Simultaneously with the birthday anniversary of Hazrat Zahra (S.A.) and Women’s Day, the opening ceremony of the book “A Select of Goharshad Mosque’s Documents (from Safavid to Qajar)” which is written by two expert ladies of Documents Center of Astan Quds Razavi was held. This is while the ceremony was the pre-session to the upcoming Goharshad World Award.
The Secretary of Goharshad International Conference at the ceremony, saying that during the last two periods of the festival, eight cultured and benevolent women have been appreciated, mentioned the purpose of the award as promoting the culture of philanthropy among women in the Muslim world and said, “Hazrat Zahra (S.A.), in more than 1400 years ago was the first donator lady who endowed the springs and gardens that were given to her by her father, whereas in the Western world, the ownership of women was recognized in the 19th century and the endowment without ownership is not possible.”
Goharshad Mosque; One of the 14 Most Distinguished Buildings in the World
Dr. Ali Sarvari Majd, highlighting that the book focuses on the documents of Goharshad Mosque, pointed to the importance of this mosque throughout history and stated, “The Shrine until Timurid era was limited to Beit Sharif and the up-head mosque and with construction of Goharshad Mosque and the three north side porticos that are built by Lady Goharshad, one hectare was added to the area of the Razavi Shrine, which was several times the area of the Shrine at the time.” He said that the mosque is one of the 14 most distinguished buildings in the world and stated, “Goharshad Mosque is not only a religious building, but a place for learning and this also can be seen in the endowment document.”
A Mosque with 400 Years of Recorded History
In the ceremony, the Director of the Department of Documents and Press of Astan Quds Razavi, considered the Goharshad Mosque as one of the most successful mosques in the Islamic world over its influence on the city and asserted, “Goharshad Mosque was one of the greatest endowments in its time, which is the founder of a civilization. Next to the mosque, other mosques like Parizad and Two-Door were built and in fact the Goharshad Mosque after the Holy Shrine has paved the way for the foundation of a religious city.
Dr. Abolfazl Hassanabadi, pointing out that Goharshad Mosque is the only major mosque in the world which was founded by a woman, referred to its regional significance and said, “At the time, the Mosque was one of the important centers in the regional affairs of the Great Khorasan and cultural relations between Mashhad and Herat.” He mentioned the documented history of the Mosque as one of the other aspects to consider, emphasizing, “There are a lot of mosques in the world; however, we cannot find many mosques with 400 years of history.”
Four Centuries of Safekeeping
Also, during the ceremony, Dr. Zahra Talaee, one of the authors, gave a brief introduction on the book and said, “The documents of the Mosque are from among 2500 documents available at the Documentation Center, and finally after several stages, 84 pages were selected. The book has been classified in six issues of administrative structure, custodians and observers of the Mosque, Mosque jobs, endowments and expenses, repairs, ceremonies and gatherings held in the Mosque.” She mentioned one of the features of the work as writing the introduction on the administrative structure of the Goharshad Mosque, which provides new perspectives on the subject. She went on to say that the numerous documents available at the Documents Center of Astan Quds Razavi were a sign of the commitment and safekeeping of Astan Quds’s inheritors throughout history.
It is worth mentioning, at the end of the ceremony, the book “A select of Goharshad Mosque’s Documents (from Safavid to Qajar)” was officially unveiled by the presence of the Secretary of the Goharshad International Conference, Director of Documents and Press Office, the authors and a group of managers of the Libraries, Museums and Documents Center of Astan Quds Razavi. This work has been published by Dr. Zahra Talaee and Dr. Elaheh Bahram Farimani, the experts of Documents and Press Center, and it is published by Libraries, Museums and Documents Center of Astan Quds Razavi.