One of the
oldest Isfahan Mosques it comes under officially recognised monuments of Iran.
For a virtual tour and pictures of the city click on the link to the Hakim
Mosque on the Isfahan Site. It has been included in the books published by Iranian Ministry of
Antiquities on Monuments Of Iran, History
Of Monuments of Isfahan by
Dr Honarfar (translated below), as well as Archeological guides9.
The Hakim Mosque is situated at the end
of Painter and Dyer's Market (Bazaar-e-Rang Razan) part of Isfahan's Bazaar. It was built in
mid 
seventeenth century, on the site of a tenth century mosque built by Ismail Ibn Abbad
minister in the court of Fakhr-Al-Doleh or Moayed-Al-Doleh of the Dalaimite
or Buyids dynasty, of which only the Jurjir (or
Jorjir) Portal remains (discovered in 1955 hidden behind mud brick walls).
The seventeenth century mosque was built by our ancestor Mohammad
Davoud Hakim. Construction started in 1656/7 and finished in
1662/3. Mohammad Davoud was the king's doctor in the Safavid
Courts of Shah Safi and Shah Abbas II. According
to European travelers to Persia and India in the seventeenth century, Doctor
Mohammad Davoud fell out of Shah's favour and went to
India and was given the title Tagharrob Khan in the Court of the Emperor of India
Aurengzib.
Thomas Rochford of Anglia
Polytechnic University has designed an amazing site for Isfahan
. Please take the time to visit it. In addition to a virtual tour of the city, comprehensive historical
and architectural information are provided, including the Hakim
Mosque. Thomas has also been very kind by providing the photos
of the entrances to the mosque below. He took these photos for us during a
visit to Isfahan.
Pages 612 - 615
A History of Isfahan Historical Monuments
Dr Lotfallah Honarfar
I
have translated the following pages from the above book. The pages
selected cover the historical aspects relevant to this site, pages
615-618 were exclude as they cover the religious inscriptions and
discuss the calligraphy. I am not a
professional translator, neither am I literary and will be happy to replace it with a better
translation. Where appropriate I have added dates for ease of
references and brief explanatory notes, which are in brackets.
Many thanks to SIamak Nikopoor for translating the Arabic texts. There are two recurring problems in studying Persian history,
one concerns confusion arising from the use of same names or titles
and the other is the inaccurate dates exacerbated by the use of
different calendars. One finds that Persian Kings awarded the same
title to different people. This is because the kings in the East
treated everything and everybody in their land as their property and
unlike Europe were not obliged to recognise the hereditary rights of
their noblemen.
Hamid
5th September 2000, London
The Hakim Mosque
On the
tablet on top of the northern entrance of this Mosque it is inscribed
that the Hakim Mosque was founded by Mohammad Davoud entitled as
Tagharrob Khan physician to Shah Abbas II (1642-1666 AD) and was
completed in the year 1073 A.H. (1662/3 AD). This mosque was constructed in the same area as
ancient mosque of Deylamid era called Jorjir or the Painters’
Guild, of which only the porch remains today. Chardin
has written the following about this physician (Hakim) Davoud who was
Shah Safi’s (Safi I, 1629 - 1642) and Shah Abbas The Second’s
physician:
‘’Because
of some intrigue he fell out of Shah’s favour and he was afraid of worse
things to come (death; one of Safi's first acts when he came to the
throne was to have 7 of his courtiers beheaded ) escaped to India and did so well there
to become a very successful, reputable and prominent person.
According to the travel diaries of Bernier as
soon as Hakim Davoud, who had a big part to play in the war between Aurengzib and his brothers, was called Arabshah
(Hakim Davoud
that is, the references to Arabshah or Arab Khan is a mistake by Chardin
and the English translator of Bernier's Travels has confirmed it ), established himself in a prominent position started sending
plenty of riches to his family in Isfahan, and either out of a sense of
nationalistic feelings or because of a desire to keep his name alive,
continued doing so (sending funds ) until the construction of the
mosque was completed.’’
Bernier
as well as writing about his travels talks of Tagharrob Khan and this is
the same name or title as that of Hakim Davoud named in the tablet at
the northern entrance of the Hakim Mosque.
Honarfar has footnote (613/1) referring Monuments of Iran
(Assar-e-Iran), Persian translation, volume I, second book, page 115.
The Tablet On The Eastern
Entrance Of The Hakim Mosque
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|
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Near
the eastern entrance of the Hakim Mosque opposite the burial grounds of
Haj Mohammad Ebrahim Kalbassi, a poem is inscribed in white Nastaliq
calligraphy on blue ceramic tiles which describes the commissioning of
the mosque’s construction by Hakim Davoud during the reign of Shah
Abbas II and the year construction began 1067 A.H. (It was a sign of
grandeur in Iran for poets to be commissioned to describe events in
noble’s lives in colourful language. Below is typical Persian poetry
with mystic references and Persian wit, note the pun on the name Davoud
or David with mystical reference to the prophet David’s paradise. The
last line codifies the year of the construction using the Abjad
Alphabet which is ancient coding system, which is an ancient system of using alphabet to codify
numbers. This is an amazing feature of the Iranians love for art and
mathematics, the line is in perfect harmony with the rest of the poem yet it
includes a coded number. ):
In the
age that the throne is adorned by the ruler of the revolving world, the
king of kings
The Solomon of (his?) time, Abbas The Second, the shadow of god
Omniscient was made the sagacious physician Davoud
Who came to be called in the court of India as Tagharrob khan
That he must make his way without delay to Isfahan
To lay the foundation of a mosque like Davoud’s paradise
It was through the
efforts of the employer that in these times there was constructed
An auspicious mosque like the solitary spiritual world
Pleasant place of prayer which liberates the mind in a benevolent manner
Date of construction is written clearly in this next part
The centrepoint of worship is now from Davoud of Isfahan
1067 (A.H.-1656/7 AD )
In
between the above poems on a smaller plaque there are lines describing
repairs in later years. One of which is written in between lines five
and six of the poem in white on a turquoise background the following has
been inscribed: ‘’Repairs were carried out in the solar year 1323"
(1944 AD, the solar calender is the Iranian Calendar Hedjri
Shamsie ); in between lines six and
seven there is yet another inscription the following is written in
Arabic One thousand and Eighty Five (1085 AH 1674/5 AD ) and at the end of the poems on a small
plaque attributing the above work to: ‘’Master Ceramic Maker
Mohammad 1085’’ (AH).
Honarfar
has a footnote (614/1) saying the date 1085 AH (1674/5 AD ) represents
completion of the mosque during the reign of Shah Soleiman (Safi II
reigned 1666 - 1694 ).
On
the crest of the entrance, three prayers from psalms 35 (Enlightment),
17 and 18 (Repentance) of Quran are written in yellow ink on blue
background in Sols calligraphy, and it is ended with the following: Give
charity in the name of God, God is great, God is generous, God is
knowledge. On top of the crescent there is a small
inscription: Repaired on the Sheval of 1363 AH (1943 AD) by Haj
Abolghassem-e-Tabrizi.
The Historical
Inscription on the Northern Entrance to the Hakim Mosque
The inscription on the northern entrance of the Hakim Mosque written in Sols
calligraphy on turquoise ceramics states that the mosque was built during the reign of Shah Abbas II by
Hakim (doctor) Mohammad Davoud entitled as Tagharrob Khan. The calligraphy
for this inscription was by Mohammad Reza Emami and it was
written in 1073 AH (1662/3 AD):
"In the reign of the Great Sultan
and the generous King of Kings (Khaghan), master of subjects of numerous
nations, master of the Persian and Arab nations, promoter of the
religion of the innocent Imams, Sultan the son of Sultan Ebi al-Mozzafar
Shah Abbas The Second Moussavi Safavi Hosseinie Bahador Khan, may god
preserve his Kingdom forever, this humbles subject of this merciful
king, Mohammed Davoud Hakim entitled as Taghorrob Khan, may god preserve
his benevolence and may god on the day of atonement grant upon him a
high place, succeeded in completing the construction of this
mosque. Written by Mohammad Reza Emami in the year 1073" (AH,
1662/3 AD).
On the sides of the northern entrance the name of the master builder who built the portal is written on two
small white inscriptions: "The work of Faghir Mohammad Ali son of
Master builder Ali Beik Esfahanie".
The rest of Honarfar describes the
religious tables inside the Mosque which will be added at a later
stage. There is one item from page 618 which is interesting, it's
a poem written inside two cells or chambers each hemistich of the
following poem is written in siomple tri colour calligraphy. The poem is
rather strange, either it codifies a date using the Abjad Alphabetic
coding system or it is a religious pun where the name Hakim has a double
meaning because the first hemistich could also be read as "The key
to the door of knowledge is":
"The key to the Hakim's
treasure is"
"In the name of almighty merciful god"
A.H.
Latin Anno
Hegirae ‘’in the year of Hegira’’ It is the western
abbreviation for the Islamic (Arabic) lunar calendar. For further
information please see the various Islamic sites and its conversion
problems (Calendar).
Painters’
Guild
or Jame’-e- Rangrazan in Persian, Honarfar has a footnote
(612/2) explaining the reason for this name was because of the
mosque’s location at the end of the Painters Bazaar (within the main
Bazaar in Isfahan? The Bazaars in Iran tend to be long
thoroughfares and groups of shops or businesses have evolved in sections
by their profession as mini Bazaars within the main Bazaar).
Hejri
Shamsie
Iranians were one of the first to use a solar calendar as
calculated by the famous mathematician and poet Omar Khyaam in the
middle ages - but it was not officially adopted until earlier this
century. The Iranian
Calendar is more accurate than the Gregorian
Calendar. The current
calendar is Islamic and is like all the other Islamic calendars is based
on the migration of the Prophet Mohammad from Mecca to Medina and is
called Hejri-e-Shamsie in Persian, Hejri is Arabic for migration and
Shamsie means of the Shams which is the sun. Reference: Ross, K. L. ``Iranian
Calendars.''
