This shrine is the physical and spiritual centre of Qom. The burial place of Imam Reza’s sister Fatemeh, who died and was interred here in the 9th century AD, it has two huge domes, various courtyards and exquisite tiled minarets. Much of what you see today was built under Shah Abbas I and the other Safavid kings, who were anxious to establish their Shiite credentials and provide a counterweight to the sect’s shrines at Karbala and Najaf (in modern-day Iraq), at the time under Ottoman occupation. The magnificent golden cupola was an embellishment built by Qajar ruler Fath Ali Shah, and today’s ‘shahs’, the Ayatollahs of Qom, have embarked on a project to renovate and expand the complex, building a huge rear plaza and ensuring that scaffolding on the building is ubiquitous.
Non-Muslims are allowed into the grounds (women must wear a chador, available at entrance No 1), but not to see the shrine itself. The official policy is that non-Muslims should be in a group with a tour guide who has been approved by the shrine’s stewards, but we have entered by ourselves on many occasions – just assure the guards that you will not take any photographs or enter the shrine itself.
