I m A M Z A D E H -DESCENDANTS OF IMAMS

Imamzaadeh � Bibi Ghareeb (sa)

The shrine of Imamzadeh Bibi Ghareeb (sa) is situated in Kachoomerghal in Ardestan of Isfahan Province in Iran, in a mountainous region.

Bibi Ghareeb (sa) was the grand daughter of Imam Moosa Kazim (as). The place where her shrine is situated is a rough mountainous area and the visitor of the shrine will have to leave the vehicle at a distance and walk upto the shrine.

Ghareeb, in Arabic means a stranger in a foreign land or someone far away from home. Though her real name is Bibi Khadeeja Khatoon (peace be upon her), there are many reasons as why she is known is �Bibi Ghareeb�.  One of the reason could be hardly anyone is aware of her presence on this far away mountain or hardly anyone visit the shrine. Her shrine has been authenticated by Hujjatul Islam Ali Tabatabai, a scholar who hailed from Ardestan and who did deep research on her. The beauty of the shrine lies in its simplicity.

Bibi Ghareeb is the daughter of Imamzadeh Ishaq Bin Moosa Kazim (as) of Saaweh and the real niece of Imamzadeh Shah Chiragh of Shiraz. Her father was among the brothers of Bibi Masooma E Qum (sa), who traveled to Iran to be with Imam Ali Raza (as); but the caravan was brutally attacked in Saaweh by Army of Simaan, the soldiers of Abbasid Calips Mamun Ar-Rashid. Imamzadeh Ishaaq was amongst those who were killed defending Bibi Masooma E Qum (sa).

On receiving no news of her father, aunt and other family members,  Bibi Ghareeb along with her two sons left for Iran to try and find them. Unfortunately, the network of spies of the Caliph was strong and quite widely spread. All Saadat migrating to Iran were ordered to be killed. Her Caravan, while traveling to Iran was also attached by the Abbasid�s army, but she managed to escape and took refuge in this mountain. It is not clear what happened to her children. They were either killed or died in the hardship of the journey.

Bibi Ghareeb began to live in this remote mountain away from inhabitant localities. The current small simple shrine was actually her home. The few people who knew about her would gather around her place of stay. During her life, she delivered eloquent sermons where men sat on mats outside her house to listen to her and women sat inside with her. The stream of knowledge and Rights of Ahlulbayt (as) began to slowly spread from this remote corner of the world. She is also known as Imamzadi E Ghurbat, Sharifah, She was also known as Mariyam E Aal e Yaseen, because hardly anyone had even seen her.

The stream of knowledge, the fragrance of presence of a saadat and the voice of the Rights of Ahlulbayt (as) and her movements of preaching soon reached the spies of Abbasid caliph. One night while she was praying in the night, she was stabbed at the back and badly wounded, which resulted in her death.

Earlier her tomb has two golden minarets indicating the presence of a shrine, which is nowhere to be seen today. This is probably because a new shrine is under constriction and perhaps it may be ready by the time some of you may visit her for Ziarat.

The above narration requires further reading and this small briefs may ignite spark in you to do more research. The above details were presented by brother Abu Talib Rizvi, who was recently blessed with her ziarat, and wished this narration to go to the world.

May you all be rewarded with her ziarah in your next visit to Iran Insha Allah