Mashhad vs Abu Dhabi

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Mashhad (Persian: مشهد‎, romanized: Mašhad [mæʃˈhæd] (listen)), also spelled Mashad or Meshad, is the second-most-populous city in Iran and the capital of Razavi Khorasan Province. It is located in the northeast of the country. It has a population of 3,001,184 (2016 census), which includes the areas of Mashhad Taman and Torqabeh. It was a major oasis along the ancient Silk Road connecting with Merv to the east. The city is named after the shrine of Imam Reza, the eighth Shia Imam. The Imam was buried in a village in Khorasan, which afterward gained the name Mashhad, meaning the place of martyrdom. Every year, millions of pilgrims visit the Imam Reza shrine. The Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid is also buried within the same shrine. Mashhad has been governed by different ethnic groups over the course of its history.

The city enjoyed relative prosperity in the Mongol period. Mashhad is also known colloquially as the city of Ferdowsi, after the Iranian poet who composed the Shahnameh. The city is the hometown of some of the most significant Iranian literary figures and artists, such as the poet Mehdi Akhavan-Sales, and Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, the traditional Iranian singer and composer. Ferdowsi and Akhavan-Sales are both buried in Tus, an ancient city that is considered to be the main origin of the current city of Mashhad. On 30 October 2009 (the anniversary of Imam Reza's martyrdom), Iran's then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Mashhad to be "Iran's spiritual capital".

Source: Wikipedia

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Abu Dhabi (UK:, US:; Arabic: أَبُو ظَبْيٍ‎ Abū Ẓaby Arabic pronunciation: [ɐˈbuˈðˤɑbi]) is the capital and the second-most populous city of the United Arab Emirates (later Dubai). The city of Abu Dhabi is located on an island in the Persian Gulf, off the Central West Coast. The Majority of the city and the Emirate live on the mainland connected to the rest of the country. As of 2020, Abu Dhabi's urban area had an estimated population of 1.48 million, out of 2.9 million in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, as of 2016. Abu Dhabi homes local and national government offices and is the home of the United Arab Emirates Government and the Supreme Petroleum Council.

The city is home to the President of the UAE, who's a member of the Al Nahyan family. Abu Dhabi's rapid development and urbanization, coupled with the gigantic oil and gas reserves and production and relatively high average income, have transformed it into a big, developed metropolis. It's the nation's center of politics and business, and a significant culture and commerce center. Abu Dhabi accounts for approximately two-thirds of the approximately $400 billion UAE economy.

Source: Wikipedia