Jamkaran, near Qom, Iran
Jamkaran Mosque
Muhammad al-Mahdi
Not a burial site -- Shia belief holds that the 12th Imam is alive in occultation and has no grave, so this is presented as a site of appearance rather than a shrine.
Mosque and shrine in the village of Jamkaran on the outskirts of Qom, Iran, also known as Saheb al-Zaman Mosque. Twelver tradition holds that the twelfth Imam, the awaited Mahdi, personally appeared here in 984 CE to Sheikh Hassan ibn Muthlih Jamkarani alongside the prophet Khidr, instructing that a mosque be built on the site. It now receives more than 15 million pilgrims a year, with Tuesday and Wednesday nights especially crowded, when believers gather at a "well of requests" behind the mosque and tie strings to its grating in hope their petitions reach the Hidden Imam. The mosque fell into disrepair by the late Qajar era, until the early 20th-century scholar Mohammad Taqi Bafiqi revived its weekly vigils and drew renewed attention to the site; its popularity grew sharply again from the mid-1990s onward. The complex today has five domes, two minarets, and an expansive courtyard, the Sahib al-Zaman Courtyard, added and renovated in stages from the Buyid through Safavid and modern eras.
Jamkaran Mosque
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