class="apple-converted-space"> Sunnism
in Baluchistan. The Makki mosque and
its
madrasa
play an important role in
Baluchistan's society.ShaikhAbdolhamidIsmaeelzahi
is the main and most influential
religious and sunni community leader in Iran that is heading Makki mosque and
its vigorous institutions .Zahedan also has a
Friday
mosque
for shiye and
Jame mosque, where many members
of the community gather to worship on Fridays. The city also has a
Sikh
gurdwara.
A colorful bazaar,
Rasouli
Bazaar, can also be found in the city, where Baluchi and Pashtun traders
intermingle. About 100 km south of Zahedan is an intermittently active
volcano,
Taftan, which rises
abruptly 4,042 meters from the surrounding plain.
Although the surrounding area has many ancient
sites, Zahedan itself developed mainly in the 20th century. Before being chosen
as the provincial administrative center in the 1930s, Zahedan was a small
village. Its population reached 17,500 by 1956 and increased more than fivefold
to 93,000 by 1976. After 1980 large numbers of refugees fleeing the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan helped triple the
