Jamkaran, Iran (on the outskirts of Qom) is the site of the Jamkaran Mosque, a popular pilgrimage site for Shi'ite Muslims. Local belief has it that the Twelfth Imam - a messiah figure Shia believe will will lead the world to an era of universal peace - once appeared and offered prayers at Jamkaran. This belief has been compared to that of Catholics who believe that the Virgin Mary appeared to three shepard children in Fatima, Portugal in 1917...While the mosque has long been a sacred place, sometime in decade of 1995-2005, its reputation spread, and many pilgrims, particularly young people, began to come to the mosque. In the rear of the mosque there is a "well of requests" where it is believed the Twelfth Imam once "became miraculously unhidden for a brief shining moment of loving communion with his Creator." Pilgrims tie small strings in a knot around the grids covering the holy well, which they hope will be received by the Imam Mahdi. Every morning custodians cut off the strings from the previous day. There is a significant body of Shia writing arguing that the Imam Mahdi is hidden but active in the world helping those who are needy.[citation needed] Every tuesday evenings the mosque kitchen provides a free meal to thousands of poor people...According to the mosque website, Sheikh Hassan ibn Muthlih Jamkarani recorded encountering the Imam Mahdi in 974 (373 A.H.) near a well where the Jamkaran Mosque is now located. The Imam Mahdi was also accompanied by Al-Khidr...One of the first acts of the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was to donate £10 million to the mosque, to fund plans to turn "the tiny Jamkaran mosque into a massive complex of prayer halls, minarets, car parks and ablutions." Jamkaran 13/11/07