Qom - Attractions of Qom, Qom space center, Universities in Qom, Seminaries of Qom

34°39N 50°57E, pop (2000e) 761 000. Industrial town in Qom district, Markazi, Iran; on R Anarbar, 120 km/75 mi SW of Tehran; road and rail junction; gas pipeline; pilgrimage centre for Shiite Muslims; shrine of Fatima.

Qom is considered to be a holy city in Shi'a Islam, as it is the site of the shrine of Fatema Mæ'sume, sister of Imām ˤAlī ibn-Mūsā Riđā (Persian Imam Reza, 789-816 CE). The city is home to Iran's largest seminary, competing only with Najaf in Iraq. After Russian forces entered Karaj in 1915, many of the inhabitants of Tehran moved to Qom due to reasons of proximity, and the transfer of the capital from Tehran to Qom was even discussed.

Many years later, Qom also became the center from which Ayatollah Khomeini based his opposition to the Pahlavi dynasty while in Iran. For many years, Qom was the home of Ayatollah Khomeini who led Iran during the events that led to the Islamic revolution in 1979 before permanently leaving for Tehran after the revolution.

Qom today

Today, Qom is counted as one of the focal centers of the Shi'a both in Iran and around the globe.

Attractions of Qom

Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization lists 195 sites of historical and cultural significance in Qom. Astaneh Moqaddaseh Museum Qom Bazaar Feyzieh Seminary Jamkaran Mosque Jami' Mosque Qom Atiq Mosque in Qom A'zam Mosque Shrine of Fatimah al-Masumah

Qom space center

Qom space center is, with the Emamshahr space center, one of the two places where the Iranian Space Agency is launching its suborbital Shahab 3s space rockets.

Universities in Qom

Mofid University Islamic Azad University of Qom University of Qom The Research Institute of Hawzeh va Daneshgah Computer Research Center of Islamic Sciences, Qom Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute Qom University of Medical Sciences Fatemieh School of Medical Sciences

Seminaries of Qom

Qom is currently the largest center for Shi'a scholarship in the world. The following seminaries (Hawzahs) are located there:

Amuliyah Seminary Ayatollah Golpayegani Seminary Ayatollah Mar'ashi Najafi Seminary Abul-Sadigh Seminary Imam al-Husayn Seminary Imam al-Askari Seminary Imam al-Mahdi Seminary Imam al-Hadi Seminary Rasul ul-A'dham Seminary Sayyed Hasan al-Shirazi Seminary Alwandiyah Seminary Imam al-Khamenei Seminary Imam al-Baqir Seminary Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba Seminary Imam Khomeini Seminary Imam al-Sadiq Seminary Imam al-Hadi Seminary Amir al-Mu'menin Seminary Bi'that Seminary Jabir ibn al-Hayyan Seminary Al-Zahra Seminary Jafariyah Seminary Haj Sayyed Sadiq Seminary Haj Ghazanfar Seminary Hojattiyeh Seminary Hossaynie Seminary Hadhrat al-Masuma Seminary Dar al-Shifa Seminary Rasul al-Akram Seminary Sa'adat Seminary Sharafiddin Amili Seminary Shahabiyah Seminary Shahid Sadr Seminary Shahidayn Seminary Sadiqqiyah Seminary Saduq Seminary Seminary of The Judiciary Alavi Seminary Fatimie Seminary Feyzie Seminary Qadiriye Seminary Kermani-ha Seminary Ma'sumiye Seminary Mahdi Mow'ud Seminary Na'ini Seminary Wahidiyah Seminary Wali Asr Seminary Al-Alam Seminary Ad-Dirasat al-Islamiyya Seminary Maktab al-Mahdi Seminary Maktab at-Towhid Seminary al-Kawthar Seminary

Listing of Qom's Senior ranking clerics

The following is a list of Grand Ayatollahs and the most senior ranking Ayatollahs in or directly related to Qom.

Current

Grand Ayatollah Noori-Hamedani Grand Ayatollah Mousavi Ardebili Grand Ayatollah Gharvi-Aliari Grand Ayatollah Saafi Golpayegani Grand Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani Grand Ayatollah Seyd Mohammad Shahroudi Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Wahid Khorasani Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Taqi Behjat Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Kadhim Haeri Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Muhammad Vahidi Grand Ayatollah Sheikh hasan-zadeh Amoli Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri Grand Ayatollah Sanei Grand Ayatollah Haj Sayyed Musa Shebiri Zanjani Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Muhammad Reza Golpayegani Ayatollah Tabrizi Ayatollah Sheikh Jawadi Amoli Ayatollah Abolfadhl Khansari Ayatollah Haj Sayyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi Ayatollah Sayyed Hasan Taheri Khurram-Abadi Ayatollah Sheikh Jafar Sobhani Ayatollah Sheikh Muhammad Imami Kashani Ayatullah Haj Sheikh Ali Panah Ishtihardi Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi Ayatullah Sheikh Haadi Ma`rifat Ayatollah Sayyed Muhammad Alavi Gorgani Ayatollah sheikh Muhammad Reza Mahdavi Kani Ayatollah Sayyed Hassan Abtahi Ayatollah Mohsen Qara'ati Ayatollah Sheikh Abu Taleb Tajleel Ayatollah Sheikh Husein Mazaheri Ayatollah Haj Sheikh Ismail Salehi Mazandarani Ayatollah Haj Sayyed Mehdi Rouhani Ayatollah Haj Sheikh Ali Kashani Ayatollah Haj Sayyed Mohsen Kharrazi Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Mohaqqeq Damad Ayatollah Sheikh Muhammad Ali Gerami

Deceased

Grand Ayatollah Borujerdi Grand Ayatollah al-Shirazi Allameh Tabatabaei Mohammad Beheshti Hassan Modarres Morteza Motahhari Mahmoud Taleghani

Sister cities

Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Other external links about Qom

Religiously affiliated

Tuba Graphics, a religiously affiliated organization based in Qom Noor Fiqh Library, Qom Imam Ali commemorative website, based in Qom. Society of Islamic Teachers of Qom's Hawzah (in Persian) Dar-ul Hadith Institute Hawzah Yellow Pages Qom Seminary Islamic Propagation Office 1 Qom Seminary Islamic Propagation Office 2 Qom Seminary Islamic Propagation Office 3 Qom Seminary Islamic Propagation Office 4 Qom Seminary Publishers Islamic Qom City Sharah Hawzah Seminary Information Network Islamic International Foundation of Cooperation(IslamIFC) IslamIFC

Non-Religiously affiliated

Qom's Cultural Heritage Organization Qom Province Dwelling Foundation of Islamic Revolution Qom Management and Planning Organization Governor of Qom website Qom Province Transportation and Terminals Organization Telecommunications Company of Qom Qom worries about new government interference in the clerical establishment.