41Booklet serving as a pilgrim’s guide (ziyarat-nameh) to the shrine of Emam Reza in Mashhad

Iran, ca. 1950, sold in the clock bazaar in Mashhad Lithographic print on paper, probably from an etching 3.74 x 5.70 in. (9.5 x 14.5 cm) Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Paris, 71.1967.111.75 Photograph courtesy of the museum

This booklet is a popular abridged example of a guide for pilgrims visiting a holy precinct, a ziyarat-nameh. In this case, the guidebook introduces the Mashhad shrine of Emam Reza, the only Shiʿi emam buried in Iranian soil. The shrine’s golden dome (gonbad) flanked by two minarets is depicted on the booklet’s front cover and identified by an inscription directly above (fig. 1). On top of the dome are two banners in green, the color of the Prophet Mohammad’s family, an effigy of the radiant sun, and two doves, likely symbolizing the peaceful atmosphere. In the pink area below the dome, Emam Reza is praised as the (ultimate) authority of religion (soltan-e din). The red band above the image gives the title of the booklet as Ziyarat-nameh-ye dowreh-ye haram-e motahhar-e Emam Reza, or “The pilgrim’s guide for a visit to the pure shrine of Emam Reza.” The red band below the image specifies the booklet’s price as 3 riyal.

The booklet’s first page essentially reproduces the same image as on the front cover, albeit now in black and white, while also detailing the contents (vid. 1). In addition to guiding pilgrims during their visit to the shrine of Emam Reza, the booklet also contains general instructions on how to conduct a pious visit, as abridged from the widely-known guidebook Mafatih al-Jinan (The Keys to the Heavens), compiled by the Shiʿi scholar ʿAbbas Qommi (d. 1941). The religious merit of reading these instructions is said to equal a visit to the shrines of all of the Shiʿi emams. In the space below the dome, the booklet’s title is repeated (ziyarat-nameh), followed by a reference to the inclusion of poems by the “Fourteen Infallibles” (chahardah maʿsum), that is, Mohammad, Fatima, and the twelve Shiʿi emams.

Video 1. Turning the pages of the booklet (ziyarat-nameh), 71.1967.111.75. Video by Keelan Overton, June 2024.

The text block that follows is also printed in black and white and presents a variety of relatively short pious texts and prayers to be recited at specific occasions during the visit. All of the texts are in poetry, thus presumably easing their memorization.

At the end of the booklet is another black and white image that is again reproduced in color, this time on the back cover (fig. 2). The image depicts one of the key scenes related to Emam Reza, when Caliph Maʾmun presents poisoned grapes to the emam. The red band above labels the caliph as “The cursed Maʾmun” (Maʾmun-e malʿun). The text in the yellow band below the image specifies the booklet as being sold in the bookshop of the bookbinder Seyyed Ahmad, located in the clock bazaar (bazar-e saʿat) in Mashhad.

Pious booklets such as this one were produced as commodified instructions for pilgrims, many of whom would desire guidance on how to behave adequately during their visit. They were sold in bookshops in the shrine’s vicinity or by itinerant booksellers of popular literature on the streets. Additionally, the booklets served as souvenirs commemorating the pious visit after the pilgrim’s return home.

In terms of production and physical appearance, the booklet is similar to the numerous copies of ‘bazaar literature,’ that is, popular booklets of an entertaining or instructive character published around the middle of the twentieth century (Marzolph 1994) (figs. 3-5). In addition to popular stories and romances, these booklets would at times also treat matters of religious import, such as the death (vafat) of Bibi Shahrbanu, Emam Hosayn’s alleged Iranian wife (fig. 3; see also Marzolph 1994, 68, no. 100), or the death of the Prophet’s daughter Fatima, the wife of ʿAli and mother of Hasan and Hosayn (fig. 4). The tale known as “‌Disobeying the parents” (ʿAq[q]-e valedayn) is illustrated with an image of the five members of the Muslim ‘holy family’ visiting the al-Baqiʿ cemetery (Jannat al-Baqiʿ) in Medina (fig. 5; see also Marzolph 1994, 32, no. 6).

Ulrich Marzolph Retired adjunct professor of Islamic studies at the Georg-August-University, Göttingen, Germany

Citation: Ulrich Marzolph, “Booklet serving as a pilgrim’s guide (ziyarat-nameh) to the shrine of Emam Reza in Mashhad.” Catalog entry in The Emamzadeh Yahya at Varamin: An Online Exhibition of an Iranian Shrine, directed and edited by Keelan Overton. 33 Arches Productions, January 15, 2025. Host: Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online.