Imam Reza Shrine

The Imam Reza Shrine (Persian: حرم امام رضا, romanized: Haram-e Emâm Rezâ, lit. 'Sanctuary of Imam Reza'; Arabic: العتبة الرضوية) is the mausoleum of Ali al-Rida, the eighth Imam in Shia Islam, located in Mashhad, the province of Razavi Khorasan, Iran. As one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, nearly 30 million Muslims make pilgrimages to the shrine every year, the most visited pilgrimage site in Islam. Imam Reza was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, known for his exceptional knowledge. His lineage traces through Ali and Muhammad’s daughter Fatima, via the line of Husayn. He is also part of the chain of mystical authority in Sunni Sufism, making him widely respected in Sunni Islam as well. Uyoun Akhbar Al-Ridha have recorded miracles which have occurred at the shrine. The shrine covers an area of 1,200,000 square meters, making it the largest mosque in the world, after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina. The Goharshad Mosque, the Astan Quds Razavi Central Museum, The Central Library of Astan Quds Razavi, and the Razavi University of Islamic Sciences, are also contained within the complex. The complex was added to Iran's National Heritage List on 6 January 1932, and on 2 February 2017, it was added to Iran's tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Also buried within the shrine are members of the Timurid, Safavid and Qajar dynasties, alongside the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid, polymath Sheikh Bahāʾī, Crown Prince Abbas Mirza, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and many other notable political figures, scholars, and clerics. The city of Mashhad has been named the Cultural Capital of the Islamic World by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.