Shah-e- Cheragh Holy Shrine

Shah-e- Cheragh Holy Shrine

Shahe Cheragh Holy Shrine is one of the essential tourist spots in Shiraz especially for pilgrim tourism that uniquely combines spiritual and artistic significance. The monument dates back to the twelfth century during the Atabaks periods in Fars. Later on, the construction of this holy shrine was renovated by the governor of the province, Malik Tash Khatoun. She also ordered to build of a big school and several shops surrounding the area dedicated to the holy shrine. This sacred place is considered to be meaningful for the people of Shiraz and as the statistics show, the target of attention for the tourists.

During the Abbasid period, King Ismaeil ordered to reconstruct the holy place again, but after a year, the building was hit by a powerful earthquake. Finally, Nader Shah, the great king of the Afsharid dynasty, rebuilt this hallowed shrine after his appreciable victory against the Afghans and arrived at Shiraz. Moreover, Nader Shah ordered to hang down a huge cresset made of gold and silver exactly beneath the dome. Unfortunately, another earthquake seriously damaged the building again, and the precious cresset was sold to amend the damages and costs of the renovations. This holy shrine has undergone several reconstructions and many changes. Its architecture is alluring and spectacular, with amazing tile and mirror works.

The holy shrine of Shahe Cheragh belongs to Ahmad Ibn Musa, who is Imam Musa Al Kazim the seventh Muslim Imam’s eldest son. It has been said that he was murdered around the tenth century. Historically speaking, after the martyrdom of Imam Reza, the eight Muslim Imam, his brothers, together with fifteen thousand followers, headed to Toos city, near Mashhad in Iran, to visit the holy grave of him and avenge his enemy. When the Abbasid Kalif, Mamoun was informed about it, he ordered the governors of different territories to stop them and forced them to get back to Medina.

Following his order, the governor of Fars forcefully ordered the caravan to return to Medina and when they avoided it, they fought against them and killed many of Imam’s followers. Ahmad Ibn Musa took refuge in one of his friend’s houses in Shiraz. After a year, they found him and immediately killed him. The house was also demolished on his corpse. The story behind naming this holy shrine as “Shah-e-Cheragh”, is very interesting and worth mentioning here.

Surrounding this holy place, there used to be many old, clay houses. An old lady lived in one of them who saw a violent light from outside every Friday night when she came close to her window. This continued to happen every week, and the light kept shining till early in the morning. The old lady got suspicious and thought it might have a heavenly origin. She met with Azad Al Dawla from the Alebouyeh dynasty in the tenth century and informed him about what she kept seeing every week. The king stayed at her home one Friday night hoping to see the light. At midnight, the old lady saw the light again and hurriedly awakened the king crying: “Oh King, the Light!” when the king woke up, he saw the light from outside but when he went out close towards the coming light, it suddenly disappeared. He traced the light several times, and it happened again.

The king, then, decided to investigate the spot with his men and finally found a tombstone that belonged to Ahmad Ibn Musa, the son of the seventh Muslim Imam. Before he found the grave, it was completely covered by clay, and no one knew about it. Azad Al Dawla immediately ordered to build a sepulcher there.

The burial monument was finally constructed during the Atabakan period in the eleventh century. The architecture style is in the Azari School of Art with such great designs. The building has two main entrance doors on the north and south sides of the shrine accessible to visitors. The tile works on top of the arches and the marquetries of the roofs are beautiful. Around the shrine in the yard, there are gorgeous chambers that have created a splendid view of the building.

The mirror works of the interior are so fascinating that look grand with the reflections of the chandelier’s lights. The first altar that was made of silver was constructed by Fath -Ali Shah Qajar, the second king of Qajar. Another altar was also built years later which was made of silver. In the south wing of the building, the shrine museum is placed.

There are more than eight thousand precious historical objects in this museum belonging to different eras. They are so expensive and artistic in style that every visitor needs to take a look. There is also a library close to the museum with one hundred manuscripts. The open area of the building is an extended yard with two entrance doors both in the north and the south wing. The yard floor is covered with tile works. In the middle of the yard, there is a large basin around which one can see beautiful trees. Apart from the main entrances, there are two other ones leading to an old market named “Bazaar-e-Haaji”, and “Atique Mosque”. The shrine area has four major halls called, Imam Javad Hall, Hazrat Masoumeh Hall, The Main Hall, and The Atique Hall. There are also three prayer halls in the interior area.

What stands out in this holy area, is the spectacular azure dome with golden designs that shine like a star in the blue sky. The two prayer towers are set in azure color and stand on the two sides of the dome with golden finials at the apex. In between the azure color of these beautiful constructions, there are several wooden pillars of the veranda with delicate engravings on top of each in line with the roof which is also wooden in polished brown shade. One can say that the holy shrine of Shahe Cheragh is a typical example of symmetrical Iranian architecture that is artistic and harmonious both in external construction and matched coloring.