QOM

also spelled Qum, city, north-central Iran. The town lies on both banks of the Rud-e Qom and beside a salt desert, the Dasht-e Kavir, 92 miles (147 km) south of Tehran. In the 8th century, Qom was one of the centres of Shi'ism; in 816 Fatimah, the sister of the imam (leader of Shi'ite Islam) 'Ali ar-Rida, died in the town and was buried there. It became a place of pilgrimage in the 17th century, when the Safavid rulers built a golden-domed shrine over Fatimah's tomb. The modern city has the largest madrasah (theological college) in the country, where students can specialize in Islamic law, philosophy, theology, and logic. It was at Qom that the Iranian Army surrendered to Islamic revolutionary militia in 1979. Following the Islamic Revolution in Iran early in 1979, the revolution's principal figure, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, again took up residence in Qom, whence he had been exiled by the shah, and made the town his seat. Some 10 kings and 400 Islamic saints are interred in Qom and its neighbourhood. Shah 'Abbas II is buried there in a special mausoleum richly adorned with 14 fine silk rugs, dated 1666. On the southern side of the city is a group of five mausoleums (mostly 14th century) distinguished by remarkable polychrome stucco ornaments. Qom has developed into a lively industrial centre owing in part to its proximity to Tehran. It is a regional centre for the distribution of petroleum and petroleum products, and a natural gas pipeline from Bandar-e Anzali and Tehran and a crude-oil pipeline from Tehran run through Qom to the Abadan refinery on the Persian Gulf. Qom gained additional prosperity when oil fields were discovered at Sarajeh near the city in 1956 and a large refinery was built between Qom and Tehran. Rural populations migrated to the growing township, and its economic growth accelerated with new investments in the textile industry and the establishment of petrochemical, cement, and brick-making industries. In the 1970s several dams were completed on the upper reaches of the Rud-e Qom. The city has road connections to Tehran, Arak, Kashan, Saveh, and Yazd and is on the Trans-Iranian Railway. There are many Muslim shrines in the area, and Kebar, 15 miles (24 km) south of Qom, is the site of an ancient vaulted dam. Wheat, barley, oilseeds, vegetables, fruits, and cotton are grown in the surrounding area. Pop. (1985 est.) 637,700.