Ibn Babawayh Cemetery

Ibn Bābawayh Cemetery (Persian: قبرستان ابن‌بابویه) is in Ray, south of Tehran. It is the second cemetery of Tehran where many of scholars and famous people of Iran are buried. This cemetery is named after Muhammad b. Babawayh known as al-Shaykh al-Saduq, a Shi'a scholar in fiqh who is buried in this cemetery.

Mirza Abu l-Hasan Jilwa, Shaykh Rajab 'Ali Khayyat, Rahim Mu'adhdhinzada Ardabili, 'Ali Akbar Dehkhoda, 'Ali Akbar Khushdil Tihrani, Muhammad Sadiq Fakhr al-Islam Afshar, 'Ali Akbar Ghaffari, Abu l-Qasim Payanda and many scholars and politicians are buried in this cemetery.

History

Ibn Babawayh cemetery is a 200 year old cemetery in the plain of Rey which is about 10 hectares. The ancient city of Rey is among the oldest cities in the world, the date of its appearance goes back to the time of Arian tribes. Rey was the biggest city of Medians, the name of which can be found in Iranian myths. According to what is mentioned in Avesta, Rey was the 13th city built in the world and the date of living there goes back to 3000 years BC.

Ibn Babawayh cemetery was a great garden before Nasir al-Din Shah, but when an undamaged body was found in the basement of the garden and also a stone was found there which showed that it was the body of al-Shaykh al-Saduq who had passed away 800 years ago, his tomb was built there.

Historical writings show that the first building of this tomb belonged to the time of Sassanids which was destroyed later due to flood. The first tomb of al-Shaykh al-Saduq was destroyed several times due to the invasion of Mongols, battles of the times of Kharazmshahids and Timurids and natural disasters, so that it was buried under piles of dust. But, when the tomb of al-Shaykh al-Saduq was built there, many people were buried around it.

People Buried in This Cemetery

• Al-Shaykh al-Saduq

Main article: al-Shaykh al-Saduq

The present tomb of al-Shaykh al-Saduq was built at the time of Fath 'Ali Shah,the second Qajar emperor of Iran, but except for the inscription on which the verses of the Qur'an are written by one of the calligraphers of Qajar period, no other signs of the age of the tomb was found there.

Other famous people buried in this cemetery are:

• Sayyid Abu l-Hasan Jilwa
• Muhammad Tahir Tunkabuni
• Shaykh Rajab 'Ali Khayyat (d. 1961)
• Shaykh Muhammad Husayn Zahid
• Rahim Mu'adhdhinzada Ardabili (d. 2005)
• Ghulam Reza Takhti, the famous Iranian wrestler (d. 1967)
• Ali Akbar Dehkhoda (d. 1956)
• Fada'iyan-i Islam Martyrs
• Abu l-Qasim Payanda, journalist, story writer and translator who passed away in August 9, 1984 in Tehran.

Among National Treasures

Tomb of Ibn Babawayh was registered as a national treasure in December 25, 1996 with register number 1816. Iranian Ministry of Interior ordered to prohibit burial of other people in this place in 1994.

Gallery

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  Tomb of Sayyid Abu l-Hasan Jilwa

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  Darih of al-Shaykh al-Saduq

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  Grave of Rajab'ali Khayyat

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  Grave of Shaykh Muhammad Husayn Zahid