Burial Sites in Major Cities of Islamic Iran: From the Early Islamic Period to the Mongol Invasion

Document Type : Research/Original/Reqular Article

Authors

1 PhD student in the History of Islamic Culture and Civilization, Department of History and Islamic Civilization, University of maaref, Qom, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Iranian Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamadan, Iran

Abstract

This study examines burial locations in the major cities of Islamic Iran from the early Islamic period up to the Mongol invasion. It centers on the question of what factors influenced the public’s choices in selecting burial sites. The research aims to analyze the practices and determining elements behind these decisions, emphasizing the roles of religious, traditional, and social considerations, as well as the individual’s status. Drawing on local historical chronicles (tawārīkh-i maḥallī) and biographical works (kutub-i rijāl) as primary sources, the study employs a qualitative, analytical-descriptive methodology to investigate patterns of interment in Iranian society during this period. The findings indicate that while the general population was typically buried in public cemeteries, elite figures-including political authorities and scholars-were often interred in distinct settings such as private residences, madrasas, mosques, khānqāhs, gardens, palaces, and government buildings (dār al-imārah). The analysis underscores how a variety of influences-ranging from religious beliefs and political conditions to social hierarchy and class identity-shaped burial practices. These insights contribute to a deeper understanding of the cultural and societal frameworks prevailing in Iran throughout the Islamic era prior to the Mongol incursion.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Transliteration
Adli, Mohammad Reza (2013). Khanqah, Great Islamic Encyclopedia. 21 volumes. Tehran: Center of the Great Islamic Encyclopedia.
Afżal al-Dīn Kermānī (1977). ʿĪqd al-ʿAlī lil-Mawqīf al-Aʿlā, Edited by Ali Mohammad Ameri Na’ini. Tehran: Roozbehān.
Afżal al-Dīn Kermānī, Abū Ḥāmid Aḥmad b. Ḥāmed (1997). Tārīḵ Afżal yā Badāʾiʿ al-Zmān fī Waqāʾiʿ Kermān. Published by Mehdi Bayati. Tehran: Tehran University Press.
Al-Moḵtaṟāt mīn al-Rasāʾīl (1976). Introduction and indexes of Iraj Afshar. Tehran: National Art Association Publications.
Arjah, Akram (2010). Khanqah. The Great Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. 14 volumes. Tehran: Islamic Encyclopedia. 796-812.
Ashraf, Ahmad (1974). Research on Iranian Issues: Historical Characteristics of Urbanization in Iran during the Islamic Period. Social Sciences Journal, 1 (4), 7-49.
Bartol'd, Vasilii Vladimirovich (1987). Turkestan down to the Mongol invasion. Translated by Karim Keshavarz. Second edition. Tehran: Āgah.
Estaḵrī, Abū Īsḥāq Ībrahīm b. Moḥammad (2004). Al-Masālīk wa al-Mamālīk, researched by Mohammad Jaber Abdul-ʻĀl al-Haini. First edition. Cairo: Al-Hayʾa al-ʿĀmma li-Quṣūr al-ṯaqāfa.
Gardīzī, Abdol-ḥaī b. Zaḥḥāk (1984). Zayn al-Aḵbār. Edited by Abdolhai Habibi. Tehran: Donyāyeh Ketāb.
Habibi, Abdul-Hay (1380). History of Afghanistan after Islam. First edition. Tehran: Afsūn.
Ḥākem Neīšābūrī, Abū ʿAbdollāh (1375). ārīḵ Neīšābūr. Translated by Mohammad b. Hossein, Khalifa of Neishabour. First edition. Tehran: Āgah.
Ībn Aṯīr, ʿIzz al-Dīn (1385). Al-Kāmīl fī al-Tārīḵ. Beirut: Dār al-Ṣādīr.
Ībn Baṭṭūṭa, Moḥammad b. ʿAbdollāh (1997). Rīḥlat Ībn Baṭṭūṭa. Edited by Abd al-Hadi al-Tazi. Riyadh: Akādīmīya al-Mamlaka al-Maḡrībīya.
Ībn Esfandīar, Baḥāʾ al-Dīn Moḥammad b. Ḥasan (1987). Tārīḵ Ṭabrestān. 2nd ed. Tehran: Pādīdeh-ye ḵāvar.
Ībn Ṭaqtāqī, Moḥammad b. ʿAlī (1981). Tārīḵ Faḵrī. Translated by Mohammad Wahid Golpayegani. 2nd ed. Tehran: Bonyād-e Tarǰomeh wa Našr-e Ketāb.
ǰayhānī, Abū al-Qāsem b. Aḥmad (1989). Aškāl ul-ʿĀlam. Translated by Ali b. Abdul-Salam Katib. Introduction and comments by Firuz Mansoori. First edition. Tehran: Beh Našr.
ǰoneīd Šīrāzī, Abū al-Qāsem (1949). Šadd al-ʻIzār fī Ḥaṭṭ al-Awzār ʿan Zuwār al-Mazār. Corrected and edited by Mohammad Qazvini and Abbas Eqbal. First edition. Tehran: Majles Press.
Kāteb Yazdī, Aḥmad b. Ḥossayn (1978). Tārīḵ ǰadīd Yazd. Edited by Iraj Afshar. Tehran: Farhang Iran Zamīn: Amīr Kabīr.
Māfarūkhī Isfahānī, Maẓfar b. Saʿd  (1986). Maḥāsīn-i Esfahān. Translated by Hossein b. Mohammad Āvi. First edition. Esfahan: Cultural and Recreational Organization of the Municipality.
Mahdavī, Seyyed Moṣleḥ al-Dīn (1983). Mazārāt-e Esfahān. Edited by Asghar Montazer al-Qaem. First edition. Esfahan: University of Esfahan.
Naršaḵī, Abū Bakr Moḥammad b. ǰaʿfar (1984). Tārīkh-e Buḵārā. Second edition. Tehran: Tūs.
Nasafī, ʿUmar b. Moḥammad (1987). Al-Qand fī Zekr ʿUlamāʾ Samarqand. 1st ed. Tehran: Office for Publishing Written Heritage.
Qomī, Ḥasan b. Moḥammad b. Ḥasan (2006). Tārīḵ Qom. Translated byHassan b. Ali b. Abdul Malik Qomi. First edition. Qom: Ketābḵāne-ye Bozorg-e Āyatollāh al-ʿUẓmā Marʿašī Naǰafī.
Quršī, Ībn Abī al-Wafāʾ [N.D.]. Al-ǰawāhīr al-Maḍīʾa fī Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafīya. Karachī: Mīr Moḥammad Kitāb ḵāna.
Rāfiʿī Qazvīnī, ʿAbd al-Karīm b. Moḥammad (1988). Al-Tadwīn fī Aḵbār Qazvīn. Beirut: Dār ul-Kotob al-ʿĪlmīyya.
Rāwandī, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. Sulaymān (1985). Rāḥat ul-Ṣodūr wa Āyat ul-Sorūr fī Tārīḵ Āl Salǰūq. Edited by Mohammad Eqbal and Mojtaba Minovi. Second edition. Tehran: Amīrkabīr.
Sahmī, Ḥamzah b. Yūsuf (1987). Tārīkh ǰorǰān. 4th ed. Beirut: ʿĀlam al-Kotob.
Samʿānī, Abū Saʿd ʿAbd al-Karīm b. Muḥammad (1962). Al-Anṣāb. 1st ed. Hyderabad: Majlis Dā’irat al-Maʿārīf al-ʿUthmānīya.
Sheykhi, Mohammad (1382). Neighborhood Structure of the Past Islamic Cities. Social Sciences, (22), 41-68.
Ṣirīfīnī, Ībrāhīm b. Moḥammad (1983). Tārīḵ Neīšāpūr: Al-Montaḵab min al-Sīyāq. Edited by Mohammad Kazem Mahmoudi. First edition. Qom: ǰāmīʿat Modarresīn Ḥawza ʿĪlmīyya Qom.
Sobkī, ʿAbd al-Wahhāb b. ʿAlī (1993). Ṭabaqāt al-Šāfiʿīyya al-Kubrā. Edited by Mahmoud Mohammad al-Tanahi and Abdul Fattah Mohammad al-Holow. Second edition. Giza: Hajar for printing, publishing and distribution.
Soltanzadeh, Hossein (1362). The process of formation of cities and religious centers in Iran. Tehran: Āgah Publications.
Spuler, Bertold (2007). Iran in fruh - islamischer zeit. Translated by Javad Falaturi. Seventh edition. Tehran: ʻElmī va Farhangī.
Ṭabarī, Abū ǰaʿfar Moḥammad b. ǰarīr (2008). Tārīḵ al-Omam wa al-Molūk (Tārīḵ al-Ṭabarī). 2nd ed. Beirut: Rawāʾiʿ al-Torāṯ al-ʿArabī.
Tārīḵ-e Sīstān (1987). Corrected by Malek al-Shu'ara Bahar. Second edition. Tehran: Padīdeh ḵāvar.
Yāqūt Ḥamawī, Šahāb al-Dīn Abū ʿAbdollāh (1995). Moʿǰam al-Boldān. 2nd ed. Beirut: Dār Ṣādīr.
Yazdī, Moḥammad Kāẓem b. ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīm (2001). Al-ʿOrwat ul-Wuṯqā. Commentary by Mohammad Fazel Movahedi Lankarani. Qom: Center of Jurisprudence of the Aʼīmat Aṭhār (peace be upon them).
 
Iranian Journal for the History of Islamic Civilization
Volume 57, Issue 2
February 2025
Pages 205-230

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 08 September 2024
  • Revise Date: 20 January 2025
  • Accept Date: 18 March 2025

Share

How to cite

Statistics