en:Shah Mosque (Tehran)

{{For|other places with similar names|Shah Mosque (disambiguation){{!}}Shah Mosque}}

{{Infobox religious building

| building_name = Shāh Mosque

| native_name = {{lang|fa|مسجد شاه}}

| native_name_lang = fa

| image = 2017-tehran.jpg

| image_upright = 1.4

| caption = The mosque in 2017

| map_type = Tehran

| map_size = 250

| map_relief = 1

| map_caption = Location of the mosque in Tehran

| location = Grand Bazaar, Tehran, Tehran province

| country = Iran

| coordinates = {{coord|35.6763|51.4221|region:IR_type:landmark|format=dms|display=inline,title}}

| religious_affiliation = Islam

| rite =

| consecration_year =

| status = Mosque

| functional_status = Active

| heritage_designation =

| leadership =

| website =

| architect = Ali-Akhbar Isfahani

| architecture_type = {{nowrap|Mosque architecture}}

| architecture_style = Qajar

| general_contractor =

| facade_direction =

| groundbreaking = 1810 CE

| year_completed = {{ubl|1825 CE|1879 CE {{small|(minarets)}}|1905 CE {{small|(clock tower)}}}}

| founded_by = {{ubl|Fath-Ali Shah Qajar {{small|(1825)}}|Naser al-Din Shah Qajar {{small|(1879)}}}}

| construction_cost =

| capacity =

| length =

| width =

| width_nave =

| height_max =

| dome_quantity = One {{small|(maybe more)}}

| dome_height_outer =

| dome_height_inner =

| dome_dia_outer =

| dome_dia_inner =

| minaret_quantity = Two

| minaret_height =

| spire_quantity =

| spire_height =

| materials = Bricks; plaster; tiles

| module = {{Infobox historic site

| embed = yes

| image = Masjid i Shah Tehran by Eugène Flandin.jpg

| image_size = 250

| caption = The mosque by Eugène Flandin in 1851

| designation1 = INHL

| designation1_offname = Imam Mosque of Tehran

| designation1_type = Built

| designation1_criteria =

| designation1_date = 23 September 1984

| delisted1_date =

| designation1_partof =

| designation1_number = 1667

| designation1_free1name = Conservation organization

| designation1_free1value = Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization of Iran

| designation1_free2name =

| designation1_free2value =

| designation1_free3name =

| designation1_free3value =

}}

| footnotes =

}}

The Shāh Mosque ({{langx|fa|مسجد شاه|Masjid-e Shah}}; {{langx|ar|مسجد الشاه}}), also known as the Soltāni Mosque{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ali-Razmara |title=Ali Razmara – prime minister of Iran |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |date= |access-date= }} ({{lang|fa|مسجد سلطانی}}) meaning "royal", renamed the Imam Mosque ({{langx|fa|مسجد امام|Masjid-e Emam}}){{efn|Officially, the Imam Khomeini Mosque.}} after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, is a mosque in the northern section of the Grand Bazaar in the city of Tehran, in the province of Tehran, Iran.{{cite book |title=Bazaar and State in Iran: The Politics of Tehran Marketplace' |author=Keshavarzian, Arang |page=215 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2007 |isbn= }}{{cite web |url=http://english.aawsat.com/2014/06/article55332991/iran-and-the-ikhwan-assassinations-pamphlets-and-meetings |title=Iran and the Ikhwan: Assassinations, Pamphlets and Meetings |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018204352/http://english.aawsat.com/2014/06/article55332991/iran-and-the-ikhwan-assassinations-pamphlets-and-meetings |archive-date=2016-10-18 |work=ASHARQ AL-AWSAT |date= 6 June 2014|access-date= }}

The mosque was added to the Iran National Heritage List on 23 September 1984, administered by the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization of Iran.

Structure

The mosque was built by the order of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar{{cite web |url=http://virtualtour.tehran.ir/DnnArticle/view/tabid/71/ArticleId/45/.aspx |script-title=fa:مسجدامام خمینی |trans-title=Imam Khomeini Mosque |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190822050126/http://virtualtour.tehran.ir/DnnArticle/view/tabid/71/ArticleId/45/.aspx |archive-date=22 August 2019 |work=Municipality of Tehran |lang=fa |date= |access-date= }} as one of several such symbols of legitimacy for the new Qajar dynasty.{{cite book |title=The Bazaar in the Islamic City: Design, Culture, and History |author=Gharipour, Mohammad |publisher=The American University in Cairo Press |page=205 |isbn=9774165292 }} At the time of its completion, the mosque was considered to be the most significant architectural monument in Tehran. The mosque was designed by Ali-Akhbar Isfahani.{{fact|date=April 2025}}

During the reign of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, the two current minarets were added to the structure. The mosque is topped by a small gilded dome.{{cite book |title=The City in the Muslim World: Depictions by Western Travel Writers |author1=Gharipour, Mohammad |author2=Ozlu, Nilay |year= |isbn= |page= }} The mosque also has two Shabestans.{{cite web |url=http://seeiran.ir/%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AC%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%AE%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A-%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86/ |script-title=fa:مسجد امام خمینی |trans-title=Imam Khomeini Mosque |work=See Iran |lang=fa |date= |access-date= }}

The courtyard is accessed from several parts of the Grand Bazaar.{{cite web |url=http://www.lonelyplanet.com/iran/tehran/sights/religious/imam-khomeini-mosque |title=Imam Khomeini Mosque |work=Lonely Planet |date= |access-date= }}{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/feb/15/iran |title=Mosque fire kills 59 in Tehran |work=The Guardian |date= |access-date= }} There are some significant architectural similarities between the Shāh Mosque, the Vakil Mosque in Shiraz, and the Soltāni Mosque in Borujerd.{{fact|date=April 2025}}

The Shāh Mosque in Tehran is recognized to be one of the most gorgeous{{peacock-inline|date=April 2025}} creations of the Persian empire in the Islamic era.{{Cite web |title=Imam Mosque |url=https://www.itto.org/iran/attraction/imam-mosque-masjid-shah-tehran/ |url-status=live |website=Iran Tourism and Touring Organization |archive-date=25 Mar 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230325005439/https://itto.org/iran/attraction/imam-mosque-masjid-shah-tehran |language=en |access-date=19 June 2023 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/509601/Masjed-e-Imam-A-historical-jewel-in-heart-of-Tehran |title=Masjed-e Imam: A historical jewel in heart of Tehran |work=Tehran Times |date=10 February 2025 |access-date=26 April 2025 }} Built during the Qajar era under the ruler Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, the mosque serves as a symbol of excellence in the Islamic era.{{Cite web |title=Imam Mosque: A grand, sparkling jewel of Islamic architecture |url=https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/457941/Imam-Mosque-a-grand-sparkling-jewel-of-Islamic-architecture |website=Imam Mosque: a grand, sparkling jewel of Islamic Architecture |date=8 February 2021 }} The mosque is detailed with 18 million bricks and 475,000 tiles.{{Cite web |title=Shah Mosque |url=http://www.alluringworld.com/shah-mosque/ |website=Shah Mosque |date=9 July 2018 }}

Notable events

On 11 December 1905, the vāli of Tehran ordered the public flogging of 17 prominent merchants of the bazaar in the main courtyard of the Shāh Mosque, blaming them for the increase in the price of sugar. The public humiliation of the merchants was condemned by the Bazaaris and in protest, the Grand Bazaar shut its doors. A public backlash against the government in a series of related incidents ignited the Persian Constitutional Revolution.{{cite book |title=History of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution: Tarikh-e Mashrute-ye Iran |author=Kasravi, Ahmad |author-link=Ahmad Kasravi |publisher=Mazda Publishers |year=2006 |pages=69–70 |isbn=9781568592534 }}

On 7 March 1951, Haj Ali Razmara, anti-communist Prime Minister of Iran, was attending the memorial service for Ayatollah Feyz at the Shāh Mosque.{{cite book |script-title=fa:در دامگه حادثه |trans-title=Dar Damgahe Hadese |author=Ghaneifard, Erfan |page=30 |lang=fa |asin=B0075PW2YK }}{{cite book |author=Kazemi, Farhad |editor=Arjomand, Said Amir |title=From Nationalism to Revolutionary Islam |date=1984 |page=164 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=London |isbn=978-1-349-06849-4 |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-06847-0 |chapter=The Fadaˈiyan-e Islam: Fanaticism, Politics and Terror |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-06847-0 }} On his way to the mosque, he was shot dead in the mosque's grand courtyard by Khalil Tahmasebi, who was described by The New York Times as a "religious fanatic".{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/08/archives/premier-of-iran-is-shot-to-death-in-a-mosque-by-a-religious-fanatic.html |title=Premier of Iran Is Shot to Death In a Mosque by a Religious Fanatic; PREMIER OF IRAN SLAIN IN MOSQUE Cabinet in Emergency Session VICTIM OF ASSASSIN |agency=Associated Press |date=8 March 1951 |access-date=12 December 2016}} According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, Tahmasebi was a member of the Shiite activist group{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Dnb6E5s3HwC&pg=PA177 |page=177 |title=Urban Unrest in the Middle East: A Comparative Study of Informal Networks in Egypt, Iran, and Lebanon |first=Guilain |last=Denoeux |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=9781438400846 |series=SUNY series in the Social and Economic History of the Middle East |year=1993 |chapter=Religious Networks and Urban Unrest }} "Fedaʾeyān-e Eslām (Persian: 'Self-Sacrificers of Islam'), an extremist religious organization with close ties to the traditional merchant class and the clergy."{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ali-Razmara |title=Ali Razmara – Prime Minister of Iran |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |date=25 August 2016 |access-date=12 December 2016}} In 1952, Tahmasebi was freed and pardoned by the Iranian Parliament during the premiership of Mohammad Mosaddegh, and he was declared a Soldier of Islam. Following the 1953 Iranian coup d'état, Tahmasebi was re-arrested and tried; he was executed in 1955.{{cite journal |last=Zabih |first=Sepehr |title=Aspects of Terrorism in Iran |journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |year=1982 |volume=463 |issue=1 |pages=84–94 |jstor=1043613 |doi=10.1177/0002716282463001007| s2cid=145391253 }}{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,817453,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125203537/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,817453,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 November 2010 |title=IRAN: Time of the Assassin |date=1 December 1952 |access-date=12 December 2016 |magazine=Time }}

Gallery

Mezquita Shah, Teherán, Irán, 2016-09-17, DD 49-51 HDR.jpg|Dome interior

Mezquita Shah, Teherán, Irán, 2016-09-17, DD 52.jpg|Courtyard

Shah mosque tehran.jpg|

Shah mosque of isfahan.jpg|

Mosque-Shah-(Imam)-Tehran.jpg|alt=Minaret|Minarets of the mosque

Shah Mosque (5448777193).jpg|Shah Mosque, by sipo, licensed under CC BY 2.0{{cite web |last=sipo |title=Shah Mosque |date=2010-05-01 |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/siposoft/5448777193/ |via=Flickr |access-date=2021-11-18}}