Ladies in the Spotlight to Be Served at Razavi Holy Shrine

The statistics show that more than sixty percent of the pilgrims attending the Razavi Holy Shrine are women.

Astan Quds Razavi, in his new management period specifically addresses the issue of ladies and provides cultural, promotional, welfare and educational services to this community, which in this report we provide an overview of some of the new activities of this sacred establishment at the Razavi Holy Shrine for the women pilgrims.

A Portico for Ladies
There are ten porticos for ladies at the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza (A.S.) with praying and pilgrimage applications with the names of Dar al-Hekmah, Dar al-Ziafeh, Dar al-Feyz, Hatam Khani, Tohid Khaneh, Dar al-Sharaf, Dar al-Shokr, Allah Verdi Khan and Dar al-Sa’adeh. Moreover, for the first time in the February 2017, a portico specialized for cultural-educational and promotional programs in the name of Hazrat Zahra (S.A.) has been dedicated to the women pilgrims and all programs are being held at this portico by female experts for sisters, which is widely welcomed by the women pilgrims.

Special Shoe-Keeping Section for Ladies
One of the newest steps that were taken to improve the service to the pilgrims of the compassionate Imam (A.S.) has taken place for the first time in the history of this sacred place with the establishment of a shoe-keeping section of sisters at the Razavi Holy Shrine.

Setting up the special shoe-keeping section for sisters at the Razavi Holy Shrine, in line with the implementation of the recommendation of the Grand Custodian of Astan Quds Razavi and the welfare of the women pilgrims rooted in the transfer of all services to women, crew sisters and Razavi servant assistants.

At present, about 1,200 crew sisters and Razavi servant assistants are serving the women pilgrims of the Razavi Holy Shrine at the shoe-keeping sections of the Hazrat Zahra’s (S.A.) Portico by the numbers of 1, 2, 5, 6, 17, Sheikh Horre Ameli and Hazrat Zahra’s (S.A.) Portico and sixteen twelve-hour shifts (day and night), and they are also engaged in providing services to women pilgrims of the Razavi Holy Shrine in the cleaning and sanitation services of the Illuminated Court of Imam Reza (A.S.), prayer assistantship, and turbah assistantship at the women’s porticos.

One of the recent steps of Astan Quds Razavi at the Department of Sacred Places and Pilgrims Affairs, which is being conducted for the welfare of the women pilgrims, is the re-launch of the shoe-keeping section number five at the Azadi holy Courtyard specialized for women. This section is located at the of Dar al-Hekmah Portico and at the Azadi Courtyard of the Razavi Holy Shrine and was active in the past; however, for some reasons, such as the execution of construction and building operations, it was temporarily suspended for a while and now it is for the first time available to the shoe-keeping sisters.

Wash and Clean the Space of the Illuminated Mausoleum
According to new policies of Astan Quds Razavi, it is decided that all service affairs to be assigned to crew sisters at the porticos, shoe-keeping sections and worship and pilgrimage spaces at the Razavi Holy Shrine for the women pilgrims, and thus, the shoe-keeping sisters will be in charge of services such as cleansing, dust clearing and cleaning of women’s porticos, the services of books of the Qur’an and prayers (Anwar books), the collection of prayer turbah and so on, and are in the process of carrying out their duties and also it is now several months that they have been assigned to wash the sisters’ section of the Illuminated Mausoleum.

Serving Decree for Sister’s Crew
Granting a service decree in the past was only available to male servants, yet with the consent of the Grand Custodian of Astan Quds Razavi, for the first time, the qualified women servant assistants serving more than 10 years at the Razavi Holy Shrine, received their service decrease from the Grand Custodian of the holy establishment, with a total of about sixty sisters crew members serving in the female pilgrims at the Razavi Holy Shrine.

Close Ablution Facilities
One of the complaints of the pilgrims who attend the Razavi Holy Shrine from near and far has been the long distance between the sanitary facilities of the Razavi Holy Shrine and the central courtyards, and pilgrims should definitely go to the entrances for re-ablution. Fortunately, now for some time, in addition to sanitary facilities, in a special space for the sisters, 13 ablution facilities in the service area, as well as at the entrance space of the sites with the displacement of the middle wall and emergency and separated ablution facilities with 6 basins and additional space for changing the diapers of the infants and 2 diaper changing machines have been placed.

Round-the-Clock Dust Clearing of the Porticos
Another action taken by women at the central porticos of the Razavi Holy Shrine is the dust clearing of these porticos and shoe-keeping sections of the sisters, which is carried out by twenty-four carpet servants sisters of the Razavi Holy Shrine in two 12-hour shifts throughout the day, and on a daily basis an average of eighteen to twenty thousand square meters of pilgrimage and worship space is cleared from dust by ladies at the carpet service office.
The Safety of Female Pilgrims at the Razavi Shrine and Razavi Surroundings
Since more than sixty percent of the pilgrims of the Holy Shrine of Hazrat Reza (A.S.) are consisted of women, in order to facilitate the pilgrimage and reverence of women pilgrims and to create a safe and secure environment for this community, a strategic research to improve the safety of women pilgrims in Astan Quds Razavi has been developed, in which the safety of women pilgrims is investigated in two areas of inside and the surroundings of the Razavi Holy Shrine.

Strategic Documents for Ladies
A strategic document of reverence for working women and the amelioration of the status of the staff family of this holy establishment, and also the strategic document of reverence and sublimity of female servants, is one of the other studies of the Astan Quds Razavi, which is underway for the first time and in addition to providing the ground for the strengthening and excellence of the families of Astan Quds Razavi employees in the framework of Islamic values and providing the ground for reverence, maintenance of dignity and ascendancy of the status of the women’s servants and their spiritual growth and improvement in order to increase the effectiveness and productivity of these women to serve the pilgrims of Imam Reza (A.S.) are going to be pursued.