The Holy Shrine of Imam al-Ridha (a)[1] and its affiliated institutions and offices are called Astan Quds Razavi, which was formerly called “Darbar Velayat Madar” and “Sarkar Feyz Asar.”
In the year 203 AH, the eighth Shi’ah Imam was martyred by Ma’mun, the Abbasid Caliph, and then his holy body was buried in the garden of Humayd ibn Qahtabah in the village of Sanabad, near the grave of Harun al-Rashid, Ma’mun’s father. Since then, this place became known as Mashhad al-Ridha or Mashhad.
The first mausoleum of Imam al-Ridha was the structure built around the grave of Harun. However, due to some religious prejudices which existed against the Shi’ahs at that time, the mausoleum of Imam al-Ridha has been devastated and reconstructed several times. At first, Sabkatakin (351-387 AH) the founder of the Ghaznavid dynasty, ordered the shrine of Imam al-Ridha to be demolished, but his son, Sultan Mahmud (387-421 AH), rebuilt it again.
Also, in the 6th century AH, on Sultan Sanjar Seljuqi’s order, a large dome was installed over the tomb of Imam al-Ridha (a). When the Mongols invaded Iran in 618 AH, this place was destroyed yet nearly a century later it was reconstructed. During the Timurid period, the first mosque in Mashhad was built in the shrine to qiblah (the direction of the Ka’bah) by the order of Goharshad, the wife of Shahrukh Shah. In addition, seminary schools were established around the shrine.
In the 10th century AH, Shah Tahmasb Safavi ordered that another dome be built on top of the previous dome. Also, he gold-plated the dome and built a gilded minaret next to it.
In addition, during Shah Abbas’s reign, the gilding of the dome and the decoration of the porticos, which had been looted by Khan Babak, were completed. The structure of the top of the minarets, called the goldasteh, and the dome, which was designed by Shaykh Baha’i, is such that if you look at the shrine complex from any direction, the dome is placed between the two minarets.
The building of the shrine of the eighth Shi’ah Imam expanded over time, and in each period, a building was added to this complex. Also, the damage caused by natural disasters and wars was repaired over time.
In the year 500 AH, a wooden box was installed on the holy grave of the Imam, which is located in a place called the sardab (basement). Later on, boxes covered with gold and inscribed with Quranic verses and Persian poems were replaced by the previous boxes. Furthermore, the dharih (burial chamber) made up of steel, which was later on replaced with a silver one, was erected on the holy grave of the Imam. The holy shrine of Imam al-Ridha (a) is a complex of buildings including the sanctuary (bast), Arch, top of minarets, saqqakhaneh (the public place for drinking water), and porticos (riwaq) such as Dar al-Huffadh, Dar al-Sa’adah, Dar al-Faydh, Dar al-Salam, Dar al-Sorour in which the pilgrims perform prayer and recite the Holy Quran and supplications. Moreover, there are several courtyards in the shrine, including the new courtyard, the museum courtyard, the Old Courtyard, the Quds Courtyard, Imam Khomeini Courtyard and the Jomhouri Courtyard.
Naqarehkhaneh (the place of beating kettle drums) is another place of this complex in which a group of people beat on the drums and play the trumpets every day in the morning before sunrise and in the evening before sunset.
The organization of Astan Quds Razavi has cultural, agricultural, economic and social sections. The Razavi Grand Library, Razavi Museum and also the Razavi University of Islamic Sciences are among the cultural sites of Astan Quds Organization. The supervision of the complex and facilities in Astan Quds Razavi is often entrusted to the individual who is called the trustee, the deputy of the custodian or the custodian of Astan Quds Razavi. The first custodian of the shrine of the eighth Shi’ah Imam was Husayn ibn Ali Saed al-Barbari, whose father used to narrate hadith from Imam al-Ridha.
Serving in the shrine of Imam al-Ridha (a) has always been one of the honours of the people and in some historical periods, this position was passed from a father to his son.
One of the most important events that took place in Astan Quds Razavi in recent times is the April 1912 bombardment of the shrine which was carried out by the Tsarist Russian artillery fire killing nearly two hundred pilgrims and causing some damage to the golden dome and other buildings inside the shrine. Also, in 1994, on the Day of Ashura, a powerful bomb exploded next to the dharih thereby killing a group of mourning pilgrims and damaging the building severely.
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