Porches
Treasury of shrine of Hazrat Abalfazl Abbas (a.s
  Gates of holy shrine of Hazrat Abalfazl Abbas (a.s

Golden balcony
Courtyards and its gates
Sides of courtyard
Dome
 Minarets
Guardians of shrine of Hazrat Abalfazl Abbas (a.s
The Holy Tomb of Moon of Hashemite (a.s.) throughout the history
 Dome 2
Building of sacred shrine of Abalfazl Abbas (a.s
Drinking fountains
New information about the new burial chamber of Hazrat Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.) built in Isfahan

Porches
The dome house of shrine of Hazrat Abbas (a.s.) has been surrounded by four porches, the walls of which have been decorated internally with tile and mirror. The porches are:
North porch: It has been separated from the east and west porches, and in the past, there has been a wall between its two parts, which has been removed later.
In the past, there has been a well in the west side of the shrine, and the water tank in one of the stalls for washing the shrine was filled with the water of this well.
When Haj Raeis, minister of Sheikh Khazal Khouzestani, the governor of Khorramshahr, instructed for installation of a water pump on Hosseiniyeh stream, and laid pipe thereof to the shrine of Imam Hossein (a.s.) and Hazrat Abbas (a.s.), he filled the well in the shrine and removed the pond.
West porch: There are two doors in the both sides of this porch.
East porch: This porch has embraced five tombs.
South porch: This porch is connected to the golden balcony with three openings. In the year 1376, Haj Hossein Hajjar Bashi paved the floor of shrine with the remaining of stones cut for Golestan palance in Tehran, the cost of which has been estimated more than 15,000 Tomans equal to 1100 Iraqi Dinar at that time.

Treasury of shrine of Hazrat Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.)
There is a treasury in the shrine of Hazrat Abbas (a.s.) with valuable things therein, including precious carpets, rugs woven with golden threads or precious stones, golden lusters, gemmed swords, golden wall clocks, clocks made of ebony wood, and such like.

Gates of holy shrine of Hazrat Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.)
The holy shrine of Hazrat Abbas (a.s.) (porches and dome-houses) have six gates, five of which are opened to the porches, and one with two leaves is located at overhead. Two of these doors are in the west.
The second door is made of silver, and has two leaves, and some verses from the poet, Karbalaei Sayed Hossein Alavi, have been engraved on it

The third gate is the same located overhead and not opened to anywhere. The fourth is located downward, i.e. east, and is opened to the porch. The fifth gate too is opened to the porch and has two leaves. The sixth is in the north of the shrine.

Golden balcony
The golden balcony is an extensive balcony in front of dome house of shrine and commanding the holy courtyard, with an area of 320 square meters. Coppery and golden bricks are used for its facade.

Courtyards and its gates
The area of Jame' courtyard of Hazrat Abalfazl's (a.s.) shrine is 9300 square meters, and the area of building of shrine, including the porches, dome house and balcony is 4370 square meters.
Balconies of the big courtyard: The big courtyard has four extensive balconies as follows:
1- Overhead balcony
2- East balcony
3- North balcony
4- Qiblah balcony

The old gates of courtyard
In the past, the courtyard of Hazrat Abbas (a.s.) had six gates, with a special name after their location, each of which were opened to one of the old districts of the city, as follows:
1- Gate of Qiblah (Babol Qiblah), because the gate was in the direction of Qiblah.
2- Gate of Minor Qiblah (Babol Qiblah Saghir), the gate is opened in the east of Gate of Qiblah.
3- Gate of lake (Babol Berkeh), it is located in the east of courtyard. There has been a lake in front of this gate, and the pilgrims took water from it. Its water was also used for watering the trees and palm trees in the holy courtyard.
4- Gate of lotus (Babol Sedreh), it is in the west north of courtyard, and is called so after existence of a lote tree there.
5- Gate of Imam of the Time (a.s.) (Babol Sahib Zaman), there is an amygdalate plate in the middle frontal of gate, on which the phrase of, یا مولای یا صاحب الزمان صلوات الله علیه, has been written.
6- Gate of Bazar (Babol Souq), it is in the west south of Babol Sahib Zaman, commanding the Bazar towards the holy shrine of Imam Hossein (a.s.).
As we already stated, two more gates have been opened from the courtyard of Hazrat Abbas's (a.s.) shrine which are:
7- Gate of Alqami (Babol Alqami), it is opposite to Alqami street and east of the courtyard. Later, it was known as Babol Reza.
8- Gate of Hassan (Babol HAssan), this gate is in the west of courtyard.

Sacred Courtyard
Gates of new courtyard
Above was the list and specifications of old gates and entrances of courtyard of Hazrat Abalfazl's (a.s.) shrine. Now, the new gates and entrances are as follows:
1- Gate of Qiblah (Babol Qiblah), it is in the south of courtyard.
2- Gate of Imam Hassan (a.s.) (Babol Imam Hassan), it is in the west of courtyard and passage way of pilgrims towards the courtyard of Imam Hossein (a.s.).
3- Gate of Imam Hossein (a.s.) (Babol Imam Hossein), it is beside Babol Imam Hassan (a.s.).
4- Gate of Imam of the Time (a.s.) (Babol Sahib Zaman), it is beside the gate of Imam Hossein (a.s.), and is called so after the blessed name of Imam of the Time (a.s.).
5- Gate of Imam Mous Ebne Jafar (a.s.) (Babol Imam Mous Ebne Jafar), it is in the west angle of the courtyard.
6- Gate of Imam Mohammad Javad (a.s.) (Babol Imam Mohammad Javad), it is in the north of courtyard.
7- Gate of Imam Ali Hadi (a.s.) (Babol Imam Hadi), this gate is in the east north of courtyard.

Sides of courtyard
The courtyard has four sides, and there are small chambers totally counting to 75, which are: north side, west side, south side and east side.

Dome
There is a dome with 12m diameter above the shrine of Hazrat Abalfazl (a.s.).

Minarets
In the corner of golden balcony and beside the shrine wall, there are two minarets. The upper half of each of these minarets have been coated with pure gold, and the total number of golden bricks used for this purpose is 2016.

Guardians of shrine of Hazrat Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.)
From the beginning of fourth century A.H., guardians and porters were assigned for the tombs of Imam Hossein (a.s.) and Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.) to safeguard these two shrines and serve there.
Guardianship is one of the important positions which has had a remarkable dignity from the time of Ale Bouyeh till Safavid. During the time of Safavid, its greatness and magnificence was doubled.
Usually, guardianship (Towliat) of shrine of Hazrat Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.) has been one of the duties of guardians of Imam Hossein's (a.s.) shrine, and they appointed a competent person for administration of shrine of Hazrat Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.) as a vicegerent.
Here is the list of names of guardians (Motavali) of shrine of Hazrat Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.) extracted from the old documentation:
1- Mohammad Ebne Nematollah
2- Sheikh Hamzeh
3- Sheikh Mohammad Sharif
4- Sheikh Ahmad Khazen
5- Sheikh Ali Ebne Abdolrassoul
6- Abdoljalil Toemeh
7- Sayed Mohammad Ail Ebne Darvish Ebne Mohammad Ebne Hossein Ale Sabet
8- Sayed Sabet Ebne Darvish Ebne Mohammad Ebne Hossein Ale Sabet
9- Sayed Hossein Ebne Hassan Ebne Mohammad Ali Ebne Mousa
10- Sayed Vahab Ebne Mohammad Ali Ebne Abbas Ale Toemeh
11- Sayed Mohammad Ebne Jafar Ebne Mostafa Ebne Ahmad Ale Toemeh
12- Sayed Hossein Ebne Hassan Ebne Mohammad Ali Ebne Mousa Vahab
13- Sayed Saied Ebne Soltan Ebne Sabet Ebne Darvish Ale Sabet
14- Sayed Hossein known as Naebel Towliah, son of Sayed Saeid Ebne Soltan Ale Sabet
15- Sayed Hossein Ebne Mohammad Ali Ebne Mostafa Ebne Mohammad Ebne Sharafeddin Ebne Ziaeddin Ebne Yahya Ebne Toemeh (first Toemeh)
16- Sayed Mostafa Ebne Sayed Hossein Ebne Mohammad Ali Ziaeddin
17- Sayed Mohammad Mahdi Ebne Mohammad Kazem Ebne Hossein Ebne Darvish Ebne Ahmad Ale Toemeh
18- Sayed Mortaza Ebne Mostafa Ebne Hassan Ale Ziaeddin
19- Sayed Mohammad Hossein Ebne Sayed Mortaza Ale Ziaeddin
20- Sayed Badreddin Ebne Sayed Mohammad Hassan Ale Ziaeddin
21- Sayed Mohammad Hossein Ebne Mahdi Ale Ziaeddin.

The Holy Tomb of Moon of Hashemite (a.s.) throughout the history
According to the history books, the holy grave of Moon of Hashemite (a.s.) has had tomb and entrance gate from the time of Umayyids.
The late Ayatollah Sayed Hassan Sadr (r.a.) has written in an epistle in this regard:
On 11 Moharram 61 A.H., when the news about martyrdom of Imam Hossein (a.s.) and his faithful companions was received in Kufa, the Kufi women gathered as many as tens of thousands, and since the officials of Ebne Ziad prevented gathering of men, and the women were too affected by this disaster, they agreed to move towards Karbala on the sixth day after martyrdom of Imam (a.s.) so that no one could hinder them.
Obviously, it was not possible to hinder a woman easily considering the respect to women, especially by Arabs, what about ten thousands of women! They attended in Karbala on the seventh day after martyrdom of Imam Hossein (a.s.), and gradually the women from Nazareth, Syria, Kufa, the tribes from Nineveh, Qadessieh and Karbala joined them and formed a very big crowd, the number of which has been mentioned maximum 100,000. The said women built a shelter above the tomb of Sayedoshohada and Hazrat Abbas (a.s.), and engaged in mourning. No one could hinder them. From seventh day, they built a shelter and trace of tomb on the grave of Sayedoshohada and his companions, and engaged in mourning for one week.
According to this historical narration, the traces of tomb was built from the time of Umayyids, and people were so affected that even Omar and Ebne Ziad were not able to hinder such a big crowd.
Regarding the tomb of Abalfazl (a.s.), it is noteworthy that in addition to the women from Mohammad's family (s.a.), Bani Kalab tribe, to which his mother belonged, as well as Bani Assad tribe attempted for construction of his tomb. Due to their good relation with the tribe of Ommolbanin, Umayyids did not oppose and hinder them. Montasser Abbasi constructed a small building in Karbala tombs in order to attract the attention of Alawites. For the fifth time, Zeid Daei, allocated enormous amounts for construction of dome of Hazrat Abbas. After him, Dialameh in 371 A.H., with the order of Azadoddoleh Dailami reconstructed the tombs of Karbala martyrs and Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.), and the king declared officially for Shiite.
After Dialameh, the king Jalayer Ilkani reconstructed the dome and shrine building. From 373 to 907 A.H., which is the beginning of Safawite period, that is, around 534 years, the pilgrims went to the said building. At time of Afsharite, Nadershah went to Karbala, and in 1155 A.H., the shrine of Hazrat Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.) was decorated with mirror, and his holy dome was again decorated with tiles.

Dome 2
As all the narrators and historians know, Moon of Hashemites (a.s.) deemed himself as the server of his brother, Hazrat Sayedoshohada Imam Hossein (a.s.), and this is one of his distinguished features. It seems that as a reward to his courtesy and submission, Hazrat Moon of Hashemite found a particular superiority among Karbala martyrs and a magnificent and independent tomb was built for him.
He had a separate dome from the time of Ale Bouyeh. It has been written: At time of Nadershah, when a golden dome was built for Imam Hossein (a.s.). He was going to make the same for Moon of Hashemite (a.s.), but he dreamed that Hazrat told him: Let it to be covered by tile to distinguish the his position of serving and support and sacrifice to Imam.
The late Emadzadeh writes in the book, Khassayes Alabbasides: The tomb of Hazrat was covered by tile for years till 117, when it was reported to then government that people's gift to Hazrat Abalfazl (a.s.) are too much that the storages are filled with gold, silver, copper and such like. They asked permission from then Iraqi government to sell them, and cover the tomb with gold. He adds: I remember well that the head of government came to Karbala, and instructed to leave people's gift as they are, and cover the tomb with gold from 5% of oil income. Then, the dome of Moon of Hashemite was decorated with gold, and its courtyard and porch too was expanded.

Building of sacred shrine of Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.)
The sacred shrine of Hazrat Abalfazl (a.s.) has a common history with that of Sayedoshohada Abi Abdellah Hossein (a.s.), and is one of the most important places of Ziarat for Shiite in the world. Hazrat Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.) who had went to the Euphrates stream to provide water for the camp of Prophet's Household as per order of his brother (Sayedoshohada a.s.), was martyred in a chivalric battle. Since his martyrdom place was far from the camp of Sayedoshohada (a.s.), his clean corpse was left there, and later buried on the same place. Bani Assad were the first group who constructed his holy grave to avoid losing its traces. Among the first pilgrims of this holy shrine were Obeidollah, son of Horr Jaefi, one of the Shiite authorities in Kufa, and then on the twentieth of Safar 62 A.H., Jaber Ebne Abdollah Ansari, the famous Prophet's companion.

First building: The first building was constructed in 66 A.H. at the time of Mokhtar Saqafi, but Aaroun Rashid instructed for its destruction in 170 A.H.
Second building: Maemoun reigned in 198 A.H., and in contrary to his father's policy, he had a friendly attitude with Shiite for attraction of satisfaction and help of Shiite in Khorasan. Then, the Prophet's Household friends used this historical opportunity, and constructed the second building at the time of Maemoun. In 232 A.H., Motavekkel Abbasi reigned. He who had a particular enmity and hostility with Shiite and Household of Abitaleb, instructed for destruction of not only the shrine of Hazrat Sayedoshohada and Abalfazl (a.s.), rather, the entire city of Karbala. After destruction, the whole area was plowed and watered.
Third building: Montasser, the Abbaside caliph, in contrary to his father's policy, Motavakkel, had a friendly and intimate attitude with Shiite. He distributed many properties among Alawites, and instructed for repairing the construction of Karbala and shrine of Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.).
Fourth building: In 367 A.H., Azadoddoleh Dailami entered Baghdad, and then went to Ziarat of Karbala and Najaf, and ordered for instruction of a splendid and great shrine for Hazrat Abalfazl (a.s.). Construction of the said building started in 367 A.H., and ended in 372 A.H. The present magnificent and splendid building of holy shrine of Hazrat Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.) belongs to the time of Azadoddoleh.
At the time of Jalayerian: After establishment of Jalayerian government in Iran and reign of Sheikh Hassan Ilkani in 740 A.H., Soltan Oveys (son of Sheikh Hassan) started repairs in this holy shrine, which ended at time of his son, Soltan Ahmad in 786 A.H. Numerous gifts were presented from Iran to the said shrine.
At the time of Safawite: Shah Ismaeil, the founder of Safawite Shiite government, entered Baghdad on 25 Jamadiol Thani 914 A.H. and was unprecedentedly received by Shiite. The next day, i.e. 26 Jamadiol Thani, he departed to Karbala, and retired from the world (Etekaf) in the shrine of Abi Abdellah Hossein (a.s.) for one day and night. Then, he went to the shrine of Hazrat Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.) and instructed for extensive repairs in his shrine, and presented to the shrine of Hazrat Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.) twelve lanterns from pure gold after the name of twelve Imams, and covered the entire holy shrine and porches with the previous silk carpets woven in Isfahan. He employed special servants for maintenance and lighting of lantern of the shrine, the descendents of which are now known with the title of "Ale Qandil" in Karbala. Ismaeil Safawi also instructed for tile decoration of the dome which remained till 1302 A.H.
At time of Nadershah Afshar: In 1153 A.H., Nadershah presented numerous gifts to the shrine of Hazrat Abbas (a.s.), and extensive repairs were made in his shrine.
At time of Wahhabite: on 18 Zeihajjeh 1216 A.H., when the majority of people had departed from Karbala to Najaf Ashraf for Eid Ghadir, Saoud Ebne Abdolaziz Wahhabi used the opportunity and attacked to Karbala with a big army, and instructed to plunder the entire city, and destroyed the shrine of Hazrat Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.), and spoiled all the gifts presented by the kings and Safawite kings and Nadershah, gold and silver lanterns, ….
At the time of Ghajar dynasty: After attack of Saoudi to Karbala, and being informed about this terrible crime in Iran, the Iranian people along with then government (time of Fatali Shah Ghajar), offered generously their contribution to this mournful city, and repaired all the suffered damages and ruins. The shrine of Hazrat Abbas (a.s.) too was repaired in the best way including installation of the silver burial chamber presented by Fatali Shah Ghajar in 1227 A.H. Repairs in the sacred shrine was continued during the Ghajar period, and Nassereddin Shah too reconstructed tile decoration of the dome. Moreover, Abdolhossein Tehrani, known as Sheikhol Araqin, using one third of Mirza Taqi Khan Amir Kabir, the Iranian famous minister, accomplished extensive repairs in the said shrine.
At present time: The shrine of Hazrat Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.) is about 350 east north of shrine of Sayedoshohada Abi Abdellah Hossein (a.s.), and a big square has encircled the both shrines. The pure tomb is located in the middle of holy shrine, and there is a donative precious mosaic (Khatam) box on it, which has been repaired through the time. A silver burial chamber has covered top of the box which has been installed with endeavor of the great Shiite Marja', the late Grand Aytollah Sayed Mohsen Hakim (Goddesa Serreh), and with hands of Iranian artists in Isfahan, using four hundred thousand Mesghal (each Mesghal is equivalent to about 5 grams) of pure silver, and eight thousand Mesghal gold and after three years of continuous work in 1385 A.H. Four sides of the holy shrine have four symmetrical porches ending to each other. The roof and all walls of the holy shrine and porches have been decorated with mirror by Iranian artists. There is a big dome on the burial chamber which has been covered with gold on 1375 A.H. In the both sides of south balcony, there are two beautiful minarets. In the south part of shrine, there is a long roofed balcony in the middle of which, there is a golden enameled door made in Isfahan. In its east and west too, there are two other small doors, and the three doors are opened to the south porch. The shrine of Hazrat Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.) has a square courtyard, and the holy tomb is located in the middle of it. There are chambers in the four sides of courtyard, in which a large number of Shiite scholars, kings and Shiite governors have been buried. The tile decoration in the courtyard of shrine dates back to the time of Ghajar and afterwards. The holy courtyard has eight big entry and exit gates: in the south of courtyard, Gate of Qiblah and or Gate of Rassoul (a.s.), and in the north, Gate of Imam Mohammad Javad (a.s.). The west of courtyard has four gates: 1- Gate of Imam Hassan (a.s.), 2- Gate of Imam Hossein (a.s.), 3- Gate of Sahib Zaman (a.j.), 4- Gate of Imam Mous Ebne Ja'far (a.s.). The eastern part of courtyard too has two gates in the names of Imam Amiralmomenin and Imam Ali Ebne Mousal Reza (a.s.). The area of shrine of Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.) is more than 4370 square meters, and in view of architecture and plan, it is alike to the shrine of Sayedoshohada Abi Abdellah Hossein (a.s.), but smaller.

Drinking fountains
There were two public drinking fountains in the courtyard of Abalfazl (a.s.):
1- One of these water drinking fountains was in the east side of courtyard, and there were two fruit trees and one lotus tree beside it.
2- The other was in the west side, and beside Babol Sough, and there were two palms tree beside it. Of course, today, there is no trace of these drinking fountains, palms and lotus trees.

New information about the new burial chamber of Hazrat Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.) built in Isfahan.
The construction of the burial chamber for Hazrat Abalfazl's (a.s.) shrine was started as per instruction of Hazrat Ayatollahozma Haj Sayed Mohsen Hakim, and building it cost about Rials 10,000,000, about 60% of which was personally paid by Ayatollah Hakim, and the remaining 40% was collected from different cities in Iran by Ayatollah Hakim, or paid to a bank account in Isfahan.
The holy burial chamber of Hazrat Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.) is very delicate and beautifully built by the famous artists in Isfahan. Gold works of the burial chamber was done by Mr. Hossein Parvaresh, graving by Messrs. Sayed Assadollah Khosravani and Ahmad Niazi, enamel works by Mr. Shokrollah Saniezadeh. Moreover, the wooden frame of the burial chamber was presented by Mr. Akhavan Khaleqzadegan. The burial chamber was attractively made of gold, silver and enamel and a great number of skilled artists worked for building it during 18 months. After its production, the said burial chamber was placed in Shah Mosque in Isfahan, and the people went to see it.
As per instruction of Hazrat Ayatollah Haj Sayed Mohsen Hakim, Hojjatoleslam Haj Sayed Ebrahim Tabatabaei, the son in law of Hakim, and Messrs. Haj Sayed Mohammad Afzal and Haj Mirza Hassan Kolahdouzan cooperated and supervised the worked.
Moreover, a pair of gate made of gold, silver and enamel was also made for the holy shrine of Hazrat Abalfazl Abbas (a.s.) by Messrs. Haj Hassan Vahed, Mahmoud Jalilian, Abolqassem Jalilian supervised by Haj Sayed Mohammad Afzal, which was shipped along with the holy burial chamber. Furthermore, a pair of very beautiful inlaid gate has been made on behalf of Akhavan Khaleqzadegan for the Qiblah gate of balcony of Hazrat Aba Abdellah Hossein (a.s.).
It is a great pleasure that Iranian Shiite, particularly the people in Isfahan, have taken such useful and effective actions for strengthening the religious principles of Islam.
Early in the morning of Thursday, 27th of Aban, the people escorting the burial chamber departed from Qazvin to Hamedan and Kermanshah, and after eating dinner in Kermanshah, they left to Khosravi border. The caravan carrying the burial chamber entered Khaneqein on Friday, and left there to Baghdad on Saturday morning.