over such idle tales, we know that Imam Riza's grave (perhaps benefiting originally from its position by the side of Harun ar-Rashid) soon became a place of pilgrimage, and was certainly the cause of the settlement that grew up about the humble village of Sanabad, the place being called mash-had[1]
'the place of martrydom,' which became Mashad (more accurately spelled
Already in the tenth century we have at least three kindred references to it in connection with the ancient city of Tus and the dependent four borough towns or districts that made up the greater metropolis. Thus, the literary writer Mis'ar Muhalhil (about 941 A.D.) writes:—
'Tus is made up of the union of four towns, two of which are large and the other two of minor importance; its area is a square mile. It has beautiful monuments that date from the time of Islam, such as the house of Hamid, son of Kahtabah, the tomb of Ali, son of Musa, and that of Rashid in the enivrons (lit. gardens) of the town.'[2]
Istakhri (951 A.D.) has the same in substance:—
'Taking Tus as a dependency of the province of Nishapur, its towns are Radkan, Tabaran, Bazdghur, and Naukan, in which [latter] is the tomb of Ali, son of Musa ar-Biza (may the peace of God be upon him!), and the tomb of Harun ar-Rashid. . . . The tomb of Riza is about one quarter of a farsakh distant towards the village called Sanabadh.'[3]
Ibn Haukal (978 a.d.) repeats the statement of his predecessor, with the slight variation that he defines the position of Riza's tomb more precisely as located
'within sight of the town of Naukan, in the neighborhood of the tomb of Harun ar-Rashid at the holy mash-had, in the village of Sana
- ↑ Though the village of Sanabad (Sanabadh) no longer exists, having been absorbed by the town of Mashad, its name survives in that of an under-ground canal which supplies water to Sarab, the northwest quarter of Mashad; see Yate, p. 316; Sykes, JRAS. 1910, p. 1130.
- ↑ This statement is quoted by Yakut (1220), tr. Barbier de Meynard, Dict. ge'}}og. p. 396.
- ↑ Istakhri, ed. De Goeje, 1. 257-258. Compare in this connection Yate, Khurasan, pp. 314-315, and the briefer quotation from Ibn Haukal in Ouseley, Oriental Geography, p. 215.
