QOM, Iran — On the walls surrounding the grave of “Fatima the Infallible," the names of the most prominent ayatollahs in Iran can be read. Their graves are situated under the marble covering the grounds of the shrine, which belongs to the sister of Imam Reza — the eighth Imam of Shiite Islam — who lived and died in modern-day Iran some one thousand years ago.
Around the shrine, the famous city of Qom, about 80 miles south of Tehran, grew to become the most significant center for Shiite theology, besides Iraq’s Najaf, bringing together the most important Islamic scholars.