It's about Al-Kādhimiya Mosque, a shrine located in the holy city Kādhimayn (literally The Two who swallow their anger), a suburb of Baghdad, which contains the tombs of the Two Imāms, Imām Mūsā al-Kādhim (745-799) and Imām Muhammad at-Taqī (811-835), but also the famous historical scholars Shaykh Mufīd (948-1022) and Shaykh Nasīr ad-Dīn Tūsi (1201-1274). Is said that this shrine is one of the most beautiful sights in Baghdad, and its history affords a resume of the changing fortunes of the famed city of Arabian Nights. Not rare are the days when the shrine is visited by about 30,000 pilgrims.
The present building, which incorporates two large gilded domes and four minarets, represents the restoration of lsmail I (r. 1501-1524), the Shah of Iran (Persia). On the other hand, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Suleiman the Magnificent (r. 1520-1566), who captured Baghdad and remained there for four months in 1534, visited this place, and is said to have contributed to the ornamentation of the shrine. The tiles for the double cupola were provided in 1796 by Agha Muhammad Khan. In 1870, Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar had these golden tiles repaired on one of the domes and on the minarets. After the fall of the regime of Saddam Hussein were repairs done to the outer wall and to the gate Bāb al-Qiblah, and the dome over the grave of Muhammad at-Taqī was re-gilded.
About the stamps
The stamp is part of the FIFA South Africa 2009 Football set, issued on June 14, 2009 and consisting of three values, 100 (on the postcard), 250 and 500 dinars.
All four postcards sent by Ahmed arrived in an single envelope. How then have each of them stamps and postmarks? Because Ahmed glued stamps and postmarked on each of them, then sent them in an envelope, to be sure that they will reach me in a good condition. Very nice. I thought to post on blog the envelope, because it has on it a stamp that isn't on the postcards, respectively one of the three (depicting birds) issued in 2011 with the occasion of the 40th Anniversary of the Ramsar Convention. The Ramsar Convention (named after the town of Ramsar in Iran) is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands, i.e. to stem the loss of wetlands now and in the future, recognizing theirs ecological, economic, cultural, scientific, and recreational value.
• Eurasian reed warbler / Acrocephalus scirpaceus (500 IQD)
• Eurasian reed warbler / Acrocephalus scirpaceus (750 IQD)
• Basra reed warbler / Acrocephalus griseldis (1000 IQD) - It's on the postcard 0230
References
Al-Kadhimiya Mosque - Wikipedia
Sender: Ahmed Al-Hilaly (direct swap)
Sent from Tikrit (Iraq), on 22.12.2011
Really love that postcard.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog! :)