Vast sea of books in libraries of Najaf, Karbala, Mashhad and Qom, are pillars of Shia Islam in the world. Though Najaf in Iraq too have ocean of books, Qom and Mashhad had emerged major centres of Shia learning during decades of Saddam regime and had thus succeeded in storing vast knowledge, writes M Hasan
Mashhad (Iran): While the holy city of Mashhad in Iran presents wonderful historical artifacts in Imam Ali Reza museum, the collection of hundreds of Qoran and its varied manuscripts are eye-openers for visitors.
Located on the secluded site in vast complex of Imam Reza, the Astane Quds Razavi museum (AQR), popularly known as Qoran museum gives the visitors spiritual solace and a pride of their well-preserved historical past. Even though Imam Hussein Museum and Hazrat Abbas Museum in Karbala (Iraq) also have excellent collections of old copies of Qoran and manuscripts, the preservation in Imam Reza library seems to surpass all.
Maulana Ghulam Abbas, who belongs to Balrampur (UP) and is working in the shrine said that the collections are unparalleled and they have been meticulously preserved. A film of these manuscripts has also been prepared. As a part of member of Karwane Noor led by Lucknow-based Maulana Nehal Haider, I was able to closely watch these artifacts, which presented glorious past of Shia Islam.
In fact not only the manuscripts of Qoran but thousands of books of Islam and other religions in libraries of Mashhad and Qom (Iran) are centre of attractions. Prof Abbas Mehdi of Noorullah Shoshtri Madarsa, Qom said that vast sea of books in libraries of Qom are “pillars of Shia Islam in the world”. Though Najaf in Iraq too have ocean of books, Qom and Mashhad had emerged major centres of Shia learning during decades of Saddam regimes and had thus succeeded in storing vast knowledge.
Historically, the inauguration of a museum in the Golestan Palace in Tehran after Nassereddin Shah Qajar’s return from his second European tour, displaying a collection of exquisite objects in a building in the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza (AS) in Mashhad became a major concern for the custodians and the vice custodians of the shrine during the late Qajar period. However it was during 1925-1935 when Muhammad Wali Assadi, the then vice custodian of the shrine and a key political figure in the early Pahlavi period, administered the whole affairs of Astan Quds Razavi and proposed the idea of establishing a museum. Later in 1936 and under Fathullah Pakravan’s vice custodianship (1935 -1941) of the Holy Shrine, a collection of objects was selected and the AQR Museum was incorporated.
After 27 years and in accordance with a development plan for the Shrine, the first AQR Museum building was demolished and its collections were transferred to the reception hall in the south east of the Museum Courtyard in 1972. The collections were provisionally exhibited there until 1977 when a modern five-storey building for the AQR Library, Museum and Storage Rooms was constructed on the east side of the Museum Courtyard. After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the AQR Library was gradually transferred to its current location on the west side of Inqilab Islami Courtyard in the holy shrine and the AQR Museum expanded under the custodianship of Ayatollah Abbas Vaez Tabasi (1979-2016).
(M Hasan is former Chief of Bureau Hindustan Times, Lucknow)
