ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Lady Fatima Masuma (a) of Qum The Holy City of Qum 4.1 - Introduction Qum is the smallest province in Iran. It was previously a district belonging to the state of Arāk, then it was attached to Tehran until it was finally certified as an independent province. The province has an area of approximately 12,000 square kilometres. It is bounded by Tehran and Sāweh to the north, Delījān and Kāshān to the south, and the Salt Lake and Tafresh to the east.

The province includes one city, four regions, nine rural districts and 256 villages. Since it adjoins the central desert, Qum has a semi-desert climate. In 1947 C.E, its population was no more than 150,000 but by the time of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 CE, the population of Qum had reached about 400,000.

After the revolution, the city underwent rapid growth and its current population approaches 1,000,000, a large number of whom are religious students coming from all over the world to study in this great centre of Islamic Learning, under the holy patronage and in the blessed presence of Lady Fatima Masuma (A). Aside from being a world-renowned centre of Islamic knowledge, Qum is also: • an agricultural city, producing wheat, cotton, pomegranate, fig, pistachio and melon.

●an industrial city, manufacturing carpets, pottery, plastic products and building materials. • a commercial city, due to its location at the crossroads that connects northern Iran to its south, and the vast number of pilgrims. A slight disadvantage of Qum’s location is that its main water supply is through the salty rivers that come from the mountains around it. 4.2 - The history of Qum In the period just before the advent of Islam, Qum was populated by Zoroastrians.

The city was conquered by the Muslims in 23 A.H, under the command of Abū Mūsā Ash`arī, and has remained Muslim since.[^1] In 66 A.H, after the uprising of Mukhtār (who was seeking revenge for the murder of Imam Husain (A) in Karbalā), a group of his Shi`a followers from the Banī Asad tribe travelled from Kufa to Qum, and took refuge in the area of Jamkarān.[^2] In the year 83 A.H, a large number of Arabs belonging to the Ash`arī tribe of Yemen, migrated and settled in this region and repopulated the city.

From the beginning of its Islamic history, the city of Qum became the centre of the Shi`a in the area, and by the end of the first Islamic century, more than 6000 Shi`a had settled in the city.

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