The Door of the Masjid-i Zir-i Nigin in Firizhand

Firizhand is the last village of the Chima-rud valley in the Karkas mountain chain and is situated 19 km south of the Kashan-Natanz road (Figure 1). Its historical monuments include the fort, the Imamzada Sayyid Jaʿfar, the Husayniya, the Imamzada Sāhib-i minbar, the Zir-i Nigin mosque, and two exquisite Seljuq pulpits remaining in the last two buildings.Footnote ¹⁰ In the Husayniya, there is an exquisite wooden door with vegetal and geometrical motifs from the Ilkhanid period that originally belonged to the adjacent mosque of Zir-i Nigin (Figures 2 and 3).Footnote ¹¹ The door measures 160 × 70 cm and is made of walnut, whereas its new frame is of plane wood. On the astragal nailed on the separating edge of the two leaves, there is a dated inscription that has been severely eroded by contact with people's hands. The inscription, not previously read, can be made out as: “fī Ramadān sina sabʿa miaʾ (in Ramadan of the year 700/May-June 1301).”

Figure 1.

A map showing the location of the four villages in the Karkas mountain chain.

Figure 2.

The door of the Masjid-i Zir-i Nigin in Firizhand, 700/1300–1, 160 × 70 cm.

Figure 3.

Detail of Figure 2.

In the center of each leaf of the door, there is a vertical rectangle and at the top and bottom are two squares, all containing a single pattern of girih sāzī. The girih consists of an eight-pointed star on each side of which a pentagon is depicted. In the squares, one unit of this girih is drawn, and in the rectangles four units are repeated. Inside these geometrical patterns, some floral motifs are carved at a lower level, using what has been termed a “stratigraphic method.”Footnote ¹² The rectangle and the squares are surrounded by three flat and recessed frames, and finally they are connected to each other by a frieze of vegetal motifs of palmette scrolls with curling tendrils.

The Door of the Masjid-i Purzala in Abyana

Abyana is situated in the heart of the Karkas Mountains, in Barz-rud valley near Natanz. Among its historical monuments are the Seljuq Jamiʿ mosque, the Purzala mosque, the Harpak fire temple, the Hinza temple, and a Qajar shrine. The village faces south and is built on the mountain slope, the houses being located one above and behind the other. In contrast to the desert architecture of Kashan, almost all the buildings of Abyana have flat wooden roofs. One of the prominent features of Abyana that distinguishes this village from other regions of Iran is the abundance of historical woodwork decorated with various motifs and inscriptions. These works can be seen not only in religious buildings, but also in the houses. The most exquisite wood carvings of Abyana can be found in the Jamiʿ mosque, and include beams, capitals, the pulpit, and the mihrab. In addition, more than twenty wooden doors from the Ilkhanid to Qajar periods have survived in the village, most of them from the Safavid period.Footnote ¹³

In Purzala, one of the seven areas of Abyana, there is a mosque with three wooden doors from the Ilkhanid and Safavid periods.Footnote ¹⁴ Two of the doors in the southern and western parts of the mosque are dated as Ramadan and Rajab 1058 (July-October 1648). The Ilkhanid door that was previously installed in the eastern side of the upper floor is now preserved at the Abyana Museum (Figures 4 and 5).Footnote ¹⁵ It is made of walnut wood and consists of a one-leaf door with inscriptions over it. The door's frame, which measures 190 × 95 cm, is carved with a narrow frieze of vine scroll design. Inside the frame and above the leaf of the door is a rectangular panel containing a dated inscription, which reads:

On the upper edge of the inscription panel there is a carved band of trefoil leaves encircled in scrolls. The door comprises five rectangular panels: three vertical panels carved with vegetal and cypress-like motifs in the center and two undecorated horizontal panels at the top and bottom. They are surrounded with timbers decorated with several narrow friezes of various plaited designs. The upper horizontal panel contains a partially legible circular inscription bearing a name written in vertical direction: “Muhammad . . . Mahmud ibn Muhammad” Perhaps this is an enlarged version of the seal of the donor of the door; its light incision suggests that, for some reason, it remained unfinished.Footnote ¹⁷

Figure 4.

Door of the Purzala mosque in Abyana, 701/1301–2, 190 × 95 cm, Abyana Museum. Photograph by Mahdi Qorbanizadeh, 2011.

Figure 5.

Detail of Figure 4.

The Jamiʿ Mosque of Barzuk

The historical village of Barzuk is located in a mountainous area 50 km southwest of Kashan. The earliest surviving dated epigraphs in the village are from the Ilkhanid period and include a rock inscription of the digging of a qanat in 695/1295–96 and two wood carvings from the Jamiʿ mosque dated 705/1305–6. The Jamiʿ mosque of Barzuk was demolished around 1981, and a modern building was erected in its place. No photo or description of the Ilkhanid mosque has survived, except for a photo published by Hasan Naraqi, of a leaf of the door in situ. Naraqi wrote, “The roof and columns of this mosque are made in the style of mountain slope buildings, with wooden beams and timbers. One of the ancient works [of the mosque] is a double-leaf carved door dated 705.”Footnote ¹⁸

Some of the remnants of the destroyed mosque are preserved in the Barzuk Museum of Anthropology. They include the door, a capital with a wood carving, and more than one hundred and fifty carved and painted beams. Some of the beams have been inscribed with Kufic, thuluth, naskh, and nastaliq scripts during different periods and contain Qurʾanic verses, hadith, Persian poems, waqfnāma (endowment deeds), and the artists’ names (Figure 6). Most of the beams belong to the Zand period (Rabiʿ I 1184/June-July 1770), when the mosque was renovated.Footnote ¹⁹

Figure 6.

Some of the remnants of the demolished mosque of Barzuk, Barzuk Museum of Anthropology.

About twenty-nine pieces of the painted panels from the Ilkhanid period survive. The Ilkhanid wood carvings include three objects: a panel of the construction's memorial, the door, and a capital. The first measures 200 × 20 × 5 cm. It refers to the construction of two mosques in the upper and lower parts of Barzuk and bears the name of the artist (Figures 7 and 8). It reads:

This important inscription informs us that two mosques were built, the Jamiʿ mosque being the “lower” one. There is no trace of the “higher” mosque. The question that arises here is whether the craftsman, who introduces himself as “Muhammad ibn Abi Zayd ibn Abi Tahir ibn Abi Zayd ibn Muhammad,” was from the family of Abu Zayd ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Zayd, the famous potter of late twelfth and early thirteenth century. There are three reasons to propose that the Barzuk wood-carver most likely was a descendant of Abu Zayd. First, Muhammad is trying to record four generations of his ancestors, when usually scribes mention only the names of their father and sometimes their grandfather. With this somewhat unusual method he extends his family lineage to the famous Abu Zayd ibn Muhammad. Second, there were often a variety of artistic skills in a family and the succession of generations during this period. An example is the Kirmani family: such skills as carpentry, calligraphy, stucco, and wood painting can be seen in different generations of this family.Footnote ²¹ Moreover, craftsmen of the medieval period were usually multiskilled; a clear example is Hasan ibn ʿAli ibn Ahmad Babuwayh, of whom both luster tiles and stucco works survive.Footnote ²² So it is not strange to imagine that one of the descendants of Abu Zayd was a wood-carver in the early fourteenth century.

Figure 7.

A piece of wood carving, 705/1305–6, overall size 200 × 20 × 5 cm, inscription size 193 × 10 cm, Barzuk Museum of Anthropology.

Figure 8.

Detail of Figure 7.

Third, in terms of time, Muhammad ibn Abi Zayd could certainly be the great grandson of Abu Zayd ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Zayd, the famous potter, whose dated works span from 582/1186 to 616/1219–20. Let us presume that Abu Zayd died around the year of his last remaining work. It is not known how old his son Abu Tahir was. But the birth of his grandchild Abu Zayd (Abu Tahir's son) must have occurred after his death, because the tradition of naming the child after the death of the grandfather was a common pattern at the time.Footnote ²³ The wood-carver Muhammad ibn Abi Zayd includes the phrase “may God forgive his father” on the inscription of the Barzuk door, meaning his father died before 705/1305–6. This evidence supports the hypothesis that the artist has proudly recorded his genealogy to mention the name of Abu Zayd, the famous painter-decorator (naqqāsh) and potter who also had a taste for poetry.Footnote ²⁴

The last words of the inscription demonstrate that this descendant of Abu Zayd was the calligrapher (bi khaṭṭihī) and the carver (nāqirihī) of the piece. The text indicates that he was ordered to build, and perhaps this can be interpreted to mean that he was the architect of this wooden building. It is not surprising to imagine that, like Abu Zayd, who was both potter and painter, his great grandson also was a painter, and painted the above-mentioned panels. Apparently this multiskilled artist was in charge of the overall execution of the building and its decorations.

His name also is recorded on the stunning door of the mosque (Figures 9 and 10). It measures 175 × 100 cm and contains a brief inscription at the top of both leaves that reads:

The structure of the door resembles that of the Purzala mosque with the assemblage of rectangles, but here the number of the rectangles in each leaf is increased to seven. Three horizontal rectangles are placed at the top, middle, and bottom at equal distances, and there are four vertical rectangles between them. Almost all parts of the door are decorated with abstract vegetal motifs in a light beveled style. In the horizontal panels, there is a rhythm of triangular leaves, in the spaces between which the same motifs are placed in smaller forms. The vegetal decorations of the vertical panels are formed inside and outside of lozenge-shaped curves. In the friezes between the panels, there are curvilinear sinuous scrolls, leaves, and tendrils.

Figure 9

(left). Door of the Jamiʿ mosque of Barzuk, 705/1305–6, 175 × 100 cm, Barzuk Museum of Anthropology.

Figure 10

(right). Detail of Figure 9.

One of the remnants of the mosque is a stunning bracket capital, which is carved on two sides (Figure 11). It also is in light beveled style. It can be assumed that this was executed by Muhammad ibn Abi Zayd. Interestingly, the plain surface of the capital is painted with vegetal motifs and scrolls in black, yellow, and red. The resemblance of the painted motifs to the carvings supports the hypothesis that the ceiling was painted in the Ilkhanid period. Similar undecorated bracket capitals can be found in the Purzala mosque, which were probably constructed in later centuries.

Figure 11.

A capital from the Jamiʿ mosque of Barzuk and a painted detail of it, ca. 705/1305–6, 83 × 28 × 20 cm, Barzuk Museum of Anthropology.

The Door of the Masjid-i ʿAli in Quhrud

Quhrud was on the historical caravan route between Kashan and Isfahan. The only remarkable surviving monuments of this village are two small mosques with architectural decorations from the Ilkhanid period. The first is the Masjid-i ʿAli, which contains a door dated 700/1301 and hundreds of luster star tiles dated 700/1300 and 707/1307. The other mosque, which is called the Masjid-i Kalla, was built in smaller dimensions but with the same structure and elements as the Masjid-i ʿAli. There was a molded blue and black underglaze painted tile in the mihrab that was produced by one of the potters of the Abu Tahir family. Because of the chipping in the phrase including the date, Oliver Watson attributes it to 716, 717, 726, or 727 (1316–1327).Footnote ²⁵

The Masjid-i ʿAli's ground plan is square, with four pillars in the center. It is roofed with nine flattish domes. The interior is heavily plastered and the decoration is limited to the mihrab and entrance. When Watson published his article in 1975, there were two ceramic slabs in the center of the mihrab, but in later years, they were stolen and found their way into Western auctions. One of them was a turquoise-glazed tile dated 708/1308, containing the name of the donor, “ʿAbd al-Wahid ibn Muhammad al-Quhrudi.”Footnote ²⁶ This name also is mentioned on the wooden door dated 700/1301. Accounting for the difference between the dates of the door and mihrab, Watson considers them the dates of the construction and the completion of the decorations.Footnote ²⁷

The other is a luster ceramic plaque, dated Safar 736/September-October 1335, recording a Sufi dream in the form of mathnavi (a poem based on independent, internally rhyming lines). About half of this tile has been lost, but it can be assumed that it originally contained twenty-six bayts (a single line of poetry consisting of two hemistiches).Footnote ²⁸ According to the remaining text, apparently a person of unknown name and identity has described a dream. He refers to the place of revelation, which may be the same mosque. In his dream, he meets Nur al-Din of Natanz (d. 699/1299–1300), the famous Sufi leader of that time. The text also mentions a stick (ʿaṣā), which may have been the symbolic axis of this revelation. However, since a major part of the poem is missing, its meaning is incomprehensible.Footnote ²⁹

The exquisite door is recessed in the west wall of the building; on the exterior at each side are set luster star tiles above stone couches. Although the leaves of the door are not very large (each leaf measures 170 × 48 × 7.5 cm), the overall dimensions of the door reach 275 cm in height and 210 cm in width with the addition of several wooden panels on three sides. The door, which is made of walnut wood, contains thirteen Persian and Arabic inscriptions, more than 560 words. This is unparalleled in contemporary woodwork (Figures 12 and 13). The inscriptions reveal important information about the building itself and the social and religious situation of the village during the Ilkhanid period. In inscriptions 12 and 13, the date is mentioned: one in the abjad numerical system (“the year of hijra had reached to dhāl [700/1301]”) and the other in letters (“Rabiʿ II of the year 700/March-April 1301”).Footnote ³⁰ Each of the inscriptions is carved on a single plank of wood, the largest of which is the top inscription, with dimensions of 210 × 34 cm.

Figure 12.

Location of the inscriptions on the door of the Masjid-i ʿAli.

Figure 13.

Door of the Masjid-i ʿAli, 700/1301, overall size 275 × 210 cm.

At the end of inscription 3, the name of the artist is recorded: “It was written by the weak slave, Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn Mujib al-Naqqar al-Isfahani.” There is another name in the bottom right-hand corner of inscription 1: “Work of Ustad Hajji.”

The leaves of the door and the margins of inscriptions 10, 11, 12, and 13 are carved in a style that has been termed “miniature-beveled style.”Footnote ³¹ Some elements of the decoration, such as the intertwining palmettes and scrolls raised from the background imitating a lattice work, became regular features in later wood carving.Footnote ³² Inscriptions 1 and 2 are written in Kufic script and other inscriptions are in a naskh script, tending toward thuluth. The background of the inscriptions is filled with comma-like volutes. One of the outstanding features of this door is the execution of the decorations on two levels. This means that the writings and the geometrical pattern of the girih sāzī are carved on a raised level and the vegetal motifs of the backgrounds are on a recessed surface (Figure 14).

Figure 14.

Details of Figure 13.

Since the inscriptions of the door are published, there is no need to copy them here, but a description of their content would be worthwhile.Footnote ³³ Inscriptions 2, 4, 5, and 8 to 11 are Qurʾanic, and inscriptions 6 and 7 are hadith. The Qurʾanic inscriptions, either directly or indirectly, refer to verses about building a mosque, offering prayers, the names of God, the oneness of God and the truth of His messenger, seeking refuge in God from the evil of Satan, etc. In inscription 10, the verse “Here is a cool washing-place and a drink (Qurʾan 38:42),” which was a spring of healing water gushing forth under the feet of Job, is meaningful. It refers to a siqāya, which was endowed with the mosque. This word is mentioned in inscriptions 1 and 3 and refers to “what is built for water” and “a water reservoir in mosques.”Footnote ³⁴ It is interesting to note that even now the water of the spring flows through pipes in a pond in front of the mosque, perhaps a remnant of the past tradition.

One of the hadiths inscribed on the door deals with the reward of building a mosque and the other mentions the difference between a believer and a hypocrite in the mosque. Interestingly these two hadiths also were written on the Safavid wooden door of the Kalla mosque, indicating that its scribe had seen the inscriptions on the door of the Masjid-i ʿAli.

Inscription 12 is a Persian mystical and moral verse. Referring to inner purity and providing salutations to the Prophet, it is wished that God will accept the donor, and the pilgrims (zāʾirān) to the building are requested to offer their prayers. Using the word zāʾir for the visitors of the mosque is interesting. As will be discussed, this also was a pilgrimage site known as a qadamgāh (a place where an infallible had been present, observed, passed by, or seen in a dream); the word zāʾir underlines this function. The verse in inscription 13 contains a moral admonition that calls for making people happy, being kind to everyone, avoiding fault-finding, generosity, and, at the end, praying.

The Donor of the Mosque

The long epigraph containing the name of the founder, similar to most of the inscriptions of the medieval period in Iran, is in Arabic and includes his full name and genealogy: “ʿAbd al-Wahid ibn . . . Muhammad ibn . . . ʿAli ibn . . . Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAbdullah ibn ʿAli al-Quhrudi.”Footnote ³⁵ His name also is mentioned on the turquoise tile of the mihrab (“The weak slave, ʿAbd al-Wahid ibn Muhammad al-Quhrudi”). Moreover, in the poems of inscriptions 1 and 12, the word wāhid could be a takhallus (pen name) of the poet, who was the same ʿAbd al-Wahid.

In inscription 3, ʿAbd al-Wahid's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather are introduced with long titles that indicate he and his ancestors were religious scholars.Footnote ³⁶ The titles given to ʿAbd al-Wahid imply his leading position as a scholar, jurist, orator, and judge. His father Muhammad and his grandfather ʿAli have titles such as “Sadr al-Saʿid” and “king of the ʿulama.”Footnote ³⁷ In addition, his great grandfather Ahmad is given the titles of Qadi and “mufti of the sects.” The latter title indicates that he probably has been allowed to issue a fatwa (a formal ruling on a point of Islamic law given by a qualified jurist) in both Shiʿa and Sunni sects. Four generations of this family have been religious scholars, and ʿAbd al-Wahid and his great-grandfather also held the position of judge and issued fatwas. ʿAbd al-Wahid also has the title of “exemplars of the shaykhs and scholars,” used for Sufi leaders and shaykhs. Moreover, in the beginning of one of the poems, the phrase “Lā ilāha illā hū” (there is no God but He) resembles Sufi literature. Imam Muhammad Ghazali (d. 1111) considers lā ilāha illā hū the monotheism of the elite and lā ilāha illā Allah the monotheism of the masses.Footnote ³⁸ Even the content of the poems in inscriptions 12 and 13 is related to Sufi ethics.

As mentioned, the luster ceramic plaque dated Safar 736/October 1335 contains the name of Nur al-din of Natanz, the Suhravardi shaykh who died in 699/1299–1300 in Natanz. He was one of the elders of Sufism in the Kashan region during the Ilkhanid period and was a student of Najib al-Din ʿAli ibn Buzghush Shirazi (d. 1279), who was a student of Shaykh Shahab al-Din ʿUmar Suhravardi (d. 1234).Footnote ³⁹ Two of Shaykh Nur al-din's students, Kamal al-Din ʿAbd al-Razzaq ibn Abi'l-Ghana'im al-Kashani (d. 1335) and ʿIzz al-Din Mahmud ibn ʿAli ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Tahir al-Kashani (d. 1334-5), also were famous Sufis of this period, and they passed away around the year of the production of the luster plaque.Footnote ⁴⁰ Therefore, it is possible that the people of this mosque were related to the Sufi congregations that were welcomed in the Kashan region.

With regard to ʿAbd al-Wahid's religion, it should be mentioned that although in inscription 1 there are references to Imam ʿAli and the family of the Prophet, these tendencies were common among the Sunni mystics of this period and alone do not imply a Shiʿite belief. Sufism with a Shiʿite tinge was the most important religious feature of central Iran during the Ilkhanid period, and both Kamal al-Din ʿAbd al-Razzaq and ʿIzz al-Din Mahmud were Sunnis who adhered to the Shafiʿi school of law but held great reverence for ʿAli ibn Abi Talib and the Prophet's family.Footnote ⁴¹

The Qadamgāhi Nature of the Mosque

The first inscription contains a poem in sixteen bayts describing the dream of the donor ʿAbd al-Wahid.Footnote ⁴² In summary, Imam ʿAli came to ʿAbd al-Wahid in a dream and ordered the construction of a mosque, marking the location of the mosque, mihrab, minbar, and siqāya. Then, with the help of some young men, he built the building with marble stones that appeared. After waking, the dreamer, who is “ʿabd-i wāhid” (slave of the One), starts to build the mosque and siqāya, and at the end he prays to God and asks for the intercession of the Prophet and his family.

This revelatory dream can be compared with the inscriptions of a pair of circular luster ceramic tiles dated 1 Shawwal 711/10 February 1312 belonging to the Qadamgāh-i ʿAli in Kashan. According to the text of those tiles, Imam ʿAli together with the twelfth imam of the Shiʿites, who was a youth, appeared in someone's dream and ordered him to construct a shrine, the exact location of which was specified.Footnote ⁴³ Repeating this request in the dreams of several men and women leads to construction of the building. There are obvious similarities between the contents of the inscriptions on the door and the luster tiles: first, the time affinity, as the first one was written in 1301 and the other in 1312; second, the dream of the presence of Imam ʿAli that has given both places a qadamgāhi position; third, the order to build a mosque and a shrine; fourth, the location of the building determined in a dream; and finally, fifth, the construction of a building based on a dream.

Of course, there are differences in the two recorded dreams. In Kashan's luster tiles, the details of the dream are given in intimate prose and in more detail, even illustrating the scene with depictions of the exact sizes of Imam ʿAli's horseshoe and the footprint of the twelfth imam's camel. Instead, in other parts of the Quhrud door, which had more space for inscriptions, the donor and his family are more fully introduced. In the Kashan tiles, the dreamer and the builder are two different persons; Sayyid Fakhr al-Din Hasan Tabari is the dreamer and Maulana Bahaʾ al-Din Haydar Faris is the builder,Footnote ⁴⁴ but the dreamer and the builder in the Quhrud story is ʿAbd al-Wahid. Another difference is the Shiʿite approach in these two inscriptions. As described, ʿAbd al-Wahid is more similar to a Sunni Sufi with an affection for Shiʿism, whereas in the inscription of the luster tiles Imam ʿAli refers to the youth and says “this youth is our son, Mahdi Sahib Zaman,” referring to the Shiʿite's twelfth imam, and its Shiʿite faith is obvious.Footnote ⁴⁵

Dating of the Masjid-i ʿAli based on Newly Found Wood Carvings

Oliver Watson has made the argument that almost all the inscriptions of the two mosques of ʿAli and Kalla in Quhrud were from a limited period (1300–1335), and the two buildings were built of the same elements and were essentially the same type. Considering the fact that the “keel-arches” are characteristic of the Ilkhanid architecture, he concludes, “this would all support the argument that the buildings are contemporary with their inscriptions, although it is by no means conclusive. Until contrary evidence is produced it remains, however, the logical conclusion.”Footnote ⁴⁶

Now there is new evidence showing the building was built in later centuries. In 2020, the upper rooms of the mosque were renovated to reduce the weight of the flat roofs, with replacement of worn wooden beams and termite extermination (Figure 15). Two historical wooden columns were discovered among the ceiling beams. One of the columns had a relatively intact inscription on which the name of the donor and a Qurʾanic verse were recorded:

These inscriptions are at the bottom of the column, which has a square section. The middle part of the column has an octagonal section (Figure 16). ʿAbd al-Wahid is the same founder of the mosque whose name is carved on the door and the mihrab tile. Moreover, the word siqāya and the superb wood-carving quality lead us to conclude that the column belongs to the same mosque and is contemporary with the door.

Figure 15

(left). The renovation of the Masjid-i ʿAli in 2020.

Figure 16

(right). A column belonging to the Masjid-i ʿAli, size of outer frame 70 × 30 cm.

The name of the founder appears in a simple rectangular frame, and the Qurʾanic verse is carved inside a mihrabi frame. Like the door, the writings are executed in a raised form and the recessed background is filled with comma-like volutes. Scrolls are carved in the spandrels as well as the borders. One of the characteristics of this work is that the motifs are carved on three levels: the decorative arch and its columns are executed on a completely raised surface, the spandrels are on a slightly recessed surface, and the margin is further recessed.

When the roofs were renovated, this column was again used as a beam; except for its inscription, it was plastered. The second column, which was severely eroded, has been left outside of the building, but the mihrabi frame of its inscription is still clearly recognizable and shows that it was a parallel to the other column (Figure 17). The tongue at the top of the column that was the location of the capital has remained completely intact. The measurements of the inscription frames of both columns are almost identical (70 × 30 cm). This evidence shows that the mosque was originally a wooden building with at least two pillars and a ceiling height of 320 cm. After the destruction of the wooden Ilkhanid mosque, two of its columns were used as beams for the later building, which was probably erected in the Qajar period. It should be mentioned that almost all the historical buildings in the neighboring mountain villages, from the Seljuq period onward, have flat roofs with wooden beams, among which are the Jamiʿ mosque of Abyana, the Masjid-i Purzala in Abyana, the Jamiʿ mosque of Barzuk, and the Masjid-i Zir-i Nigin in Firizhand. The plans of the mosques in Abyana, and especially the Purzala mosque, can help us imagine the initial plan of the Masjid-i ʿAli (Figures 18–20).

Figure 17.

A wooden column belonging to the Masjid-i ʿAli, ca. 700/1301, 320 × 28 × 28 cm.

Figure 18.

Plan of the ground floor (left) and first floor (right) of the Purzala mosque in Abyana (from Raʿi, Abyana, Figures 77–78).

Figure 19

(left). Structure of the ground floor of the Purzala mosque in Abyana (from Raʿi, Abyana, Figure 81).

Figure 20

(right). Plan of the Jamiʿ mosque of Abyana (from Golmohammadi, “Wooden Religious Buildings,” Figure 1).

The Wood-Carvers

In the wood carvings we have considered, the names of three artisans are recorded: Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn Mujib al-Naqqar al-Isfahani, Muhammad ibn Abi Zayd, and Ustad Hajji. Muhammad al-Naqqar signed the doors of the Masjid-i ʿAli in Quhrud and the Purzala mosque in Abyana. Al-Naqqar used the verb ḥarrarahū on the Quhrud door and katabahū on the Abyana door, both indicating he was the calligrapher.

It is interesting that Muhammad ibn Abi Zayd also refers to himself as nāqir. Two other uses of the word naqqār for woodworkers can be found at the Thesaurus d'Epigraphie Islamique website. The first, the Maqām of Qaydar Nabi in Zanjan province, dated 692/1291–92, is signed by Naqqar ʿAli Isfahani; and the second, dated 831/1427–28, was Ustad Husayn ibn ʿAli Najjar Naqqar in Natanz.Footnote ⁴⁸ Apparently use of the word naqqār changed during the fifteenth century, when in Tabriz or the Mazandaran region a woodworker signed as a najjār (carpenter).Footnote ⁴⁹

In the Quhrud door, the name of Ustad Hajji also is written in a very small size. Oliver Watson, who had not seen the Purzala door, hypothesized that possibly Ustad Hajji carved the work to the other's design, as Muhammad only recorded himself as the calligrapher.Footnote ⁵⁰ There are two reasons to reject this hypothesis. First, in addition to the verbs ḥarrarahū and katabahū, on both doors Muhammad uses the title “Naqqar” for himself, indicating he was carver and calligrapher. Second, the diminutive form of the phrase “work of Ustad Hajji” that is carved in the background of the inscription may show that he was the carpenter rather than the artist. This assumption is reinforced by one of the bayts of the poem in inscription 13: “While Ustad was erecting this [plank of] wood; in the morning he asked to recite Fātiha.” Apparently, Ustad Hajji did the heavy work of cutting the timbers, and Muhammad decorated them.

The similarity of vegetal motifs and the carving quality of the door and the wooden column of the Masjid-i ʿAli leads us to imagine that the columns of the mosque also are the work of the same artist. The door is dated Rabiʿ II 700/March-April 1301, and the Abyana door is dated 701/1301–2. It can be assumed that Muhammad was active in the villages of this region for at least one year. Accepting this hypothesis makes Watson's opinion about moving the door from Isfahan to this area problematic.Footnote ⁵¹

The Quhrud door is decorated with geometrical patterns of girih sāzī, but the Abyana door is designed with a different structure of raised and recessed rectangular frames. In the Quhrud door, the writings dominate the decorations, but in the Abyana door writing plays a secondary role, and the main parts of the door consist of rectangular frames decorated with scrolls and curling tendrils.

Interestingly the Quhrud door resembles that of Firizhand in its carvings on two levels (raised and recessed), its execution quality, and use of the same girih sāzī motifs. Moreover, in both doors, there are similar vegetal motifs on the astragals nailed on the separating edge of the two leaves (Figures 3 and 14). It can be hypothesized that perhaps the Firizhand door also was carved by Muhammad al-Naqqar.

Thus, of the four doors introduced here, two have been signed by Muhammad al-Naqqar, another one can be attributed to him, and one has the signature of Muhammad ibn Abi Zayd. Both wood-carvers introduce themselves as calligrapher and carver. Muhammad ibn Abi Zayd, who has proudly recorded his full genealogy to mention the name of his ancestor Abu Zayd, also perhaps was an architect and painter. This confirms the multiskilled nature of these artists, who were probably in charge of the execution of the buildings and their decorations. The newly discovered wood carvings demonstrate that these artists, in contrast to previous research, not only carved the doors of the mosques but also worked on their columns and capitals.

The Social and Religious Settings

In the four surveyed villages, which are located in a mountainous area and are quite close to each other, we see significant developments in mosque construction. In Quhrud, the Masjid-i ʿAli was built around the year 1301 and the Masjid-i Kalla was erected ten years to some decades later. In Firizhand there also are two historical religious buildings, the Masjid-i Zir-i Nigin, the door of which is dated 700/1300–1, and a shrine that may have functioned as a mosque in past centuries. In Abyana, the Purzala mosque was built in 701/1301–2. In the wooden panel of the Jamiʿ mosque of Barzuk, the construction of two mosques in 705/1305–6 is mentioned.

These mosques, which were built between the years 700/1300–1 and 705/1305–6, are connected with an important development in the history of the Ilkhans and the history of Islamic Iran. This happened during the reigns of Ghazan Khan (r. 1295–1304) and his successor Uljaytu (r. 1304–1316), who continued the actions and reforms of his predecessor. Unlike the earlier Ilkhans, Ghazan Khan converted to Islam and carried out many cultural, economic, and social reforms. Rashid al-Din in the last chapter of his Tarikh-i Mubarak-i Ghazani (“the blessed history of Ghazan”) mentions that forty reforms occurred during the reign of Ghazan Khan. One of the reforms was construction of mosques in the villages:

The construction of these mosques in the villages between Kashan and Natanz during the last years of Ghazan Khan's rule is compatible with his order. These buildings are a sign of that prosperous era of mosque building in Iran that led to the gathering of artists from other cities. Moreover, Ghazan Khan's devotion to Shiʿite imams and their descendants (sādāt) led to the construction of Dar al-Siyada buildings, as a surviving waqfnāma dated Safar 703/September-October 1303 from Dar al-Siyada of Kashan confirms.Footnote ⁵³

The weakening of Sunnism that started with the victory of the Ilkhans over the ʿAbbasid Caliphate in Baghdad reached its apogee with Uljaytu's conversion to Shiʿism in late 709/1310.Footnote ⁵⁴ Before his conversion to Shiʿism five years before his death, he had wavered between the various religions of Christianity, Buddhism, and Sunnism of the Hanafite and Shafiʿite schools.Footnote ⁵⁵ The stunning stucco mihrab added to the mosque in Isfahan in 1310, with its Shiʿite inscriptions, can be considered a direct reflection of that conversion.Footnote ⁵⁶ This also is reflected in other contemporary structures of the Isfahan province. For instance, inscriptions of the “third decorative stage” of the Pir-i Bakran mausoleum, which were completed in 1312–13, contained Shiʿite elements such as the names of the Fourteen Infallibles.Footnote ⁵⁷

A clear example of Shiʿite tendencies and thoughts in the Kashan region is the construction of a qadamgāh in the Shiʿite city of Kashan and the construction of the Masjid-i ʿAli in Quhrud, both of which were pilgrimage sites. The content of the Shiʿite inscription of the Quhrud door is not far removed from Sunni beliefs and is more moderate than that of the Qadamgāh-i ʿAli in the Shiʿite city of Kashan. No trace of Shiʿism can be found in the remaining inscriptions at three contemporary mosques in other villages. Although at first glance it seemed that the brevity of the inscriptions did not allow an opportunity to address religious beliefs, the inscriptions of the painted beams from the ceiling of Barzuk's Jamiʿ mosque had no indication of Shiʿism but had content in accordance with the Sunni perception of Islam.Footnote ⁵⁸ These inscriptions are in line with the words of the Ilkhanid historian Hamd-Allah Mustaufi (d. ca. 1344), who identified the city of Kashan as Shiʿite and its villages as Sunni.Footnote ⁵⁹