The Mausoleum of Seyed Mir Ahmad Ibn Moussa Alkazem, the brother of Imam Reza as the eighth Shiite Imam is known as the Shah Cheragh Mausoleum located in Shiraz City. Because of the high position of the mausoleum, it attracts a large number of Muslims who make a pilgrimage to one of the descendants of the prophet of Islam.
The holly Shah Cheragh lived at the time of the Caliph Ma’mun of Abbasid clan. When he left the capital for Khorasan Province to meet his brother Imam Reza, many of his Shiite Muslim followers accompanied him. The number of parties accompanying him on the way of Khorasan even grew as he passed through one city to another.
This scared the Caliph believing that they are gathering an army to riot against him.
The Caliph ordered the governors of most important cities of the ways through which the crowd was passing to halt Shah Cheragh and his followers. This made the governor of Shiraz City order to his soldiers to attack and kill the crowd.
For a long time after this massacre, nobody even knew where Shah Cheragh was buried until the burial site was finally found during the reign of Atabak Abu-Bakr Sa’d Ibn Zangi (the 1130s CE). According to historical myths, an old woman saw a light flickering from a far place every night. Given that the light did not stop, she informed other villagers of the light and they contacted the authorities accordingly.
Atabak Abu-Bakr investigated the matter but when he was awaiting the light to appear, he went to sleep. He dreamt that the light was emitting from the place where Shah Cheragh and his followers were buried and so when waked up, he ordered the construction of a mausoleum for this pious man at that place
The mausoleum includes an entrance Iwan leading to the inside of the building where there is a domed chamber surrounded by four big halls (Shah Neshin). The door of the entrance Iwan is known as Zel-ol-Sultan meaning the sultan’s shadow. The door was decorated formerly with silver but was later replaced with an enameled door by Isfahan’s masters, while the old door was moved to the Astaneh Museum. There is also a mosque behind the mausoleum on the west side.
In addition to two main doors, the mausoleum has two side doors, one of which opens to the Haji Bazaar and the other to the Atique or Jam-e Mosque. The importance of this mausoleum among Muslims has led all the rulers of Shiraz to develop it ranging from making a dome to enhancing the decorations.
