Mašhad

Mashhad grew around the shrine of Imam Reza, the eighth Imam of Twelver Shi'a Islam, in the fertile valley country of northeastern Iran. Pilgrimage brought visitors, gifts, commerce, and religious patronage, giving the settlement an importance beyond its local agricultural base. Markets and services supplied travellers as well as residents, while roads connected the city with other centres of Khorasan and the routes toward Central Asia.

Under the Timurid ruler Shah Rukh, Mashhad became one of the principal cities of his realm. In 1418 his wife Goharshad funded a mosque beside the shrine. Later rulers also patronized the holy place, and in the eighteenth century Nader Shah made Mashhad a centre of his power. The shrine's sacred importance helped connect the city with a wide world of pilgrims and patrons.