There is a religious college...

There is a religious college, “Satt” at the place where the house of Musa ibn Khazraj stood where the Masuma had stayed. It is one of the oldest religious college of Qom . This area is known as the Maidan Mir-i-Qom. On one side is a mosque called Masjid-e-Behmeen. In Arabic “Satt” stands for “lady”. This mosque and religious college is named after lady Masuma Qom. The Mihrab (prayer niche) of the Masuma is also situated in this building, where travelers and visitors pray.

It is a matter of pity that the date of birth of Masuma is not recorded and neither is the date she passed away in 201 A.H. However in any case, history certainly proves that hardships and atrocities meted out by the Abbaside rulers and the unfavorable times were responsible for the fact that none of the daughters of Imam Musa Kazim (a.s) married. This is so because all the youths of the families of Ahle Bayt lived anonymously during the Abbaside rule.

And probably there was no young man among the Shias who could be considered eligible to marry a girl of the noble Ahle Bayt family of infallibility and purity. Or probably the noble ladies themselves exercised caution due to the prevailing circumstances. Because in 179 A.H. under the orders of Harun Rashid, Imam Musa Kazim (a.s) was summoned to Baghdad and imprisoned, and there he spent four years in confinement and at last bid farewell to the transient world in 183 A.H.

and departed for the everlasting abode, while the lady Masuma passed away in 201 A.H., hence at the time of her death she must have been at the most twenty-two years old. Thus as we have already stated above, the city of Qom which became the place of repose for Lady Masuma Qom acquired the status of a holy city for the Shia people and from that time onwards Sayyid families migrated there and made it their home as long as they lived and later they were also buried there.

Therefore their holy tombs in the vicinity of Qom and the surrounding areas are centers for visitation of the Shias of the world. Apart from this, the long history of Qom informs us that it was the center of great religious scholars and intellectuals and it is the place selected by numerous rulers, kings and royal ladies as the place of their burial. In the words of a poet: The daughter of Musa Ibn Ja'far is that brilliant moon due to which the people of Iran rest in safety and peace.

Put your forehead on its threshold. See, indeed, the life of the universe rests here. Back Index Next Previous…