VISITATION OF A KING TO THE SHRINE OF IMAM AL REZA (A)

Fourth: The author of Matla’ al-Shams (a book of history) has mentioned that Shah ‘Abbas I (AD 1588–1629) resided in Mashhad on the twenty-fifth of Dhu’l-Hijjah, AH 1006 after ‘Abd al-Rahman the Uzbek had robbed the holy shrine of Imam al-Rida, leaving nothing except the golden fence. On the twenty-eighth of the same month, Shah ‘Abbas I headed towards the city of Harat and brought back all the robbed things and arranged the affairs in that city. When he came back to Mashhad, he resided for a whole month during which he reconstructed the yard of Imam al-Rida’s holy shrine, conferred upon the custodians of that holy place generously, and endued them with his kindness. When he returned to Iraq, he visited Khurasan again in AH 1008 and spent the entire winter there. During this period, he had the honor of serving the holy shrine by himself.

RECONSTRUCTION OF THE HOLY SHRINE

Fulfilling the vow that he had made, Shah ‘Abbas I, in AH 1009, traveled to the holy shrine of Imam al-Rida walking. He covered this long distance in twenty-eight days. When he arrived in Khurasan, he ordered to enlarge the yard of the holy shrine. At that time, the entrance to the holy shrine was from the hall known as ‘Ali Shir’s Hall, which was an untidy hall to the end of one side of the holy shrine. Shah ‘Abbas I thus ordered the yard to be reconstructed in a way making this hall lie in its center. He then built another hall in the opposite side. He also built a central way that passed through the two gates of the yard and the hall and enrolled the city from its western gate to the eastern. He also dug out many springs and channels in the city. In the middle of this public central street, he dug a rivulet flowing to a big pond that he made in the center of the yard of the holy shrine to penetrate it towards the eastern side of the street.

The inscriptions found on these buildings were carved by Mirza Muhammad Rida Sadr al-Kuttab, ‘Ali Rida al-’Abbasi, and Muhammad Rida al-Imami.

Shah ‘Abbas I also gilded the blessed dome, as is known from the inscription carved on this dome and reading the following: “In the Name of Allah; the All-beneficent, the All-merciful. This is one of the greatest successful matters that Allah the All-glorified has granted to the greatest Sultan, the lord of the Iranians, the owner of the Prophetic immaculate lineage and the ‘Alid dazzling pedigree, who seeks blessings from the dust of the feet of the custodians of this Divinely purified shrine and the visitors of this Paradisiacal, shining garden, and who propagates the traditions of his infallible forefathers, the Safavid Sultan and the son of the Sultan, Abu’l-Muzaffar Shah ‘Abbas al-Husayni al-Musawi Bahadir Khan who had the pleasure to walk on feet from the sultanate house in Isfahan to visit this most honorable sanctuary. He had the honor of gilding this dome from his purest money in AH 1010. This was finished in AH 1016.”