Pāʾīn-Darvāze (Quarter below the Gate)

Pāʾīn-Darvāze (Quarter below the Gate)

The quarter is now located in central Isfahan. Its plan is triangular: one side extends from the right-hand side of the Valī-ye ‛Aṣr intersection and the Ṣaghīr junction to the ‛Askarīyye intersection; another extends from the vicinity of the ‛Askarīyye intersection, along Surūsh Street, to Ahmad-ābād Square; and the third extends from Ahmad-ābād Square to the Valī-ye ‛Aṣr intersection. According to Sultan Sayyed Reza Khan’s map, dating from the early decades of the 1300s and predating the expansion of Isfahan, Pāʾīn-Darvāze lay northeast of the city.¹ It is not known when this quarter came to be known as Pāʾīn-Darvāze, and, as far as is known, the quarter is not mentioned by this name in works of historical geography. Nevertheless, it appears to have acquired its name from its geographical position in relation to the Sayyed Ahmadīyān quarter, known as Bālā-Darvāze (the Quarter above the Gate): since Pāʾīn-Darvāze lay to its south, it came to be called “Pāʾīn-Darvāze” (the Quarter below the Gate).² The quarter had been situated within the city walls since the Buyid period*³ and formed part of the large Jūbāre* quarter. Agriculture flourished there during certain periods, particularly in the vicinity of the Rārān spring.⁴

Archaeological finds in the quarter, including Seljuk-period* pottery in the form of drinking vessels and jars, provide evidence of everyday life and storage practices.⁵ The presence of minarets in the vicinity of the quarter, such as Sārebān and Chehel-Dukhtarān*, as well as several old and well-known burial sites, including Gulestāne and Shah Mīr Hamze, which predate the Safavid period and served as burial grounds for the inhabitants of Pāʾīn-Darvāze and Sayyed Ahmadīyān, strongly suggests that Pāʾīn-Darvāze gradually developed from an agricultural area into a residential quarter and underwent further changes as the city expanded from the middle of the Qajar period* onward.⁶

According to a Qajar-period document, Pāʾīn-Darvāze was one of the nineteen quarters that participated in the establishment of the Isfahan Municipal Council in September 1907/Sha‛bān 1325 (Shahrīvar 1286), through a representative named Ḥājj Muhammad Mahdi.⁷ It was also reported during this period that a certain Sheikh Hasan Arab Kāshefī, known as “Sheikh al-‛Erāqayn” (d. 1908/1326), who was apparently an influential figure in the Qajar administration, had taken possession of parts of Isfahan, including Pāʾīn-Darvāze, and had expanded his garden and agricultural land through such measures as leveling graves.⁸ According to the 1924–25/1303 survey of houses and quarters, Pāʾīn-Darvāze comprised six alleys. The names of two of them included the title kadkhudā (headman): Kūche-ye Ramaḍān Kadkhudā and Kūche-ye Karbalāʾī Hussein Kadkhudā. This may indicate the agricultural character of the quarter.⁹ It is said that until approximately fifty years ago, the principal occupations of the inhabitants of Pāʾīn-Darvāze were farming and animal husbandry, while approximately ten percent were engaged in elastic-band weaving (kesh-bāfī) and worked either in small weaving workshops or in Isfahan’s textile factories. Some women of the quarter also engaged in carpet weaving and the making of gīve uppers* (gīve-chīnī) alongside their domestic work.¹⁰

From the middle of the 1970s/1350s, residents of the quarter, particularly young people, gathered in mosques such as Masjed-e Ustād Nurūz, where they became acquainted with revolutionary views and the ideas of Ayatollah Khomeini. Consequently, the quarter became a base for some of the revolutionaries who participated in the 1979/1357 Revolution. Ebrāhīm Ja‛farīyān, for example, a founder of the armed Mahdavīyūn Group before 1979, was a resident of the quarter.¹¹ Following the victory of the Islamic Revolution, particularly after the outbreak of the war imposed by Iraq on Iran, the resistance bases affiliated with the mosques of Pāʾīn-Darvāze became highly active. Approximately eighty combatants dispatched by these bases were martyred in the war.¹²

The inhabitants of Pāʾīn-Darvāze are said to be very kind toward one another and to hold strong religious beliefs. This is evident in their enthusiastic participation in congregational prayers at the mosques, religious mourning ceremonies, and observances marking religious festivals and death anniversaries, particularly during the months of Muḥarram, Ṣafar, and Ramaḍān. Residents of the quarter customarily undertake pilgrimages to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, the Shiite holy shrines in Iraq, and other pilgrimage destinations. They take the initiative in charitable activities, such as providing the means for young people to marry.¹³ Religious associations have always maintained a vibrant presence within the quarter. Several prominent Isfahan poets and religious eulogists, including Muhammad Hussein Ṣaghīr Eṣfahānī* (d. 1971–72/1350), Muhammad Reza Shamshīrī, known as “Shakīb Eṣfahānī” (d. 1982–83/1361), and Mīrzā Ali Mushfiqī (d. 1978–79/1357), frequented the quarter and played a prominent role in its religious gatherings.¹⁴ Several contemporary religious scholars also resided in the quarter, including Muhammad Ali Yazdī, son of Zayn al-‛Ābedīn (1856–57/1273–1971–72/1350);¹⁵ Muhammad Bāqer Zand Kermānī*, one of the founders of ‛Askarīyye Hospital*;¹⁶ Hasan Ṣāfī Eṣfahānī*;¹⁷ and Sheikh Muhammad Yazdī.

Two mosques in the quarter have histories extending back more than two centuries. The first is Ustād Nurūz Mosque, which was constructed in the nineteenth/thirteenth century over the remains of an earlier mosque. Documents dating from 1840–41/1256 and 1908–9/1326 record endowments established for this mosque.¹⁸ In his account of the mosque, Mīr Sayyed Ali Jenāb* Eṣfahānī (d. 1930–31/1309) recorded its length as twenty-two cubits and its width as twenty cubits.¹⁹ Following a modest expansion, it now covers approximately five hundred square meters.²⁰ The other is Zayn al-‛Ābedīn Mosque, which is said to have been named after its builder in the late Qajar period. According to Jenāb Eṣfahānī, the mosque measured sixteen cubits in length and twelve cubits in width.²¹ In 1979–81/1358–59, however, it was enlarged through the addition of four hundred square meters of land. The prayer hall and mihrab are adorned with fine tilework, and a carved wooden pulpit stands beside the mihrab. Traces of a traditional icehouse* can also be seen beside the mādī (irrigation channel), opposite Zayn al-‛Ābedīn Mosque.

The bathhouse of Pāʾīn-Darvāze was regarded as one of the well-known bathhouses of Isfahan,²² although no trace of it survives today. Sources record its length as thirty cubits and its width as sixteen cubits.²³ Its only surviving remnant is a sangāb* (stone water basin) dating from 1808–9/1223, which has been transferred to the courtyard of Imam Zayn al-‛Ābedīn Mosque. It was endowed by a person named “Āqā Muhammad, son of Ḥājj Muhammad Ali.”²⁴

Two small bazaars once stood close to one another in Pāʾīn-Darvāze. One, approximately fifteen meters long, was located near Ustād Nurūz Mosque; the other, approximately ten meters long, lay further along the same route near Zayn al-‛Ābedīn Mosque. Both bazaars were demolished in 1979–81/1358–59 as the passageways through the quarter were widened. According to the endowment deed of Ustād Nurūz Mosque, the bazaars housed such businesses as bakeries, grocery stores, cookshops, and shops selling masqaṭī (a type of confection). They also contained a tīmche (commercial arcade) known as “Shāhī” and a ṭāḥūne (mill*).²⁵

Since early times, two cemeteries have existed in Pāʾīn-Darvāze. One is Gulestāne, which predates the Safavid period*; the other is known as Shah Mīr Ḥamze, or Ḥamze b. Muhammad b. Hussein, whose lineage, as Ebn Ṭabāṭabā (d. 1086–87/479), albeit with considerable uncertainty, suggested might go back to Imam Ṣādeq.²⁶ Many graves belonging to members of the Āl-e Khujand* family were located in this cemetery.²⁷ According to a statement by Mahdavī, the source of which is unknown, the grave of Ḥakīm Shafāʾī* (d. 1627–28/1037) is also located therein.²⁸ Burials continued in the cemetery until approximately a century ago. During the reign of Muhammad Reza Pahlavī, part of the cemetery was allocated to the Agricultural Teacher-Training College; it was subsequently converted into a technical school, which remains in operation. Following the construction of Bāgh-e Reḍvān* Cemetery in Isfahan in 1983–84/1362, municipal* regulations prohibited burials at Takht-e Fūlād* and at all Imāmzāde shrines within the city limits. Nevertheless, conclusive evidence indicates that from approximately 2006–7/1385, some deceased persons were buried in Shah Mīr Ḥamze Cemetery, and its custodian expanded the cemetery grounds and courtyard.

/Muhammad Hussein Riyahi/

Bibliography

Arbāb Eṣfahānī, Muhammad Mahdi b. Muhammad Reza, neṣf-e jahān fī ta‛rīf al-Eṣfahān, ed. Manūchehr Sutūde, Tehran: Amīr Kabīr, 1989–90/1368.

asnād-e muqūfāt-e Isfahan, under the scholarly supervision of Ṣādeq Husseynī Eshkevarī, Qum: Majma‛-e Zakhāʾer-e Eslāmī, 2009–10/1388.

Chardin, Jean, safar-nāme-ye Chardin, trans. Eqbāl Yaghmāʾī, Tehran: Ṭūs, 1993–96/1372–75.

Ebn Ṭabāṭabā Alavī Eṣfahānī, muhājerān-e Āl-e Abū Ṭāleb, trans. Muhammad Reza Aṭāʾī, Mashhad: Islamic Research Foundation, 1993–94/1372.

Falāḥatīyān, Naṣrullāh, interview by Muhammad Hussein Riyahi, December 9, 2017/18 Āẕar 1396.

Ghulāmī, Hussein, interview by Muhammad Hussein Riyahi, June 6, 2026/16 Khurdād 1405.

Haqqānī, Hussein, interview by Muhammad Hussein Rīyāḥī, January 17, 2018/27 Dey 1396.

Humāyī, Jalāl al-Dīn, tārīkh-e Isfahan: mujallad-e abnīye va ‛emārāt, faṣl-e takāyā va maqāber, ed. Mahdukht Bānū Humāʾī, Tehran: Humā, 2002–3/1381.

Jāberī Anṣārī, Hasan, tārīkh-e Isfahan, ed. Jamshīd Maẓāherī, Isfahan: Mash‛al, 1999–2000/1378.

Jenāb Eṣfahānī, Ali, al-Eṣfahān, ed. ‛Abbās Naṣr, Isfahan: Nashr-e Gulhā, 1992–93/1371.

Jenāb Eṣfahānī, Ali, eḥṣāʾīye-ye khāne-hā va maḥallāt-e Isfahan, ed. Reḍvān Pūr ‛Aṣṣār, Isfahan: Cultural and Recreational Organization of Isfahan Municipality, 2014–15/1393.

Luṭfī, Ali-Reza, and Hussein Masjedī, farhang-vāre-ye garmābe: bā rūykard be ḥammām-hā-ye Isfahan, Tehran: Ketāb-e Ābān, 2013–14/1392.

Mahdavī, Muṣleḥ al-Dīn, a‛lām-e Isfahan, revised, researched, and expanded by Ghulām-Reza Naṣrullāhī, Isfahan: Cultural and Recreational Organization of Isfahan Municipality, 2007–/1386–.

Mahdavī, Muṣleḥ al-Dīn, mazārāt-e Isfahan: az qarn-e sevvum-e hejrī tā zamān-e ḥāḍer, ed. Asghar Muntaẓer al-Qāʾem, Isfahan: University of Isfahan, 2003–4/1382.

Mu‛allem Habīb-ābādī, Muhammad Ali, makārem al-āthār, vol. 6, Isfahan: Association of Public Libraries of Isfahan, 1985–86/1364.

Rīyāḥī, Muhammad Hussein, negāhī bar pīshīne-ye maḥalle-ye Pāʾīn-Darvāze-ye Isfahan, Isfahan: Dādyār, 2018–19/1397.

rūz-nāme-ye anjuman-e muqaddas-e mellī-ye Isfahan: dure-ye avval az sāl-e 1324 elā 1326 hejrī-ye qamarī, compiled by Muhammad-Ali Chelūngar, Isfahan: Cultural and Recreational Organization of Isfahan Municipality, 2006–7/1385.

Shafaqī, Sīrūs, jughrāfīyā-ye Isfahan: be ḍamīme-ye yekṣad-va panjāh qeṭ‛e naqshe, numūdār va ‛aks, 2nd ed., Isfahan: University of Isfahan, 2002–3/1381.

Shahīn-Parvar, Muṣṭafā, interview by Muhammad Hussein Riyahi, September 20, 2025/29 Shahrīvar 1404.

Sultan Sayyed Reza Khan, naqshe-ye Isfahan bar asās-e naqshe-ye Sultan Sayyed Reza Khan be tārīkh-e 1299 tā 1302 khurshīdī, scale 1:4,350, ed. Abdullāh Shah Sīyāh, Tehran: Geographical Organization, 2007–8/1386.

Yazdī, Mahdi, interview by Muhammad Hussein Riyahi, October 1, 2025/9 Mehr 1404.

1. See Sultan Sayyed Reza Khan, 2007/1386.[↩]
2. Chardin, vol. 4, p. 1,398; Humāyī, p. 542.[↩]
3. See Jāberī Anṣārī, p. 15; Shafaqī, p. 267.[↩]
4. Arbāb Eṣfahānī, pp. 27–28; see also Riyahi, pp. 23–25.[↩]
5. Yazdī, interview dated October 1, 2025/9 Mehr 1404.[↩]
6. Jāberī Anṣārī, p. 141; Riyahi, p. 28.[↩]
7. rūz-nāme-ye anjuman-e muqaddas-e mellī-ye Isfahan, p. 286.[↩]
8. Jāberī Anṣārī, p. 170.[↩]
9. See Jenāb Eṣfahānī, 2014–15/1393, pp. 273–285.[↩]
10. Falāḥatīyān, interview dated December 9, 2017/18 Ādhar 1396. For further information on farming and animal husbandry in the quarter and the names of some major landowners, see Riyahi, pp. 50–54.[↩]
11. Haqqānī, interview dated January 17, 2018/27 Dey 1396.[↩]
12. Riyahi, pp. 37–39.[↩]
13. Shahīn-Parvar, interview dated September 20, 2025/29 Shahrīvar 1404.[↩]
14. Riyahi, p. 90.[↩]
15. Mu‛allem Habībābādī, vol. 6, pp. 2,053–54; Riyahi, pp. 99–100.[↩]
16. Mahdavī, 2007–8/1386, vol. 2, pp. 95–96.[↩]
17. Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 562–63.[↩]
18. See asnād-e muqūfāt-e Isfahan, vol. 1, pp. 124–29.[↩]
19. Jenāb Eṣfahānī, 1992–93/1371, p. 90.[↩]
20. Ghulāmī, interview dated June 6, 2026/16 Khurdād 1405.[↩]
21. Jenāb Eṣfahānī, 1992–93/1371, p. 90.[↩]
22. Ibid., p. 93.[↩]
23. Luṭfī and Masjedī, p. 394.[↩]
24. Riyahi, p. 99.[↩]
25. See asnād-e muqūfāt-e Isfahan, vol. 1, pp. 125–28.[↩]
26. Ebn Ṭabāṭabā Alavī Eṣfahānī, p. 96.[↩]
27. Humāyī, pp. 517–18.[↩]
28. Mahdavī, 2003–4/1382, pp. 273–74; see also Ḥakīm Shafāʾī*.[↩]