Iran At Last: Masjid Jamkaran

Do you know of the saying, "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride"? You're so close, but not close enough. Well, it's been 6 weeks here in Iran and I haven't actually gone inside any of the holy sites we are fortunate enough to live near. Still, we've been able to drive around to get a look from the outside, and it felt lovely enough. Masjid Jamkaran is located a short drive from our home.

Here is some additional information (from the net, which jives with the info I've had for awhile, but please correct any mistakes and misinformation):

"Jamkaran is located on the outskirts of Qom, and is the site of the Jamkaran Mosque, a popular pilgrimage site for Shi'ite Muslims. Local belief has it that Muhammad al-Mahdi (p)-- the Twelfth Imam, a messiah figure Shia believe will lead the world to an era of universal peace — once appeared and offered prayers at Jamkaran. On Tuesday evenings large crowds of thousands gather at Jamkaran to pray and to drop a note to the Imam in a well at the site, asking for help with some problem. The mosque, six kilometres east of Qom, has long been a sacred place, at least since 373 A.H., 17th of Ramadan (22 February 984 C.E.), when according to the mosque website, one Sheikh Hassan ibn Muthlih Jamkarani is reported to have met Muhammad al-Mahdi (p) along with the prophet Al-Khidr. Jamkarani was instructed that the land they were on was "noble" and that the owner — Hasan bin Muslim — was to cease cultivating it and finance the building of a mosque on it from the earnings he had accumulated from farming the land."