Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/448

 268 MASHAD, THE HOLY CITY OF PERSIA

badh, and a strong and high edifice stands over it (i.e. over the tomb); the people are zealots regarding this mashhad (place of martyrdom).' i

About the same time Mukaddasi (985) mentions a mosque here, of which he says, 'there is none finer in all Khurasan '; and it may be added that this mosque, though in a dilapidated condi- tion, is still standing in Mashad.^

Towards the end of this century or in the beginning of the eleventh century, Mahmud of Ghaznah, ' Allah-breathing lord,' ordered that additions be made to the shrine, in consequence of a dream which he had, and that a wall be thrown around the precinct.^ In 1154 a.d. the tomb is again mentioned, though incidentally, by Idrisi ; while Yakut (about the year 1216), who had quoted the earlier Muhalhil, as above, also speaks of the grave, together with the sepulchre of Harun, as in the environs of Tus, showing that Mashad had not yet come into real promi- nence.* But the destruction of Tus followed directly after- wards through the Mongol invasion in 1220 ; and a century and a half later it was turned into a desert. By this time Mashad had come to the forefront and supplanted the ancient capital.

Mustaufi, writing in 1340, speaks of the town, which was now well developed, under its name Mashad ; and a few years later, Ibn Batutah (1355) described it as a large city, with markets plentifully supplied, and he gave a somewhat detailed

1 Ibn Haukal, ed. De Goeje, 2. 313- noted that the remains of the Caliph 314. Compare also Yate, pp. 314-316. and the Imam lay under the same

2 See Mukaddasi, ed. De Goeje, 3. dome, and that Mamun made both 319, and compare Le Strange, Eastern graves alike, so that the Shiahs did Caliphate, p. 389 j Sykes, JBA8. not know which one to revere. The 1910, p. 1130. distinction, however, seems to have

8 Cf. Sykes, JBAS. 1910, p. 1130. been preserved, for today only Riza's

4 Idrisi, tr. Jaubert, Geographie sepulchre is kept up, and Harun ar-

d'J^drisi, 2. 184 ; Yakut, tr. Barbier Rashid's is no longer marked. The

de Meynard, Diet. geog. p. 396. fact that Harun and Riza were buried

Yakut's designation for the environs side by side is recorded likewise by

of Tus is 'the gardens of the city.' Zaidar, Umayads and Abbasids, tr.

Strange, Eastern Caliphate, p. 390) (Gibb Memorial Series, vol. 4).

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