Mashhad
Mashhad
Mashad, Meshhed, Meshed, Sanabad | |
|---|---|
City | |
 Seal | |
| Motto(s): Mashhad: Smart City, City of Hope and Life | |
 Map of Mashhad | |
  Mashhad Location in Iran | |
| Coordinates: 36°19′35″N 59°32′36″E / 36.32639°N 59.54333°E[1][2] | |
| Country |  Iran |
| Province | Razavi Khorasan |
| County | Mashhad |
| District | Central |
| Mashhad-Sanabad-Tus | 818 AD |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Mohammad Reza Ghalandar Sharif[3] |
| • Chairperson of City Council | Hassan Movahedian |
| Area | |
• City | 351 km2 (136 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 995 m (3,264 ft) |
| Population (2016) | |
• City | 3,001,184[5] |
| • Rank | 2nd in Iran |
| • Density | 6,500/km2 (17,000/sq mi) |
| • Urban | 3,317,381[7] |
| • Metro | 4,543,000 </ref> |
| Over 2.5 million pilgrims and tourists per year[9] | |
| Demonym(s) | Mashhadi, Mashadi, Mashdi (informal) |
| GDP (Nominal, 2024) | |
| • City | US$24.9 billion |
| • Per capita | US$7,300 |
| Time zone | UTC+03:30 (IRST) |
| Climate | BSk |
| Largest district by area | District 9 (64 km2, land area) |
| Largest district by population | District 2 (480,000) |
| Website | www.mashhad.ir |
Mashhad (Persian: مشهد [mæʃˈhæd] ⓘ), historically also known as Mashad (/məˈʃæd/ mə-SHAD),[11][12][13][14][15] Meshhed, or Meshed,[16] is the second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the north-east of the country[17] about 740 kilometres (460 miles) east of Tehran.[18] In the Central District of Mashhad County, it serves as the capital of Razavi Khorasan province, the county, and the district.[19] It has a population of about 3,400,000 (2016 census), which includes the areas of Mashhad Taman and Torqabeh.[20]
Mashhad has been governed by different ethnic groups. A small village, by the 9th century it was known as Sanabad and was located—along with Tus and other villages—on the ancient Silk Road connecting them with Merv to the east. It outgrew surrounding villages and became known by its current name, meaning "place of martyrdom", in reference to 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 the most pilgrimaged site in Islam,[21][22][23] visited by nearly 30 million each year.[24][25][26]
Mashhad became associated with Ferdowsi, the Persian poet and author of the Shahnameh, who 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 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 "The spiritual capital of Iran."[27][28] The city was also named the Capital of Islamic Culture by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in 2017.[29]
History
[edit]Etymology and early history
[edit]Ancient Greek sources mention the passage and residence of Alexander the Great in this land, which was called "Susia" (Ancient Greek: Σούσια), in 330 BC.[30][31][32][33] 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.[34] Pliny the Elder, says there is a city in the middle of Parthia, near Arsace and Nisiaea, called "Alexandropolis" after its founder.[35] Many Muslim historians, from the 10th to the 16th century AD, attribute the founding of "Sanabad" (the old name of the city) to Alexander.[36][37]
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 Dhu al-Qarnayn. [38][39][40][41][42]
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).[43][44] 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.[45]
The ancient Parthian city of Patigrabanâ, mentioned in the Behistun inscription (520 BC) of the Achaemenid Emperor Darius the Great, may have been located at the Mashhad.[46]
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, 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.[47] 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.[48]
Mongolian invasion: Ilkhanids
[edit]Although some believe that after this event, 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 the 14th century under the Il-Khanids, seems to have been gradually replaced by al-Mashhad or Mashhad.[49]
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.[50] In 1161, however, the Seljuks seized 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).[51] Thus the survivors of the massacres migrated to Mashhad.[52] When 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.[9] 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 is thought to be cooked with any food available (the main ingredients are meat, grains and abundant spices) and be a Mongolian word.[53][54]