By: Fatima Hussain

QUM

First we visited the shrine of Bibi Masooma-e-Qum (sa). She was Imam Musa Kazim’s (as) daughter and Imam Reza’s (as) sister. Her love for Imam Reza(as) was like that of Bibi Zainab’s (sa) love for Imam Hussain (as). Imam Reza(as) has said, “Whoever visits Masuma in Qum, it is like he has visited me.” After that, we went to the Islamic universities in Qum. The males went to Jamiatuz Mustafa and females went to Jamiatuz Zahra. We toured the school, prayed there, and listened to their presentations. Two of the girls in our group got lost in Jamiatul Zahra. My sister Zainab and her friend Alina got seperated from the group, but thankfully Farwa found them and brought them to the buses. After visiting the Islamic schools, we went to Masjid-e-Jamkaran for Maghribain prayers and to eat from the Dastarkhan of Imam Mehdi (atfs). It is said that Imam Mahdi (atfs) visits this masjid every Tuesday

SHIRAZ

Shiraz is the last place we visited in Iran. There we visited the shrine of an Imamzadeh. It was the shrine of Syed Alladin Hussein ibn Musa al Kazim. There was a hall in the shrine in which we were addressed by an Ayatollah and the mayor of Shiraz. The city of Shiraz is also famous for its spectacular gardens, mausoleums of famous poets Hafiz and Saadi, and Persepolis. Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE). We visited Persepolis the day we left Shiraz and started the long journey back home. We had to fly from Shiraz to Tehran then catch a connecting flight back home. At the Shiraz airport, there was a little chaos when we almost missed our flight but we were able to catch it in the last minute after a lot of dua and help from the amazing volunteers. After that, we were able to reach home without any problems although there were some delays in our flights. Overall it was a great trip and I hope I can visit Iran again someday.

Shrine of Bibi Masooma-e-Qum (sa)

Masjid-e-Jamkaran

Shrine of Syed Alladin Hussein ibn Musa al Kazim

Persepolis