Muḥyī, Mīrzā Aḥmad Khān

Muḥyī, Mīrzā Aḥmad Khan,¹ a pioneer of modern medicine in Isfahan and the founder of the Aḥmadīyye Hospital, was born in Isfahan in 1891/1270. His family name was originally Jarrāḥ (“Surgeon”), which he later changed to Muḥyī. He completed his formal education at the Dār al-Funūn in Tehran and learned the foundations of traditional medicine from his father, Mīrzā Hasan Khan. At that time, medical practice was largely carried out by practitioners of traditional medicine, whose knowledge was transmitted through experience or heredity. Following his father’s path, Aḥmad Khan initially turned to traditional medicine. After completing an apprenticeship at the Mursalīn or Christian Hospital, later known as ‛Īsā b. Maryam*,ⁱ established by English missionaries in the Tabrīzīhā quarter (present-day ‛Abbās-ābād*), he began practicing medicine as an assistant to the English physician Dr. Jim Schaffter.² He worked at this hospital for many years until, in 1922/1301, he founded the Aḥmadīyye Hospital* at his residence on Ṭāleqānī Street. According to some residents of the Aḥmadīyye neighborhood, however, Mīrzā Hasan Khan had initially established a place for treating patients, which Aḥmad Khan later expanded and developed into a hospital. At time, only two hospitals existed in Isfahan: the Mursalīn Hospital and the Amīn Hospital* (Sunbulān quarter). From its very beginning, Aḥmadīyye—recognized as the city’s first private hospital—surpassed other medical centers in terms of facilities and organization. Established with 26 beds, it quickly became one of Isfahan’s most advanced medical institutions.

According to Akhgar newspaper, at the time of publication of the report (1933/1312), this hospital had approximately 35 beds, all of which were available to both male and female patients. Administrative order, internal discipline, and especially the cleanliness of the premises was cited as among the hospital’s most prominent features. Its operating room had been constructed with a new design, and its floor was entirely covered with marble. The surgical bed was also considered among the most up-to-date models available at the time and had been imported from abroad at a cost of 2,000 tomans. According to the published data, from July 1932/Tīr1311 to July 1933/ Tīr1312, a total of 460 surgical operations in 50 different categories, including some of the most complex procedures, were performed, and 8,919 patients were examined during the same period.³

The report further notes that the only shortcoming of this hospital was the founder’s inability to purchase an adjacent plot of land, which prevented the expansion of the building and the integration of its structures.⁴

Abū-turāb Nafīsī* also refers to the Aḥmadīyye Hospital in his memoirs and counts it among the five [six] active hospitals of Isfahan at the time: Amīn, Khurshīd*, Mellī Hospital, the Christian Hospital [‛Īsā b. Maryam]*, the Armenian Hospital (Bughūs-khānīyān), and Aḥmadīyye. He portrays Aḥmad Khan as a hardworking, self-made, and progressive-minded individual who, in order to expand the services of his hospital, imported radiology equipment from abroad.⁵ Aḥmad Khan also served for a period as the acting head of public health in Isfahan.⁶

The Aḥmadīyye Hospital covered an area of approximately 6,000 square meters. Its old building has been demolished in recent years, and a new hospital is under construction on the same site; however, up to the winter of 2024/1403, due to financial and administrative problems, the construction process has been halted or has proceeded very slowly.

It is said that Aḥmad Khan was a highly skilled physician, good-natured and people-oriented, who, alongside his medical practice, showed warm personal care and compassion towards his patients. At his residence (in the Now quarter, adjacent to the Aḥmadīyye Hospital), he had prepared rooms for the rest of patients and their companions who came from villages to the city, in order to alleviate their hardship.⁷ After several decades of medical practice, he passed away at the age of 62 on 15^th October 1953/23 Mehr1332, and was buried in his family mausoleum at the Tekye of the Sādāt-e Mīr-Muḥammad-Ṣādeqīhā in Takht-e Fūlād*.⁸ This Tekye was later demolished and incorporated into the Tekye of the Martyrs of Takht-e Fūlād.⁹

Aḥmad Khan had four sons and two daughters: Hasan Khan, Ali-Aṣghar Khan, Muhammad Khan, Hussein Khan, Ferdavs (d. 1983/1358), and Malek (d. 1979/1362). All of his sons followed their father’s path in medicine and became successful and highly skilled physicians. Hasan Khan traveled to the United States to study medicine, married Betty Muḥyī,ⁱⁱ and, after completing his specialization in general surgery and orthopedics, returned to Iran. His wife was an instructor at the Faculty of Foreign Languages of the University of Isfahan*, and their children also entered the medical profession. Hasan Khan passed away on 7^th April 1993/18^th Farvardin 1372, and a memorial stone was installed beside his father’s grave. Betty Muḥyī continued to travel to Iran for many years after her husband’s death, and passed away in the United States in 2023/1402. ‛Alī-Aṣghar Khan, a surgeon, married Malek-Tāj Burūmand and had two children. He passed away on 27^th October 1974/5^th Ābān 1353. Muhammad Khan was born in Isfahan in 1927/1306. He specialized in obstetrics and gynecology in the United States and married his maternal cousin, the daughter of ‛Abdul-Hussein Muḥyī (the proprietor of the newspaper ḥayāt-e Isfahan). He renovated the Aḥmadīyye Hospital and later moved to Paris with his wife. Among his innovative contributions were introducing laparoscopy to Iran and training other physicians in its use. Hussein Khan passed away on 29^th September 1953/7^th Mehr 1332, only sixteen days before his father’s death.¹⁰ No substantial information has been obtained regarding Mīrzā Aḥmad Khan’s daughters.

The Muḥyī family has played a prominent role in the history of medicine in Isfahan, and their name remains remembered as founders and devoted servants in the field of healthcare in this city.

/Mehri Seddiqi & Nafise Murtazavi/

Bibliography

Rajaʾī, ‘Abdul-Mahdī, tahavvolāt-e ‘umrān va mudīrīyyat-e shahrī-ye Isfahan dar dure-ye pahlavī-ye avval: 1320–1300, Isfahan: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīhī-ye Shahrdārī, 2008/1387.

Muḥyī, Leylā, Interview, Interviewer: Mehri Seddighi va Nafise Mortazavi, 2013/1392.

Mahdavī, Muṣleḥ al-Dīn, a‘lām-e Isfahan, edited, annotated, and supplemented by Ghulām-Reza Naṣrullāhī, Isfahan: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīhī-ye Shahrdārī, 2007/1386.

Mahdavī, Muṣleḥ al-Dīn, lesān al-arḍ, yā, tārīkh-e fūlād, Isfahan: Anjuman-e Ketābkhānehā-ye ‘Umūmī-ye Isfahan, 1991/1370.

Nafīsī, Abū-turāb, “īnjāneb”, in nabḍ-e ḥayāt: dar guzār-e ṭebb-e sunnattī va ṭebb-e nuvīn-e Iran, zendegī va āthār-e Dr. Abū-turāb Nafīsī, edited by Nasrīn Nafīsī va Mahdī Nafīsī, Isfahan: Naqsh-e Khurshīd, 2001/1380.

1. Established in 1904/1282.[↩]
2. His wife changed her family name to Muḥyī.[↩]

1. This article had previously been printed in dāneshnāme-ye Takht-e Fūlād, vol. 4, pp. 101–103, and has been published in Encyclopaedia Isfahanica with slight revisions.[↩]
2. Nafīsī, p. 111.[↩]
3. Rajaʾī, p. 568, citing Akhgar, year 5, no. 862, 24 July 1933/2 Murdād 1312.[↩]
4. Rajaʾī, p. 568, citing Akhgar, year 5, no. 862, 24 July 1933/2 Murdād 1312; Rajaʾī, p. 588, citing Akhgar, year 10, no. 1299, 27^th December 1937/6^th Dey 1316.[↩]
5. Nafīsī, p. 111.[↩]
6. Rajaʾī, p. 345, citing Akhgar, year 12, no. 1565, 23 September 1940/1 Mehr 1319.[↩]
7. Muḥyī, Interview 2013/1392.[↩]
8. Mahdavī, 1991/1370, p. 214.[↩]
9. Mahdavī, 2007/1386, vol. 2, p. 623.[↩]
10. ibid.[↩]