A BRIEF HISTORY OF QUM
In the period just before the advent of Islam, Qum was populated by Zoroastrians. The city was conquered by the Muslims in 23 A.H, under the command of Abū Mūsā Ash`arī, and has remained Muslim since.
In 66 A.H, after the uprising of Mukhtār (who was seeking revenge for the murder of Imam Husain (A) in Karbalā ), a group of his Shi`a followers from the Banī Asad tribe travelled from Kufa to Qum , and took refuge in the area of Jamkarān.
In the year 83 A.H, a large number of Arabs belonging to the Ash`arī tribe of Yemen , migrated and settled in this region and repopulated the city.
From the beginning of its Islamic history, the city of Qum became the centre of the Shi`a in the area, and by the end of the first Islamic century, more than 6000 Shi`a had settled in the city.
The Shi`a of this city revolted against the Umayyad caliphs and after the inception of the Abbasid caliphate in 132 A.H, they also remained at odds with the Abbasid caliphs.
In the year 200 A.H, when Imam al-Ridā (A) was on his way from Madina to Khurāsān, he passed through Qum , and the house where he stayed was later converted into a Madrasah (an Islamic seminary).
In the year 201 A.H, Lady Fatima Masuma (A) came to the city, and after a brief illness, she died and was buried there. Her sacred grave became a pilgrimage site for the Shi`a, and the city of Qum was thereafter popularly called “Qum-e Muqaddas” (the Holy Qum).
Over the centuries, Qum emerged as a Shi`a learning centre. The Islamic Seminaries (al-Hawzah al-`Ilmīyah) in Qum became particularly popular after the Islamic Revolution in Iran and also due to the decline of the seminaries in Najaf, following the persecution of the hostile regime in Iraq .
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