Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-GhazÄ?lÄ« (1058-1111) , known as Algazel to the western medieval world, born and died in Tus, in the Khorasan province of Persia (modern day Iran). He was a Muslim theologian, philosopher, and mystic of Persian origin Al-Ghazali remains one of the most celebrated scholars in the history of Islamic thought
Al-Ghazali contributed significantly to the development of a systematic view of Sufism and its integration and acceptance in mainstream Islam. He was a scholar of orthodox Islam, belonging to the Shafi'i school of legal thought of Sunnite Islam and to the Asharite school of theology . Imam Ghazali received many titles: Sharaful A'emma, Zainud din, Hujjatul Islam, meaning Proof of Islam
Al-Ghazali remains one of the most celebrated scholars in the history of Islamic thought. He lectured at the Al-Nizamiyya of Baghdad (the highest ranked academy of the golden era of Islamic civilization) between 1091 and 1096. He was the scholar par excellence in the Islamic world. He had literally hundreds of scholars attending his lectures at the Nizamiyyah. His audience included scholars from other schools of jurisprudence. This position won him prestige, wealth and respect that even princes and viziers could not match
After some years he distributed his wealth and left Baghdad to begin a spiritual journey that lasted over a decade. He went to Damascus, Jerusalem, Hebron, Madinah, Mecca and back to Baghdad where he stopped briefly. He then left for Tus to spend the next several years in seclusion. He ended his seclusion for a short lecturing period at the Nizamiyyah of Nishapur in 1106. Later he returned to Tus where he remained until his death in December, 1111
He is also viewed as the key member of the influential Asharite school of early Muslim philosophy and the most important refuter of Mutazilites. However, he chose a slightly different position in compare with Asharites; his beliefs and thoughts differ, in some aspects, from the orthodox Asharite school. His 11th century book titled "The Incoherence of the Philosophers" marks a major turn in Islamic epistemology, as Ghazali effectively discovered philosophical skepticism that would not be commonly seen in the West until René Descartes, George Berkeley and David Hume. The encounter with skepticism led Ghazali to embrace a form of theological occasionalism, or the belief that all causal events and interactions are not the product of material conjunctions but rather the immediate and present will of God
The Incoherence also marked a turning point in Islamic philosophy in its vehement rejections of Aristotle and Plato. The book took aim at the falasifa, a loosely defined group of Islamic philosophers from the 8th through the 11th centuries (most notable among them Avicenna and Al-Farabi) who drew intellectually upon the Ancient Greeks. Ghazali bitterly denounced Aristotle, Socrates and other Greek writers as non-believers and labelled those who employed their methods and ideas as corrupters of the Islamic faith
In the next century, Averroes drafted a lengthy rebuttal of Ghazali's Incoherence entitled the Incoherence of the Incoherence; however, the epistemological course of Islamic thought had already been set
Ghazali's influence has been compared to the works of St. Thomas Aquinas in Christian theology (he has been called the "Thomas Aquinas of Islam" by some), but the two differed greatly in methods and beliefs. Whereas Ghazali rejected non-Islamic philosophers such as Aristotle and saw it fit to discard their teachings on the basis of their "unbelief," Aquinas embraced them and incorporated ancient Greek and Latin thought into his own philosophical writings. It is also believed that René Descartes' ideas from his book called "Discourse on Methods" were influenced by Al-ghazali and very much similar to Al-ghazali's work. Thus, some scholars today believe that Descartes was being dishonest in terms of writing the "Discourse on Methods" without giving any academic reference to Al-ghazali's work in his book
Al-ghazali wrote two of his works in Persian : Kimyayé Sa'Ä?dat (The Alchemy of Happiness) and Nasihatul Mulook Counseling Kings

Imam 'Ali al-Rida Translit: ImÄ?m 'AlÄ« ibn-MÅ«sÄ? ar-RiÄ‘Ä?  January 1, 766 - May 26, 818 was the eighth ShÄ«a ImÄ?m. His given name was 'AlÄ« ibn-MÅ«sÄ? ibn-Ja'far. In Persian, he is frequently known as Emam Reza
'AlÄ« ar-RiÄ‘Ä? was born in Medina to the seventh ShÄ«a ImÄ?m, MÅ«sÄ? ibn-Ja'far ibn-Muħammad al-KÄ?Ä‘im (known in Persian as Emam Musa Kazem), and Ummu l-BanÄ«n NajmÄ?. He was born one month after the death of his grandfather, Ja'far as-SÄ?diq. Like his father and grandfather, his education came at the hands of his father
His father died in 799, when AlÄ« was 35, and he was given the responsibility of the Imamate. AlÄ« was not looked upon favorably by HÄ?rÅ«n RashÄ«d, and the people of Medina were disallowed from visiting AlÄ« and learning from him. Harun attempted to kill him but was unsuccessful
After the death of HÄ?rÅ«n RashÄ«d, his two sons began fighting for control of the AbbÄ?sid empire. One son, Al-Amin, had an Arab mother and thus had the support of Arabs, while his half-brother Al-Ma'mun had a Persian mother and the support of Persia. Al-Ma'mun believed that Persia was sympathetic to the Hashemites and asked for AlÄ« to meet him in Persia. AlÄ« ar-RiÄ‘Ä? left his only son, Muħammad at-TaqÄ«, and his wife and set out for Merv
After defeating his brother, al-Ma'mun named AlÄ« ar-RiÄ‘Ä? his successor. He hoped to win ShÄ«a support through this move, but the passage of caliphate would occur only if AlÄ« outlived al-Ma'mun (as with all promises of succession). Al-Ma'mun even changed the black AbbÄ?sid flags to green, the traditional color of the house of AlÄ« ibn AbÄ«-TÄ?lib, the first ShÄ«a imam

Goharshad Mosque is a famous mosque in Razavi Khorasan province of Iran
It was built by the orders of Goharshad, the wife of Shah Rukh of the Timurid Dynasty in 1418 CE and by the architect Ghavameddin Shirazi
The mosque underwent some renovations during the Safavid and Qajar era. It has 4 iwans and a courtyard measuring 50 X 55 meters, as well as several Shabestans
The double layered dome of the mosque was severely damaged in 1911 in bombings by Russian troops
The Passage below is cited directly from Arthur Upham Pope; in "Persian Architecture, the Triumph of form & colour".,New York, 1965
"The first & greatest surviving, Persian monument of the fifteenth (15th) Century is the beautiful mosque of GoharShad 1418 CE now abutting the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad. Its portals continue the Samarkand style of arch within arch, enriched by a succession of bevels and reveals that give it depth and power. The thick, tower like minarets, merging with the outer corners of the portal screen, extend the ground and, together with the high foundation revetment of marble, give the ensemble the impression of solidity necessary to support its exuberant color. The entire court facade is faced with enamel brick and mosaic faience of the finest quality. The full sacle of colors includes a dominant cobalt blue and turquoise, white, a transparent green, yellow, saffron, aubergine and mirror black-all tones fluctuating through several shades. The patterns, lucid and vigorous, are artfully adapted to their decorative role, whether for eye level panels, or dome ornament meant to be effective at a thousand feet. Monotony, difficult to avoid in such a large area, and distracting intricacy that might compete with the essential architectural forms are both forestalled. This is accomplished by the energy of the faience floral patterns and brick geometrical schemes; by the emphatic rhythm of the arcades, open galleries and deep recesses; and especially by the striking contrast of the ivans. The Sanctuary ivan is in pure white, while in the other three ivans the ground color of the vault is pale red, carrying large white-outlined kufic inscriptions of light turquoise that appear green against the reddish ground. The whole decor is interlaced with an unusual amount of white, which adds clarity and excitement to the total effect
"It needs no acquaintance with other styles to acclaim this court, among the buildings now existing, as the most beautiful example of color in architecture ever devised." Robert Byron
The Architect was Ghavameddin Shirazi, who is responsible for so many of Shah Rukh's great buildings. Although most of the great Timurid monuments were built in the North of the empire, the architectural and decorative genius came from Shiraz and Isfahan

Kamal-ol-Molk, Mohammad Ghaffari (also Kamal-al-Molk) was a famous Iranian painter
Born in 1847 in Kashan, Iran, he went to Tehran and studied at Dar-ol-Fonoon. His progress was so rapid that he became the royal painter of King Nasereddin Shah at the age of 18
In 1896 the King sent him to Europe for continuation of his studies at the Louvre, Florence, and Versailles. After returning to Iran in 1898, as a royal painter for Nasereddin Shah he faced constant envy and jealousy from certain members of the royal court and eventually ended up fleeing to Kerbala, Iraq under the pretext of going for pilgrimage. There, he created some of his famous works such as "falgeer e Baghdadi" ("the fortune teller of Baghdad"), "zargar e baghdadi va shagerdash" ("The Baghdadi goldsmith and his pupil"), "meidan e Karbala" ("The Kerbala square"), and "Arab e Khofteh" the sleeping Arab
He died in 1939 and was buried in Nishapur next to the medieval giant of Sufism Attar Neyshaburi
Two-hundred of his paintings are said to still remain. His life and works is portrayed by director Ali Hatami in his movie, Kamalolmolk

NÄ?der ShÄ?h Afshar also known as Nader Qoli Beg , Tahmasp-Qoli Khan,) October 22, 1688 - June 19, 1747 ruled as Shah of Iran (1736–47) and was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty. Because of his military genius, some historians have described him as the Napoleon of Persia[1] or the Second Alexander[2]. He created a great Iranian Empire that encompassed Iran, northern India, and parts of Central Asia. Nader Shah won battles against the Afghans, Ottomans, and Mughals. Nader Shah's victories made him briefly the Middle East's most powerful sovereign, but his empire quickly disintegrated after he was assassinated in 1747. Nader Shah was probably the last great Asian military conqueror. Nader is considered to be Iran's most gifted military commander and is credited for restoring Iranian power as an eminence between the Ottomans and the Mughals
Nader Shah was assassinated on 19 June 1747, at Fathabad in Khorasan, where he was preparing to punish some rebellious Kurds. The assassination was probably planned by his son Reza Qoli Mirza. Nader was surprised in his sleep by Salah Bey, captain of the guards, and killed with a sword. Nader was able to kill two of the assassins
After his death, he was succeeded by his nephew Ali Qoli, who renamed himself Adil Shah ("righteous king") Adil Shah was deposed within a year. During the struggle between Adil Shah, his brother Ibrahim Khan and Nader's grandson Shah Rukh almost all provincial governors declared independence, established their own states, and the entire Empire of Nader Shah fell into anarchy. Finally, Karim Khan founded the Zand dynasty and became ruler of Iran by 1760, while Ahmad Shah Durrani had already proclaimed independence in the east, marking the foundation of modern Afghanistan
In 1768, Christian VII of Denmark commissioned Sir William Jones to translate a Persian language biography of Nader Shah into French. It was published in 1770 as Histoire de Nadir Chah, and subsequently translated into English, becoming the vehicle by which Nader Shah became known to the reading public in the West