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The Gawhar Shad Mosque/Masjid in Mashhad
Persian
Rugs the O'Connell Notes
The Gawhar Shad Mosque/Masjid in Mashhad The Gohar Shad Mosque is part of the Iram Reza Shrine complex. It was built at the behest of GoharShad, who was the wife of Shah Rukh and the sister of Qara Yusuf Turkman. Gharshad died in A. H. 861 or A. D. 1457. She was mother of the Timurid ruler Ulugh Beg. From Percy Molesworth Sykes 1915" "The Mosque of Gawhar
Shad.—Among the greatest
benefactors of the Shrine was Gawhar Shad, wife of Shah
Rukh, and to her piety we owe the magnificent mosque
called by her name,
which perhaps constitutes the crowning architectural achievement of the
Mongols.
It is, indeed, a noble quadrangle, with four great arches. That to the
south-west, known as the Aywan-i-Maksura, or “Portico of the
Sanctuary," supports a blue dome, and in it the services are held. The
illustration shows the beautiful tile and plaster work inside the
Portico; it
also gives the pulpit which, according to Shi’a belief, will be
ascended by the
Twelfth Imam on the Day of Judgment. The loftiness and elegance of the
quadrangle, together with its perfect proportions and exquisite
tile-work, make
it the noblest mosque in "
Her Highness, the Noble in
Greatness, the Sun of the Heaven of Chastity and Continence, Famous for
Nobility and Honor and Piety, Gawhar Shad, may her Greatness
be eternal, and
may her Chastity endure and may her Charity increase with true Thought
and
high, and with Pious Intent of Heart of Lofty Ideal for fulfilling and
accomplishing her hopes in Allah, may He accept it ; from her private
property
for the benefit of her future state and for the Day on which the Works
of every
one will be judged, with Zeal for Allah and with desire to please Allah
and
with Thankfulness for the Benefits of Allah and for Praise of the
Benefits
granted by Allah, built this Great Masjid-i-Jami, the Holy House, in
the era of
the reign of the Great Sultan, and the more Just Khakan, the more
Generous, the
Lord of Rulers of the Arabs and of Ajam, the Sultan, son of a Sultan,
the
Father of Victory, Shah Rukh, son
of Timur Gurkani,
Bahadur Khan. May Allah make eternal his Kingdom and Empire! And may he
increase on the inhabitants of the world his Goodness, his Justice and
his Generosity!
Thus may Allah accept her work with beneficent acceptance and may He
bless her
with His choice blessings and may He grant her the greater of the boons
which
He has promised to the good! Baisunghur, son of Shah Rukh,
son of Timur Gurkani, wrote this inscription with
hope in Allah in 821
(1418)." No
description of this great
mosque would be complete without a reference to the “Mosque of the Old
Woman." The legend runs that an old dame who owned a tiny plot of the
land
required by Gawhar Shad declined to sell it at any price, but
insisted that a
separate mosque should be erected on it. To the eternal credit of the
Royal
Consort this unreasonable demand was complied with, and the “Mosque of
the Old
Woman " testifies to the fact." A
history of Persia, Volume 2 Persian Rugs Persian Carpets
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