Sanabad was a village where the palace of Humayd ibn Qahtaba was located in the early 3rd century AH. When Harun al-Rashid died, he was buried in this palace. A few years later, during the caliphate of al-Ma'mun, in 202 AH, Ali al-Rida, who was on his way to Baghdad was poisoned in the house of the emir of Sanabad, and al-Ma'mun buried his body near Harun's grave. From then on, that spot was called "Mashhad al-Rida" , or Mashhad(place of martyrdom)[1] for short.[2][3] The city developed around the grave of al-Rida as the holiest site in Iran for the Shia.[4] Gradually, many pilgrims were attracted to this place, and their number increased year by year.[5]

Aerial view of al-Rida shrine, 1976

References

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  1. ^ The British Intervention in Transcaspia. p. 84.
  2. ^ Bosworth, C. Edmund (2007). Historic Cities of the Islamic World. Brill. ISBN 9789004153882.
  3. ^ Dehkhoda, Ali-Akbar. "مشهد".
  4. ^ Momen, Moojan (1985). An Introduction to Shi'i Islam. Yale University Press. p. 42. ISBN 9780300034998.
  5. ^ Ponafidine, Pierre. Life in the Moslem East. p. 365.