th and 4th century BC. Middle Persian is attested in Aramaic -derived scripts ( Pahlavi and Manichaean ) on inscriptions and in Zoroastrian and Manichaean scriptures from between the third to the tenth centuries (see Middle Persian literature ). New Persian literature was first recorded in the ninth century, after the Muslim conquest of Persia , since then adopting
6188-699: Is buried in Mashad , Iran , site of a large shrine . Al-Rida was contemporary with the Abbasid caliphs Harun al-Rashid ( r. 786–809 ) and his sons, al-Amin ( r. 809–813 ) and al-Ma'mun ( r. 813–833 ). In a sudden departure from the established anti-Shia policy of the Abbasids, possibly to mitigate the frequent Shia revolts, al-Mamun invited al-Rida to Marv in Khorasan , his de facto capital, and designated him as heir apparent, despite
6370-425: Is conventionally divided into three stages: Early New Persian remains largely intelligible to speakers of Contemporary Persian, as the morphology and, to a lesser extent, the lexicon of the language have remained relatively stable. New Persian texts written in the Arabic script first appear in the 9th-century. The language is a direct descendant of Middle Persian, the official, religious, and literary language of
6552-512: Is located at 36.20º North latitude and 59.35º East longitude, in the valley of the Kashafrud River near Turkmenistan , between the two mountain ranges of Binalood and Hezar Masjed Mountains . The city benefits from the proximity of the mountains, having cool winters, pleasant springs, and mild summers. It is only about 250 km (160 mi) from Ashgabat , Turkmenistan. The city is the administrative center of Mashhad County (or
6734-460: Is not actually attested until 600 years later when it appears in the Sassanid era (224–651 AD) inscriptions, so any form of the language before this date cannot be described with any degree of certainty. Moreover, as a literary language, Middle Persian is not attested until much later, in the 6th or 7th century. From the 8th century onward, Middle Persian gradually began yielding to New Persian, with
6916-440: Is now thirty nine and there are an estimated 2,300 seminarians in the city. The Ferdowsi University of Mashhad , named after the great Iranian poet, is located here and is regarded as the third institution in attracting foreign students, mainly from Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Central Asian republics. The Madrassa of Ayatollah Al-Khoei , originally built in the seventeenth century and recently replaced with modern facilities,
7098-475: Is one of Afghanistan's two official languages, together with Pashto . The term Dari , meaning "of the court", originally referred to the variety of Persian used in the court of the Sasanian Empire in capital Ctesiphon , which was spread to the northeast of the empire and gradually replaced the former Iranian dialects of Parthia ( Parthian ). Tajik Persian ( форси́и тоҷикӣ́ , forsi-i tojikī ),
7280-585: Is one of the earliest attested Indo-European languages. According to certain historical assumptions about the early history and origin of ancient Persians in Southwestern Iran (where Achaemenids hailed from), Old Persian was originally spoken by a tribe called Parsuwash , who arrived in the Iranian Plateau early in the 1st millennium BCE and finally migrated down into the area of present-day Fārs province. Their language, Old Persian, became
7462-512: Is regarded as a model of asceticism, and the chains of authority in Shia Sufi orders progress through al-Rida, followed by al-Karkhi. One such instance is the Ni'mat Allahi order. Al-Risala al-Dhahabia ( lit. ' the golden treatise ' ) is a treatise on medical cures and the maintenance of good health which was reputedly commissioned by al-Mamun, who requested it in gold ink, hence
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7644-539: Is said to be the time of peace for al-Rida, during which he found the opportunity to fulfill his mission of spreading the Islamic teachings. Al-Mamun claimed for himself the title of Imam al-Huda ( lit. ' rightly-guided leader ' ), possibly to imply that he was best qualified for the caliphate. Notably, he faced costly revolts in Kufa and Arabia by Alids and Zaydis , who intensified their campaign against
7826-495: Is the appropriate designation of the language in English, as it has the longer tradition in western languages and better expresses the role of the language as a mark of cultural and national continuity. Iranian historian and linguist Ehsan Yarshater , founder of the Encyclopædia Iranica and Columbia University 's Center for Iranian Studies, mentions the same concern in an academic journal on Iranology , rejecting
8008-561: Is the city's foremost traditional centre for religious learning. The Razavi University of Islamic Sciences, founded in 1984, stands at the centre of town, within the shrine complex. The prestige of traditional religious education at Mashhad attracts students, known as Talabeh , or "Mollah" internationally. Mashhad is also home to one of the oldest libraries of the Middle-East called the Central Library of Astan Quds Razavi with
8190-503: Is thought to be cooked with any food available (the main ingredients are meat, grains and abundant spices) and be a Mongolian word. It seems that the importance of Sanabad-Mashhad continually increased with the growing fame of its sanctuary and the decline of Tus, which received its death-blow in 1389 from Miran Shah , a son of Timur . When the Mongol noble who governed the place rebelled and attempted to make himself independent, Miran Shah
8372-491: The Encyclopædia Iranica notes that the Iranian, Afghan, and Tajiki varieties comprise distinct branches of the Persian language, and within each branch a wide variety of local dialects exist. The following are some languages closely related to Persian, or in some cases are considered dialects: More distantly related branches of the Iranian language family include Kurdish and Balochi . The Glottolog database proposes
8554-506: The Kalila wa Dimna . The language spread geographically from the 11th century on and was the medium through which, among others, Central Asian Turks became familiar with Islam and urban culture. New Persian was widely used as a trans-regional lingua franca , a task aided due to its relatively simple morphology, and this situation persisted until at least the 19th century. In the late Middle Ages, new Islamic literary languages were created on
8736-625: The Shahrestan of Mashhad) as well as the somewhat smaller district ( Bakhsh ) of Mashhad. The city itself, excluding parts of the surrounding Bakhsh and Shahrestan , is divided into 13 smaller administrative units, with a total population of more than 3 million. Mashhad features a cold semi-arid climate ( Köppen BSk ; Trewartha : BShk ) with very hot summers, cold winters and Mediterranean -like dry summer precipitation pattern. The city only sees about 250 millimetres (9.8 inches) of precipitation per year, some of which occasionally falls in
8918-507: The Arab traveller Ibn Battuta visited the town in 1333, he reported that it was a large town with abundant fruit trees, streams and mills. A great dome of elegant construction surmounts the noble mausoleum, the walls being decorated with colored tiles. The most well-known dish cooked in Mashhad, "sholeh Mashhadi" (شله مشهدی) or "Sholeh", dates back to the era of the Mongolian invasion when it
9100-575: The Basij organization) was founded in 1934; the sugar factory of Abkuh in 1935; and the Mashhad University of Medical Sciences in 1939. The city's first power station was installed in 1936, and in 1939, the first urban transport service began with two buses. In this year the first population census was performed, with a result of 76,471 inhabitants. In 1935, a backlash against the modernizing, anti-religious policies of Reza Pahlavi erupted in
9282-597: The Behistun inscription (520 BC) of the Achaemenid Emperor Darius the Great , may have been located at the Mashhad. At the beginning of the 9th century (3rd century AH), Mashhad was a small city called Sanabad, which was situated 24 kilometres (15 miles) away from Tus . There was a summer palace of Humayd ibn Qahtaba , the governor of Khurasan . In 808, when Harun al-Rashid , Abbasid caliph ,
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#17327904641829464-668: The British colonization , Persian was widely used as a second language in the Indian subcontinent . It took prominence as the language of culture and education in several Muslim courts on the subcontinent and became the sole "official language" under the Mughal emperors . The Bengal Sultanate witnessed an influx of Persian scholars, lawyers, teachers, and clerics. Thousands of Persian books and manuscripts were published in Bengal. The period of
9646-517: The Imam Reza shrine , where the eighth Shia Imam , Ali al-Rida , is buried. The Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid is also buried within the same shrine. The shrine is an important place of pilgrimage , visited by 25 millions each year in what is often described as "the holiest city in Iran". Mashhad later also became associated with Ferdowsi , the Persian poet and author of the Shahnameh , who
9828-463: The Imam Reza shrine . Besides its religious significance, Mashhad has played an important political role as well. The Safavid dynasty has been criticized in a book (Red Shi'sm vs. Black Shi'ism) on the perceived dual aspects of the Shi'a religion throughout history) as a period in which although the dynasty didn't form the idea of Black Shi'ism, but this idea was formed after the defeat of Shah Ismail against
10010-674: The Sultanate of Rum , Turkmen beyliks of Anatolia , Delhi Sultanate , the Shirvanshahs , Safavids , Afsharids , Zands , Qajars , Khanate of Bukhara , Khanate of Kokand , Emirate of Bukhara , Khanate of Khiva , Ottomans , and also many Mughal successors such as the Nizam of Hyderabad . Persian was the only non-European language known and used by Marco Polo at the Court of Kublai Khan and in his journeys through China. A branch of
10192-658: The Turkic , Armenian , Georgian , & Indo-Aryan languages . It also exerted some influence on Arabic, while borrowing a lot of vocabulary from it in the Middle Ages. Some of the world's most famous pieces of literature from the Middle Ages, such as the Shahnameh by Ferdowsi , the works of Rumi , the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám , the Panj Ganj of Nizami Ganjavi , The Divān of Hafez , The Conference of
10374-491: The ezāfe construction, expressed through ī (modern e/ye ), to indicate some of the relations between words that have been lost with the simplification of the earlier grammatical system. Although the "middle period" of the Iranian languages formally begins with the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, the transition from Old to Middle Persian had probably already begun before the 4th century BC. However, Middle Persian
10556-597: The " Persianized " Turko-Mongol dynasties during the 12th to 15th centuries, and under restored Persian rule during the 16th to 19th centuries. Persian during this time served as lingua franca of Greater Persia and of much of the Indian subcontinent . It was also the official and cultural language of many Islamic dynasties, including the Samanids, Buyids , Tahirids , Ziyarids , the Mughal Empire , Timurids , Ghaznavids , Karakhanids , Seljuqs , Khwarazmians ,
10738-458: The 10th to the 16th century AD, attribute the founding of " Sanabad " (the old name of the city) to Alexander. Also in the Shia hadith sources, which the narrators connect to the 7th to 9th centuries AD, there are quotations that Imam Ridha and Harun al-Rashid are buried in a city founded by "the righteous servant, the two-horned one", which is an Islamic title commonly attributed to Alexander
10920-524: The 14th century under the Il-Khanids , seems to have been gradually replaced by al-Mashhad or Mashhad. Shias began to make pilgrimages to his grave. By the end of the 9th century, a dome was built above the grave, and many other buildings and bazaars sprang up around it. Over the course of more than a millennium, it has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. In 1161, however, the Seljuks seized
11102-510: The Abbasids around 815, seizing the cities of Mecca , Medina, Wasit , and Basra . In particular, the Shia revolt by Abu'l-Saraya in 815 was difficult to suppress in Iraq, and compelled al-Hasan ibn Sahl , al-Mamun's governor of Iraq, to deploy the troops of the Khorasani general Harthama . Throughout the years, several of al-Rida's brothers and his uncle Moḥammad ibn Ja'far participated in
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#173279046418211284-485: The Abbasids, do not consider the possibility of murder. In particular, al-Masudi writes that al-Rida died as a result of consuming too many grapes. Alternatively, the Shia scholar Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i believed that al-Mamun poisoned al-Rida given the growing popularity of the latter and the immediate proliferation of the Shia teachings. Some Sunni authors seem to have also adopted the Shia practice of referring to al-Rida's death as martyrdom. The caliph then asked
11466-580: The Alid revolts in Iraq and Arabia, but al-Rida refused any involvement. In this period, al-Rida's only involvement in politics might have been to mediate between the Abbasid government and his uncle Muḥammad ibn Ja'far, who had revolted in Mecca. Departing from the established anti-Shia policies of his predecessors, al-Mamun invited al-Rida to Khorasan in 816, and designated him as successor in 817. According to Madelung, al-Mamun wrote to al-Rida in 200 AH (815-816), invited him to come to Marv, and also sent Raja ibn Abi'l Zahhak, cousin of his vizier , and
11648-450: The Astan Quds Razavi, the administration of the Shrine waqf, probably the most important in the Muslim world and the largest active bonyad in Iran. The Astan Quds Razavi is a major player in the economy of the city of Mashhad. The land occupied by the shrine has grown fourfold since 1979 according to the head of the foundation's international relations department. The Shrine of Imam Reza is vaster than Vatican City. The foundation owns most of
11830-572: The Birds by Attar of Nishapur , and the miscellanea of Gulistan and Bustan by Saadi Shirazi , are written in Persian. Some of the prominent modern Persian poets were Nima Yooshij , Ahmad Shamlou , Simin Behbahani , Sohrab Sepehri , Rahi Mo'ayyeri , Mehdi Akhavan-Sales , and Forugh Farrokhzad . There are approximately 130 million Persian speakers worldwide, including Persians , Lurs , Tajiks , Hazaras , Iranian Azeris , Iranian Kurds , Balochs , Tats , Afghan Pashtuns , and Aimaqs . The term Persophone might also be used to refer to
12012-407: The Great in this land, which was called " Susia " ( Ancient Greek : Σούσια ), in 330 BC. The map of Tabula Peutingeriana , which dates back to the early Roman era , names this city on the west of Merv , Alexandria, instead of Susia. Pliny the Elder , says there is a city in the middle of Parthia , near Arsace and Nisiaea , called "Alexandropolis" after its founder. Many Muslim historians, from
12194-458: The Great. The older name of Mashhad is Sanabad ( سناباد Sanâbâd ). It was eventually renamed to Mashhad during the Safavid Empire . The name Mashhad comes from Arabic , meaning a Mazar (mausoleum) . It is also known as the place where Ali ar-Ridha ( Persian , Imam Reza), the eighth Imam of Shia Muslims, died (according to the Shias, was martyred). Reza's shrine was placed there. The ancient Parthian city of Patigrabanâ , mentioned in
12376-439: The Mashhad shrine. Responding to a cleric who denounced the Shah's heretical innovations, corruption, and heavy consumer taxes, many bazaars and villagers took refuge in the shrine, chanted slogans such as "The Shah is a new Yazid." For four days local police and army refused to violate the shrine and the standoff was ended when troops from Azerbaijan arrived and broke into the shrine, killing dozens and injuring hundreds, and marking
12558-500: The Middle Ages, and is because of the lack of the phoneme /p/ in Standard Arabic. The standard Persian of Iran has been called, apart from Persian and Farsi , by names such as Iranian Persian and Western Persian , exclusively. Officially, the official language of Iran is designated simply as Persian ( فارسی , fārsi ). The standard Persian of Afghanistan has been officially named Dari ( دری , dari ) since 1958. Also referred to as Afghan Persian in English, it
12740-429: The Ottoman Empire all spoke Persian, such as Sultan Selim I , despite being Safavid Iran's archrival and a staunch opposer of Shia Islam . It was a major literary language in the empire. Some of the noted earlier Persian works during the Ottoman rule are Idris Bidlisi 's Hasht Bihisht , which began in 1502 and covered the reign of the first eight Ottoman rulers, and the Salim-Namah , a glorification of Selim I. After
12922-403: The Ottoman leader Sultan Yavuz Selim. Black Shi'ism is a product of the post-Safavid period. Mashad saw its greatest glory under Nader Shah , ruler of Iran from 1736 to 1747, and also a great benefactor of the shrine of Imam Reza, who made the city his capital. Nearly the whole eastern part of the kingdom of Nadir Shah passed to foreign rulers in this period of Persian impotence under the rule of
13104-530: The Persian language can be divided into the following three distinct periods: As a written language , Old Persian is attested in royal Achaemenid inscriptions. The oldest known text written in Old Persian is from the Behistun Inscription , dating to the time of King Darius I (reigned 522–486 BC). Examples of Old Persian have been found in what is now Iran , Romania ( Gherla ), Armenia , Bahrain , Iraq , Turkey, and Egypt . Old Persian
13286-425: The Persian language, a language historically called Dari, emerged in present-day Afghanistan. The first significant Persian poet was Rudaki . He flourished in the 10th century, when the Samanids were at the height of their power. His reputation as a court poet and as an accomplished musician and singer has survived, although little of his poetry has been preserved. Among his lost works are versified fables collected in
13468-401: The Persian model: Ottoman Turkish , Chagatai Turkic , Dobhashi Bengali , and Urdu, which are regarded as "structural daughter languages" of Persian. "Classical Persian" loosely refers to the standardized language of medieval Persia used in literature and poetry . This is the language of the 10th to 12th centuries, which continued to be used as literary language and lingua franca under
13650-886: The Perso-Arabic script. Persian was the first language to break through the monopoly of Arabic on writing in the Muslim world , with Persian poetry becoming a tradition in many eastern courts. It was used officially as a language of bureaucracy even by non-native speakers, such as the Ottomans in Anatolia , the Mughals in South Asia, and the Pashtuns in Afghanistan. It influenced languages spoken in neighboring regions and beyond, including other Iranian languages,
13832-484: The Sasanian Empire (224–651). However, it is not descended from the literary form of Middle Persian (known as pārsīk , commonly called Pahlavi), which was spoken by the people of Fars and used in Zoroastrian religious writings. Instead, it is descended from the dialect spoken by the court of the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon and the northeastern Iranian region of Khorasan , known as Dari. The region, which comprised
14014-588: The Sassanids (who were Persians, i.e. from the southwest) from the preceding Arsacids (who were Parthians, i.e. from the northeast). While Ibn al-Muqaffa' (eighth century) still distinguished between Pahlavi (i.e. Parthian) and Persian (in Arabic text: al-Farisiyah) (i.e. Middle Persian), this distinction is not evident in Arab commentaries written after that date. "New Persian" (also referred to as Modern Persian)
14196-462: The Seljuks, the Sultanate of Rum , took Persian language, art, and letters to Anatolia. They adopted the Persian language as the official language of the empire. The Ottomans , who can roughly be seen as their eventual successors, inherited this tradition. Persian was the official court language of the empire, and for some time, the official language of the empire. The educated and noble class of
14378-541: The Shia and, earlier, of Abbasids against the Umayyads. On 2 Ramadan 201 (23 March 817) by one account, the dignitaries and army leaders in Marv pledged their allegiance to the new heir apparent, who was dressed in green. An official announcement was made in the mosques throughout the empire, coins were minted to commemorate the occasion, and al-Mamun also changed the color of uniforms, official dress, and flags from black,
14560-568: The Shias of these cities in their friendship with the Imam would create problems for him (Ma'mun). Though he did not pass through Qum on his way to Marv, he stayed for some time in Nishapur , where prominent Sunni traditionists visited him, including Ibn Rahuya, Yahya ibn Yahya, Moḥammad ibn Rafe', and Ahmad ibn Ḥarb. Al-Rida continued on to Marv after receiving a new summons from al-Mamun. A number of Sunni hadith scholars also asked al-Rida to narrate
14742-719: The Twelver Shia. Sahifa al-Rida is a collection of 240 hadiths, mentioned in some early Twelver sources and ascribed to al-Rida. Fiqh al-Rida, also called al-Fiqh al-Radawi , is a treatise on jurisprudence ( fiqh ) attributed to al-Rida. It was not known till the tenth century (sixteenth CE century) when it was judged to be authentic by Majlesi but later Twelver scholars have doubted its authenticity, including S.H. Sadr. Other works attributed to al-Rida are listed in A'yan al-Shia . Additionally, Shia sources contain detailed descriptions of his religious debates, sayings, and poetry. Uyun al-Akhbar al-Rida by Ibn Babawayh
14924-587: The Uzbeks in a great battle near Herat as well as managing to drive them beyond the Oxus River . Abbas the Great wanted to encourage Iranians to go to Mashhad for pilgrimage. He is said to have walked from Isfahan to Mashhad. During the Safavid era, Mashhad gained even more religious recognition, becoming the most important city of Greater Khorasan, as several madrasah and other structures were built beside
15106-551: The Waqifiyya ( lit. ' those who stop ' ) though it appears that they later returned to the mainstream Shia, declaring al-Rida and his successors as the lieutenants of al-Kazim. These also included the Bushariyya, named after Muhammad ibn Bashir, the gnostic from Kufa , who claimed to be the interim imam in the absence of al-Kazim. The term Waqifiyya is applied generally to any group who denies or hesitates over
15288-404: The agrarian reform of 1963, the founding of the city's airport, the creation of new factories and the development of the health system. In 1966, the population reached 409,616 inhabitants, and 667,770 in 1976. The extension of the city was expanded from 16 to 33 square kilometres (170,000,000 to 360,000,000 square feet). In 1965 an important urban renewal development project for the surroundings of
15470-498: The area of Lake Urmia in the records of Shalmaneser III . The exact identity of the Parsuwash is not known for certain, but from a linguistic viewpoint the word matches Old Persian pārsa itself coming directly from the older word * pārćwa . Also, as Old Persian contains many words from another extinct Iranian language, Median , according to P. O. Skjærvø it is probable that Old Persian had already been spoken before
15652-482: The areas of Mashhad Taman and Torqabeh . The city was governed by different ethnic groups over the course of its history. Mashhad was previously a small village, which by the 9th century had been known as Sanabad , and which was located—along with Tus and other villages—on the ancient Silk Road connecting them with Merv to the east. Mashhad would eventually outgrow all its surrounding villages. It gained its current name meaning "place of martyrdom " in reference to
15834-472: The assassination of al-Fadl ibn Sahl, the Persian vizier of al-Mamun, who had become a divisive figure. Both deaths are attributed in Shia sources to al-Mamun as he made concessions to the Arab party to smooth his return to Iraq. Madelung writes that the sudden deaths of the vizier and the heir apparent, whose presence would have made any reconciliation with the powerful Abbasid opposition in Baghdad virtually impossible, strongly suggest that al-Mamun
16016-438: The authority of those who transmitted from al-Rida. They all seem to refer to him as a man of piety and learning. It has been commonly held that Ma'ruf al-Karkhi , who converted to Islam at the hands of al-Rida, is a prominent figure in the golden chain of most Sufi orders. He is said to have been a devoted student of al-Rida, though Bayhom-Daou regards the accounts of their encounters as apocryphal. In Sufi tradition, al-Rida
16198-425: The best possible way. Byzanti relates that when he visited al-Rida for a few hours, al-Rida invited him to stay for the night and spread his own bed for Byzanti. Muhammad ibn Ghaffar narrates that when he visited al-Rida to ask for financial help, al-Rida fulfilled his wish before he mentioned his need and then invited Muhammad to stay overnight as his guest. When he was in Khorasan, he distributed all his wealth among
16380-535: The caliph entered Baghdad without a fight. The anti-caliph, Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi, had already fled from the city several weeks earlier. The return to Baghdad marked the end of the pro-Shia policies of al-Mamun, and was followed by the return to the traditional black color of the Abbasids. Al-Mamun buried al-Rida in Tus next to his father, Harun al-Rashid. Tus was later replaced with a new city, called Mashhad ( lit. ' place of martyrdom ' ), developed around
16562-549: The caliph to leave him as governor in Khorasan. Al-Mamun instead assured the vizier of his unrestricted support and published a letter to this effect throughout the empire. However, six months later in Sha'ban 202 (February 818), the vizier was assassinated in Sarakhs by several army officers as he accompanied al-Mamun back to Baghdad. Those responsible were soon executed, but not before declaring that they had been acting on
16744-402: The city was called Mashhad al-Ridha (the place of martyrdom of al-Ridha), it seems that Mashhad, as a place-name, first appears in al-Maqdisi, i.e., in the last third of the 10th century. About the middle of the 14th century, the traveller Ibn Battuta uses the expression "town of Mashhad al-Rida". Towards the end of the Middle Ages, the name Nuqan, which is still found on coins in the first half of
16926-478: The city, but they spared the sacred area their pillaging. Mashad al-Ridha was not considered a "great" city until Mongol raids in 1220, which caused the destruction of many large cities in Khurasan but leaving Mashhad relatively intact in the hands of Mongolian commanders because of the cemetery of Ali Al-Rezza and Harun al-Rashid (the latter was stolen). Thus the survivors of the massacres migrated to Mashhad. When
17108-522: The city. Although mainly inhabited by Muslims, there were in the past some religious minorities in Mashhad, mainly Jews who were forcibly converted to Islam in 1839 after the Allahdad incident took place for Mashhadi Jews in 1839. They became known as Jadid al-Islam ("Newcomers in Islam"). On the outside, they adapted to the Islamic way of life, but often secretly kept their faith and traditions. Mashhad
17290-425: The civil unrest in Iraq was apparently kept hidden from al-Mamun by his vizier until 818, and it was al-Rida who urged the caliph to return to Baghdad and restore peace. Al-Rida's assessment was supported by several army chiefs and al-Mamun thus left Khorasan in 818. Before their return, his vizier offered his resignation, pointing out the hatred of the Abbasids in Baghdad for him personally, and requested
17472-457: The code fas for the dialects spoken across Iran and Afghanistan. This consists of the individual languages Dari ( prs ) and Iranian Persian ( pes ). It uses tgk for Tajik, separately. In general, the Iranian languages are known from three periods: namely Old, Middle, and New (Modern). These correspond to three historical eras of Iranian history ; Old era being sometime around the Achaemenid Empire (i.e., 400–300 BC), Middle era being
17654-512: The collapse of the Sassanid state, Parsik came to be applied exclusively to (either Middle or New) Persian that was written in the Arabic script . From about the 9th century onward, as Middle Persian was on the threshold of becoming New Persian, the older form of the language came to be erroneously called Pahlavi , which was actually but one of the writing systems used to render both Middle Persian as well as various other Middle Iranian languages. That writing system had previously been adopted by
17836-416: The custody of his children, wives and property was also entrusted to Ali al-Rida. Ali spent the next ten years of his life - from 183 to 193 AH - in the reign of Harun. The Abbasid caliph Harun died during the imamate of al-Rida and the empire was split between his two sons: the reigning caliph, al-Amin, who was born to an Arab mother , and al-Mamun, who was born of a Persian mother and was designated as
18018-472: The date often given by Shia authorities is 11 Du al-Qa'da 148 AH. His father was al-Kazim, the seventh Twelver Shia Imam, who was a descendant of Ali and Fatima , cousin and daughter of the Islamic prophet , respectively. His mother was a freed slave, probably of Berber origin, whose name is recorded differently in various sources, perhaps Najma or Tuktam. It was reputedly Hamida Khatun, mother of al-Kazim, who chose Najma for him. Momen writes that Ali
18200-521: The death of a particular Shia Imam and refuses to recognize his successors. According to Kohlberg, the creation of Waqifiyya might have had a financial reason. Some of the representatives of al-Kazim evidently refused to hand over to al-Rida the monies entrusted to them, arguing that al-Kazim was the last Imam. These included Mansur ibn Yunus Buzurg and Ali ibn Abi Ḥamza al-Bataini, Ziyad ibn Marwan al-Kandi, Uthman ibn Isa al-Amiri al-Ruasi (Ruwasi). Some reports indicate that al-Ruasi repented. Muhammad,
18382-588: The decline of the Timurid dynasty. He was later captured by the Uzbeks during the reign of Shah Abbas I . In the 16th century the town suffered considerably from the repeated raids of the Özbegs (Uzbeks). In 1507, it was taken by the troops of the Shaybani or Shabani Khan. After two decades, Shah Tahmasp I succeeded in repelling the enemy from the town again in 1528. But in 1544, the Özbegs again succeeded in entering
18564-406: The establishment of Mashhad University in 1949. At the same time, public transport vehicles increased to 77 buses and 200 taxis and the railway link with the capital, Tehran, was established in 1957. The 1956 census reflected a population of 241,989 people. The increase in population continued in the following years thanks to the increase in Iranian oil revenues, the decline of the feudal social model,
18746-563: The excuse to intervene and 29 March 1912 bombed the city; this bombing killed several people and pilgrims; action against a Muslim shrine caused a great shock to all Islamic countries . On 29 March 1912, the sanctuary of Imam Reza was bombed by the Russian artillery fire, causing some damage, including to the golden dome, resulting in a widespread and persisting resentment in the Shiite Muslim world as well as British India . This bombing
18928-652: The extent of its influence on certain languages of the Indian subcontinent. Words borrowed from Persian are still quite commonly used in certain Indo-Aryan languages, especially Hindi - Urdu (also historically known as Hindustani ), Punjabi , Kashmiri , and Sindhi . There is also a small population of Zoroastrian Iranis in India, who migrated in the 19th century to escape religious execution in Qajar Iran and speak
19110-402: The first ' ). In a move to strengthen their ties, al-Mamun had married his daughter, Umm Habib, to al-Rida, though no children resulted from that marriage. Muhammad, who later became known as al-Jawad , was the child of al-Rida, born to Sabika (or Khayzuran), a freed slave ( umm walad ) from Nubia , who was said to have descended from the family of Maria al-Qibtiyya , a freed slave of
19292-424: The first institution have faced problem in receiving cash from the institution. The city's International Exhibition Center is the second most active exhibition center after Tehran, which due to proximity to Central Asian countries hosts dozens of international exhibitions each year. Companies such as Smart-innovators in Mashhad are pioneers in electrical and computer technology. The language mainly spoken in Mashhad
19474-467: The following phylogenetic classification: Eighth Imam Ali ibn Musa al-Rida ( Arabic : عَلِيّ ٱبْن مُوسَىٰ ٱلرِّضَا , romanized : ʿAlī ibn Mūsā al-Riḍā , c. 1 January 766 – 6 June 818), also known as Abū al-Ḥasan al-Thānī , was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad , and the eighth imam in Twelver Shia Islam , succeeding his father, Musa al-Kazim . He
19656-512: The form of snow . Mashhad has wetter and drier periods with the bulk of the annual precipitation falling between the months of December and May. Summers are typically hot and dry, with high temperatures sometimes exceeding 33 °C (91 °F). Winters are typically cool to cold and somewhat damper, with overnight lows routinely dropping below freezing. Mashhad enjoys on average just above 2900 hours of sunshine per year. Snow cover had been observed in 21.1 days annually, with only 3.8 days in which
19838-577: The formation of many modern languages in West Asia, Europe, Central Asia , and South Asia . Following the Turko-Persian Ghaznavid conquest of South Asia , Persian was firstly introduced in the region by Turkic Central Asians. The basis in general for the introduction of Persian language into the subcontinent was set, from its earliest days, by various Persianized Central Asian Turkic and Afghan dynasties. For five centuries prior to
20020-476: The formation of the Achaemenid Empire and was spoken during most of the first half of the first millennium BCE. Xenophon , a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and hospitality in around 401 BCE, which is when Old Persian was still spoken and extensively used. He relates that the Armenian people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like
20202-674: The grave of al-Rida as the holiest site in Iran for the Shia. The present shrine dates to the fourteenth century, when the Il-khan Öljaitü converted to Twelver Shi'ism . Most of the elaborate decorative work in the present imposing complex dates from Safavid and Qajar periods. Adjacent to the shrine is the Goharshad Mosque , one of the finest in Iran, named after the wife of the Timurid emperor Shah Rukh and completed in 1394 CE. Several theological colleges have been built around
20384-509: The grave of al-Rida as the holiest site in Iran, to which millions of Shia Muslims flock annually for pilgrimage. Ali was born in Medina in 765 (148 AH ), 768 (151 AH), or 770 (153 AH). The first date is said to be based on a prediction ascribed to his grandfather, al-Sadiq, who died in that year, that the successor to his son al-Kazim would be born soon. There are some indications that Ali might have been born as late 159 AH. In any case,
20566-403: The handicraft industry. With more than 55% of all the hotels in Iran, Mashhad is the hub of tourism in the country. Religious shrines are the most powerful attractions for foreign travelers; every year, 20 to 30 million pilgrims from Iran and more than 2 million pilgrims and tourists from elsewhere around the world come to Mashhad. Mashhad is one of the main producers of leather products in
20748-478: The heir apparent seemed to have added to the credibility to al-Rida in Sunni circles, who at the time apparently came to regard him as a distinguished transmitter by virtue of his learning and descent from the prophet. In view of his continued veneration as a Shia Imam, later Sunni authors were divided about the authority of al-Rida, some saying that he was not always a reliable transmitter and others instead questioning
20930-541: The heir apparent. Perhaps incorrectly, the appointment of al-Rida was at the time largely attributed to the influence of al-Mamun's Persian vizier , al-Fadl ibn Sahl. Nevertheless, various Abbasid governors, with the exception of Ismail ibn Jafar in Basra, loyally carried out their orders and exacted the oath of allegiance to the new heir. The appointment of the Alid al-Rida by the Abbasid al-Mamun apparently brought him
21112-473: The imamate of al-Rida after his appointment as successor to the caliphate and now returned to their Sunni or Zaydi communities. Tabatabai, however, regards the divisions in Shia after al-Rida as insignificant and often temporary. Twelver scholars have noted that Jesus received his prophetic mission in the Quran when he was still a child, and some hold that al-Jawad had received the requisite perfect knowledge of all religious matters through divine inspiration from
21294-407: The insistence of the caliph, with the condition that he would not interfere in governmental affairs or the appointment or dismissal of government agents. The title al-Rida ( lit. ' the approved one ' ) was reputedly bestowed upon him by the caliph, in a reference to a descendant of Muhammad upon whom Muslims would agree for the caliphate ( al-rida min al Muhammad ), a rallying cry of
21476-466: The language of the Persians. Related to Old Persian, but from a different branch of the Iranian language family, was Avestan , the language of the Zoroastrian liturgical texts. The complex grammatical conjugation and declension of Old Persian yielded to the structure of Middle Persian in which the dual number disappeared, leaving only singular and plural, as did gender. Middle Persian developed
21658-466: The main cities of the realm. In 1418, his wife Goharshad funded the construction of an outstanding mosque beside the shrine, which is known as the Goharshad Mosque . The mosque remains relatively intact to this date, its great size an indicator to the status the city held in the 15th century. Ismail I , founder of the Safavid Empire , conquered Mashhad after the death of Husayn Bayqarah and
21840-432: The middle-period form only continuing in the texts of Zoroastrianism . Middle Persian is considered to be a later form of the same dialect as Old Persian. The native name of Middle Persian was Parsig or Parsik , after the name of the ethnic group of the southwest, that is, "of Pars ", Old Persian Parsa , New Persian Fars . This is the origin of the name Farsi as it is today used to signify New Persian. Following
22022-472: The morning al-Rida went to the desert with the people and went to the pulpit and asked God for rain. After that, clouds appeared in the sky and when people returned to their homes, it started raining heavily. A large crowd gathered around al-Rida and people congratulated him on this honor. Donaldson includes the account of Reyyan ibn Salt who, when bidding farewell to his Imam, was so overcome with grief that he forgot to ask al-Rida for one of his shirts, to use as
22204-410: The most significant literary figures and artists of modern Iran, such as the poet Mehdi Akhavan-Sales , and the traditional Iranian singer and composer Mohammad-Reza Shajarian . On 30 October 2009 (the anniversary of Imam Reza's martyrdom), Iran's then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Mashhad to be "Iran's spiritual capital". Ancient Greek sources mention the passage and residence of Alexander
22386-536: The most widely spoken. The term Persian is an English derivation of Latin Persiānus , the adjectival form of Persia , itself deriving from Greek Persís ( Περσίς ), a Hellenized form of Old Persian Pārsa ( 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿 ), which means " Persia " (a region in southwestern Iran, corresponding to modern-day Fars ). According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the term Persian as
22568-727: The museum and the ancient manuscripts. In 1569 (977 H), 'Imad al-Din Mas'ud Shirazi, a physician at the Mashhad hospital, wrote the earliest Islamic treatise on syphilis, one influenced by European medical thought. Kashmar rug is a type of Persian rug indigenous to this region. Mashhad active galleries include: Mirak Gallery, Parse Gallery, Rezvan Gallery, Soroush Gallery, and the Narvan Gallery. Persian language Russia Persian ( / ˈ p ɜːr ʒ ən , - ʃ ən / PUR -zhən, -shən ), also known by its endonym Farsi ( فارسی , Fārsī [fɒːɾˈsiː] ),
22750-456: The name but according to Ibn Babawiyah, Muhammad al-Jawad rejected this account, stating that God called him Reza because his enemies and his friends were pleased with him, while this did not happen to any of his fathers. Al-Rida is also known as Abu al-Hasan al-Thani ( lit. ' Abu al-Hasan, the second ' ) to distinguish him from his father, Musa al-Kazim, who is also known as Abu al-Hasan al-Awwal ( lit. ' Abu al-Hasan,
22932-455: The name. The studies by Speziale (2004) and Speziale - Giurini (2009) have critically analysed the issue of the authorship of the text. The book was text edited in Bombay and included by Majlesi in his Bihar al-Anwar . A number of commentaries have been written to it and it has been translated into Persian and Urdu. Despite questions concerning its authenticity, the book remains popular among
23114-425: The narrators of prophetic hadiths, and al-Waqidi considers him a reliable transmitter. As a Shia Imam who rejected the authority of Muhammad's companions as hadith transmitters, initially only the Shia transmitted hadith on the authority of al-Rida. In his later years, however, notable Sunni traditionists were said to have visited him, including Ibn Rahwayh and Yahya ibn Yahya. In particular, his appointment as
23296-466: The nationalist movement of the time. The academy was a key institution in the struggle to re-build Iran as a nation-state after the collapse of the Qajar dynasty. During the 1930s and 1940s, the academy led massive campaigns to replace the many Arabic , Russian , French , and Greek loanwords whose widespread use in Persian during the centuries preceding the foundation of the Pahlavi dynasty had created
23478-448: The necessity of protecting the Persian language against foreign words, and to the standardization of Persian orthography , were under the reign of Naser ed Din Shah of the Qajar dynasty in 1871. After Naser ed Din Shah, Mozaffar ed Din Shah ordered the establishment of the first Persian association in 1903. This association officially declared that it used Persian and Arabic as acceptable sources for coining words. The ultimate goal
23660-414: The next period most officially around the Sasanian Empire , and New era being the period afterward down to present day. According to available documents, the Persian language is "the only Iranian language" for which close philological relationships between all of its three stages are established and so that Old, Middle, and New Persian represent one and the same language of Persian; that is, New Persian
23842-732: The northern part of Greece). Vardar Yenicesi differed from other localities in the Balkans insofar as that it was a town where Persian was also widely spoken. However, the Persian of Vardar Yenicesi and throughout the rest of the Ottoman-held Balkans was different from formal Persian both in accent and vocabulary. The difference was apparent to such a degree that the Ottomans referred to it as "Rumelian Persian" ( Rumili Farsisi ). As learned people such as students, scholars and literati often frequented Vardar Yenicesi, it soon became
24024-478: The official Abbasid color, to green. This move possibly signified the reconciliation between the Abbasids and the Alids. To strengthen their relations, al-Mamun also married his daughter to al-Rida and promised another daughter to al-Rida's son in Medina, a minor at the time. The motivations of al-Mamun for this appointment are not fully understood. At the time, he justified his decision by maintaining that al-Rida
24206-542: The official language of the Achaemenid kings. Assyrian records, which in fact appear to provide the earliest evidence for ancient Iranian (Persian and Median) presence on the Iranian Plateau, give a good chronology but only an approximate geographical indication of what seem to be ancient Persians. In these records of the 9th century BCE, Parsuwash (along with Matai , presumably Medians) are first mentioned in
24388-510: The oldest existing carpet attributed to the city belongs to the reign of Shah Abbas ( Abbas I of Persia ). Also, there is a type of carpet, classified as Mashhad Turkbâf, which, as its name suggests, is woven by hand with Turkish knots by craftsmen who emigrated from Tabriz to Mashhad in the nineteenth century. Among other major industries in the city are the nutrition, clothing, leather, textiles, chemical , steel, metallic, and non-metallic mineral industries, construction materials factories, &
24570-470: The only child of al-Rida, was seven years old when his father died. The succession of the young Muhammad, who later became known as al-Jawad ( lit. ' the generous ' ), became controversial among the followers of his father. A group of them instead accepted the imamate of al-Rida's brother, Ahmad ibn Musa. Another group joined the Waqifiyya, who considered al-Kazim to be the last Imam and expected his return as Mahdi. Some had opportunistically backed
24752-554: The orders of the caliph. Henceforth, al-Mamun governed with the help of counsellors on whom he did not confer the title of vizier . Al-Rida died in Tus (present-day Mashhad ) on the last day of Safar 203 (September 818), probably poisoned. Other given dates range from Safar 202 (September 817) to Dhu al-Qa'da 203 (May 819). The sources seem to agree that al-Rida died after a short illness as he accompanied al-Mamun and his entourage back to Baghdad. His death followed shortly after
24934-483: The party reached Tus in September 818. His death followed shortly after the assassination of al-Fadl ibn Sahl, the Persian vizier of al-Mamun, who was publicly seen as responsible for his pro-Shia policies. The caliph is often seen as responsible for both deaths, as he made concessions to the Arab party to smooth his return to Baghdad. Tus was later replaced with a new city, called Mashhad , which developed around
25116-479: The population of the city as 3,001,184 people in 914,146 households. The vast majority of Mashhadi people are ethnic Persians , who form the majority of the city's population. Other ethnic groups include Kurdish and Turkmen people who have emigrated recently to the city from the North Khorasan province . There is also a significant community of non-Arabic speakers of Arabian descent who have retained
25298-638: The present territories of northwestern Afghanistan as well as parts of Central Asia, played a leading role in the rise of New Persian. Khorasan, which was the homeland of the Parthians, was Persianized under the Sasanians. Dari Persian thus supplanted Parthian language , which by the end of the Sasanian era had fallen out of use. New Persian has incorporated many foreign words, including from eastern northern and northern Iranian languages such as Sogdian and especially Parthian. The transition to New Persian
25480-436: The prophet and mother of his son Ebrahim, who died in childhood. There is a disagreement as to the number of children Ali al-Rida had. Some have reported them as five sons and one daughter with the names of Muhammad, Hasan, Ja'far, Ibrahim, Husayn and A'isha. While others mentioned the existence of a daughter of Ali al-Rida called Fatima. In addition to Shia authorities, Sunni biographical sources also list al-Rida as one of
25662-419: The real estate in Mashhad and rents out shop space to bazaaris and hoteliers. The main resource of the institution is endowments, estimated to have annual revenue of $ 210 billion. Ahmad Marvi is the current Custodian of Astan Quds Razavi. Padideh Shandiz International Tourism Development Company, an Iranian private joint-stock holding company, behaves like a public company by selling stocks despite being
25844-588: The region during the following centuries. Persian continued to act as a courtly language for various empires in Punjab through the early 19th century serving finally as the official state language of the Sikh Empire , preceding British conquest and the decline of Persian in South Asia. Beginning in 1843, though, English and Hindustani gradually replaced Persian in importance on the subcontinent. Evidence of Persian's historical influence there can be seen in
26026-406: The region. Unemployment, poverty, drug addiction, and theft are the most important social problems of the city. The divorce rate in Mashhad had increased by 35 percent by 2014. Khorasan and Mashhad ranked the second in violence across the country in 2013. At the same time, the city has kept its character as a goal of pilgrimage, dominated by the strength of the economic and political authority of
26208-602: The reign of Sultan Ghiyathuddin Azam Shah is described as the "golden age of Persian literature in Bengal". Its stature was illustrated by the Sultan's own correspondence and collaboration with the Persian poet Hafez ; a poem which can be found in the Divan of Hafez today. A Bengali dialect emerged among the common Bengali Muslim folk, based on a Persian model and known as Dobhashi ; meaning mixed language . Dobhashi Bengali
26390-432: The reign of the blind Shah Rukh, which with repeated short interruptions lasted for nearly half a century, passed without any events of special note. It was only after the death of Timur Shah (1792) that Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar , the founder of the Qajar dynasty, succeeded in taking Shah Rukh's domains and putting him to death in 1795, thus ending the separation of Khurasan from the rest of Persia. Some believe that Mashhad
26572-637: The reluctance of the al-Rida who accepted the offer on the condition that he would not interfere in governmental affairs. The appointment of the Ali al-Rida by the Abbasid al-Mamun immediately invoked strong opposition, particularly among the Abbasids, who revolted and installed Ibrahim al-Mubarak , a half-brother of Harun al-Rashid, as the anti-caliph in Baghdad. Realizing the severity of the Iraqi opposition, al-Mamun and his entourage left Khorasan for Baghdad, accompanied by al-Rida. The Imam, however, died mysteriously when
26754-471: The revolution, the urban renewal project was abandoned. On 20 June 1994, a bomb exploded in a prayer hall of the shrine of the Imam Reza . The bomb that killed at least 25 people on 20 June in Mashhad exploded on Ashura . The Baloch terrorist, Ramzi Yousef , a Sunni Muslim turned Wahhabi , one of the main perpetrators of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was found to be behind the plot. The city
26936-539: The shrine of Imam Reza was proposed by the Iranian architect and urban designer Dariush Borbor to replace the dilapidated slum conditions which surrounded the historic monuments. The project was officially approved in 1968. In 1977 the surrounding areas were demolished to make way for the implementation of this project. To relocate the demolished businesses, a new bazaar was designed and constructed in Meydan-e Ab square (in Persian, "میدان آب") by Dariush Borbor . After
27118-415: The shrine, the most famous of which is that of Mirza Ja'far Khan. The traditional ritual of Khutbeh Khani ( lit. ' reciting sermon ' ) is held annually on the night of al-Rida's death. The ritual, dating back to governor Ali Shah of Khorasan in 1160 AH, involves the servants of the holy site walking from the nearest street to Inqilab yard with candles in their hands. There, they stand around
27300-668: The site of a flourishing Persianate linguistic and literary culture. The 16th-century Ottoman Aşık Çelebi (died 1572), who hailed from Prizren in modern-day Kosovo , was galvanized by the abundant Persian-speaking and Persian-writing communities of Vardar Yenicesi, and he referred to the city as a "hotbed of Persian". Many Ottoman Persianists who established a career in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul ) pursued early Persian training in Saraybosna, amongst them Ahmed Sudi . The Persian language influenced
27482-433: The snow depth exceeds 10 cm (3.9 in). The highest recorded temperature was 43.8 °C (111 °F) on 6 July 1998 and the lowest recorded temperature was −28 °C (−18 °F) on 3 February 1972. (sunshine) At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 2,410,800 in 621,697 households. The following census in 2011 counted 2,766,258 people in 804,391 households. The 2016 census measured
27664-573: The standard Persian of Tajikistan, has been officially designated as Tajik ( тоҷикӣ , tojikī ) since the time of the Soviet Union . It is the name given to the varieties of Persian spoken in Central Asia in general. The international language-encoding standard ISO 639-1 uses the code fa for the Persian language, as its coding system is mostly based on the native-language designations. The more detailed standard ISO 639-3 uses
27846-717: The standard Persian. The Hazaragi dialect (in Central Afghanistan and Pakistan), Herati (in Western Afghanistan), Darwazi (in Afghanistan and Tajikistan), Basseri (in Southern Iran), and the Tehrani accent (in Iran, the basis of standard Iranian Persian) are examples of these dialects. Persian-speaking peoples of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan can understand one another with a relatively high degree of mutual intelligibility . Nevertheless,
28028-404: The successor and the governor of the province of Khorasan in present-day Iran. In effect, according to Momen , al-Amin controlled Iraq and the west with his Arab vizier , al-Fadl ibn Rabi, while al-Mamun controlled Iran and the east with his Persian vizier , al-Fadl ibn Sahl . Al-Amin reportedly violated these arrangements by appointing his son as successor in place of Mamun, and soon
28210-517: The support of several notable Alids and nearly all the Zaydite partisans. It also immediately invoked strong opposition, particularly among the Abbasids and Arab Sunni nationalists. Al-Mamun's decision did not carry the public opinion of the Iraqis, who declared him deposed and installed Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi, another Abbasid, as caliph in 817, while the popular militia roamed through Baghdad, demanding
28392-606: The system of oppressors. By explaining the concept of " Ulu'l-amr " and the necessity of obeying them, he emphasized on following the Ahl al-Bayt and he considered the leadership of oppressors and obeying them to be invalid and wrong. Among the companions of al-Rida, there were those who, while appearing to accompany the government, had relations with the Imam and protected and supported the Shias from harm and oppression. Al-Rida, known for his piety and learning, issued fatwa s (legal rulings) at The Prophet's Mosque in Medina when he
28574-455: The time of his succession, irrespective of his age. Often viewed as evidence of his divine favor, various nonprophetic miracles ( karamat , sg. karama ) have been attributed to al-Rida. During his stay in Nishapur, it is said that the Imam planted an almond in the house where he stayed, which grew into a tree and bore fruit the next year. Also, in the Imam's residence, there was
28756-535: The town and plundering and murdering there. The year 1589 was a disastrous one for Mashhad. The Shaybanid ' Abd al-Mu'min after a four months' siege forced the town to surrender. Shah Abbas I, who lived in Mashhad from 1585 until his official ascent of the throne in Qazwin in 1587, was not able to retake Mashhad from the Özbegs until 1598. Mashhad was retaken by the Shah Abbas after a long and hard struggle, defeating
28938-446: The trip to Khorasan, as reported by Ibn Babuyyah, al-Rida not only refused to take his family with him, but also asked them to cry loudly for him, saying that he would never return to his family's embrace. It also appears that this appointment did not alienate any of the followers of al-Rida which, according to Bayhom-Daou, might imply that they were convinced that he was a reluctant player who had no choice but to accept his designation as
29120-560: The uprisings of the Alids . Therefore, the Zaydis , who followed the method of armed struggle, were against him. According to al-Rida, armed conflict is not the best way to fight when there are rulers who do not tolerate any kind of Enjoining good and forbidding wrong . Based on this, al-Rida did not accept Muhammad bin Suleiman request to unite and accompany him. Also, it has been said that in
29302-485: The use of Farsi in foreign languages. Etymologically, the Persian term Farsi derives from its earlier form Pārsi ( Pārsik in Middle Persian ), which in turn comes from the same root as the English term Persian . In the same process, the Middle Persian toponym Pārs ("Persia") evolved into the modern name Fars. The phonemic shift from /p/ to /f/ is due to the influence of Arabic in
29484-483: The vigorous Ahmad Shah Durrani of the Afghan Durrani Empire . Ahmad defeated the Persians and took Mashhad after an eight-month siege in 1753. Ahmad Shah and his successor Timur Shah left Shah Rukh in possession of Khurasan as their vassal, making Khurasan a kind of buffer state between them and Persia. As the city's real rulers, however, both these Durrani rulers struck coins in Mashhad. Otherwise,
29666-417: The world, Mashhad attracts more than 20 million tourists and pilgrims every year, many of whom come to pay homage to the Imam Reza shrine (the eighth Shi'ite Imam). It has been a magnet for travellers since medieval times. 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 ,
29848-511: The yard and the crowd recites religious sermons and praise God. This ritual is also repeated on the night of Ashura . The imamate of al-Rida overlapped with the reigns of the Abbasid Harun al-Rashid and his sons, al-Amin and al-Mamun . He initially adopted a quiescent attitude and kept aloof from politics, similar to his predecessors, namely, the fourth through seventh Shia Imams; and he refused to officially approve and accompany
30030-597: Was already complete by the era of the three princely dynasties of Iranian origin, the Tahirid dynasty (820–872), Saffarid dynasty (860–903), and Samanid Empire (874–999). Abbas of Merv is mentioned as being the earliest minstrel to chant verse in the New Persian tongue and after him the poems of Hanzala Badghisi were among the most famous between the Persian-speakers of the time. The first poems of
30212-406: Was born in Tus (with many institutions in Mashhad named after him). Mashhad enjoyed relative prosperity in the Mongol period , and continued to grow. Between 1736 and 1796, Mashhad became the capital of Afsharid Iran which was ruled by the Afsharid dynasty founded by Nader Shah , whose tomb is located in the city. In the modern era, Mashhad continued to expand and became the hometown of some of
30394-400: Was devoted to the infallibility of the prophets, which led to another session on the same subject when al-Mamun took part in the debate himself. Many of these debates are recorded in the collections of Shia hadiths , such as Uyun Akhbar al-Rida . The following is an excerpt from a debate between al-Rida and an unbeliever ( zindiq ). Al-Rida is represented in historical sources as
30576-742: Was given a high status at the court of al-Mamun. While the caliph evidently desired that al-Rida should immediately engage in all official ceremonies, the latter is reported to have refrained, stipulating that he would not participate in government affairs. Al-Rida was given his own police force and guard, as well as a chamberlain and a secretary. The caliph is said to have relied on the judgment of al-Rida in religious questions and arranged for debates between him and scholars of Islam and other faiths. According to Rizvi, however, these religious disputations seem to have been designed as set pieces to embarrass al-Rida. Their accounts were later recorded by Ibn Babuwayh in his Uyun akhbar al-Rida. The seriousness of
30758-409: Was influenced by his powerful Persian vizier , af-Fadl ibn Sahl, who had Shia tendencies. Madelung, however, finds it more likely that the initiative to appoint al-Rida belonged to al-Mamun and not his vizier . Some authors have not found the appointment surprising, noting the strained or severed relations of the caliph with his Abbasid relatives. Yet others have written that al-Mamun wanted
30940-401: Was merely a means for the Imam to reach the ultimate goal of guiding the community to salvation. When al-Rida was asked why he accepted the successorship, he is reported to have emphasized his unwillingness, responding, "The same thing which forced my grandfather the Commander of the Faithful [Ali ibn Abi Talib] to join the arbitration council [i.e., coercion ]." To show his dissatisfaction with
31122-408: Was orchestrated by Prince Aristid Mikhailovich Dabizha (a Moldovan who was the Russian Consul in Mashhad) and General Radko (a Bulgarian who was commander of the Russian Cossacks in the city). Yusuf Khan ended up captured by the Persians and was executed. The modern development of the city accelerated under Reza Shah (1925-1941). Shah Reza Hospital (currently Imam Reza Hospital, affiliated with
31304-701: Was passing through to quell the insurrection of Rafi ibn al-Layth in Transoxania , he became ill and died. He was buried under the palace of Humayd ibn Qahtaba. Thus the Dar al-Imarah was known as the Mausoleum of Haruniyyeh. In 818, Ali al-Ridha was martyred by al-Ma'mun and was buried beside the grave of Harun. Although Mashhad owns the cultural heritage of Tus (including its figures like Nizam al-Mulk , Al-Ghazali , Ahmad Ghazali , Ferdowsi , Asadi Tusi , and Shaykh Tusi ), earlier Arab geographers have correctly identified Mashhad and Tus as two separate cities that are now located about 19 kilometres (12 miles) from each other. Although some believe that after this event,
31486-484: Was patronised and given official status under the Sultans of Bengal , and was a popular literary form used by Bengalis during the pre-colonial period, irrespective of their religion. Following the defeat of the Hindu Shahi dynasty, classical Persian was established as a courtly language in the region during the late 10th century under Ghaznavid rule over the northwestern frontier of the subcontinent . Employed by Punjabis in literature, Persian achieved prominence in
31668-421: Was responsible for them. This opinion is echoed by Kennedy and Bobrick, and Bayhom-Daou considers this the prevalent view among Western historians. Similarly, Rizvi writes that the sudden reversal of al-Mamun's pro-Shia policies and his attempt to eradicate the memory of al-Rida might support the accusations against the caliph. In contrast, the Sunni historians al-Tabari and al-Masudi , who both lived under
31850-410: Was ruled by Shahrukh Afshar and remained the capital of the Afsharid dynasty during Zand dynasty until Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar conquered the then larger region of Khorasan in 1796. In 1911 Yusuf Khan of Herat was declared independent in Mashhad as Muhammad Ali Shah and brought together a large group of reactionaries opposed to the revolution, and keep stirring for some time. This gave Russia
32032-405: Was sent against him by his father. Tus was stormed after a siege of several months, sacked and left a heap of ruins; 10,000 inhabitants were massacred. Those who escaped the holocaust settled in the shelter of the 'Alid sanctuary. Tus was henceforth abandoned and Mashhad took its place as the capital of the district. Later on, during the reign of the Timurid Shahrukh Mirza , Mashhad became one of
32214-419: Was still in his twenties and narrated hadith from his forefathers. Al-Kazim designated his son, Ali al-Rida, as his successor before his death in Harun al-Rashid 's prison in 799 (183 AH), following some years of imprisonment. Madelung adds that al-Kazim had made al-Rida his legatee, and that al-Rida also inherited his father's estate near Medina to the exclusion of his brothers. After al-Kazim, al-Rida
32396-488: Was taught in state schools, and was also offered as an elective course or recommended for study in some madrasas . Persian learning was also widespread in the Ottoman-held Balkans ( Rumelia ), with a range of cities being famed for their long-standing traditions in the study of Persian and its classics, amongst them Saraybosna (modern Sarajevo , Bosnia and Herzegovina), Mostar (also in Bosnia and Herzegovina), and Vardar Yenicesi (or Yenice-i Vardar, now Giannitsa , in
32578-487: Was the most suitable person for the caliphate. The reluctance of al-Rida in accepting this designation, however, might reflect his suspicion that al-Mamun had ulterior motives. With an age gap of more than twenty years, it also seems unlikely that al-Rida would ever have succeeded the much younger al-Mamun. With this appointment, some have suggested that al-Mamun hoped for the support of the Shia and respite from their numerous revolts. Others have suggested that al-Mamun
32760-680: Was thirty-five years old when his father died, whereas Donaldson holds that he was twenty or twenty-five at the time. Al-Rida lived with his father Musa al-Kazim in Medina until 179 AH. When Harun arrested Musa and transferred him to Iraq, he took care of Musa's property and the affairs of the Shias as the attorney of his father. With the death of Musa al-Kazim in Baghdad prison in Rajab 183 AH., his son Ali al-Rida became his heir and successor, according to his father's will. According to Madelung, al-Kazim had appointed al-Rida as his executor and al-Rida also inherited his father's property near Medina, excluding his brothers. According to Musa al-Kazim will,
32942-415: Was thus acknowledged as the next Imam by a significant group of al-Kazim's followers, who formed the main line of Shia and went on to become the Twelvers. The brothers of al-Rida did not claim the imamate but a number of them revolted against the Abbasids. Some of the followers of al-Kazim, however, claimed that he had not died and would return as Mahdi, the promised savior in Islam. These became known as
33124-425: Was to prevent books from being printed with wrong use of words. According to the executive guarantee of this association, the government was responsible for wrongfully printed books. Words coined by this association, such as rāh-āhan ( راهآهن ) for "railway", were printed in Soltani Newspaper ; but the association was eventually closed due to inattention. A scientific association was founded in 1911, resulting in
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