When this year's batch of summer camp kids were here, we were lucky enough to visit the International Relations Office situated within the shrine. If you ever visit Qum, its worth going to the office (Its found in Sahn e Ateeq - the old courtyard, and its open until 2pm every day). They give out books in English about the shrine. The books aren't written in the best English, but they are useful in pointing out the main sites within the shrine.
Anyways, the man in charge of the office (Agha Nazeri) gave us an insight into the life of this lady, who, if we're really honest, we only remember on her death anniversary and barely know anything about.
She's refered to in history as "Zainab e Dowvom" or the Second Zainab. We hear that she was very attached to her brother and when he moved to Iran, she missed him a lot and decided to move closer to him. What Agha Nazeri told us was that this was partly true. Some historians also narate that the 8th Holy Imam asked her to head towards Iran after his departure and use the cover of 'missing her brother' as a cover for the journey. On the way from Madinah (Saudi Arabia) to Iran, she (along with her brothers and nephews that were accompanying her on this journey) stopped and she gave speeches. Her aim was to educated the people about the unjust ruler - Mamun Rashid. In the same way that Lady Zainab spoke against the tyrant Yazid after the massacre of her family members in Karbala, Lady Masuma did the same.
Her words were starting to enlighten people about the unjustices of their ruler and when Mamun Rashid caught wind of this and sent his soldiers to kill Lady Masuma and her brothers. They were stopped in a town near Qum called Saveh. Lady Masuma was poisoned, and taken to Qum, where she died a short while later.
Agha Nazeri went on to explain that hundreds of books have been written about the position of women in Islam, but if you want to see the real position of women in Islam, come to Qum and just look at the area around the grave of Lady Masuma. You will see high ranking scholars, government ministers etc all come to her grave and kneel before Lady Masuma.
Personally (and I'm sure that all the students who live here will agree with me) I find that every time I'm stressed or having problems with my studies, I go to her shrine and tell Lady Masuma what's bothering me. I find that sooner or later my issues all go away.
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