The Sheikh Ahmad-e Jami Mausoleum (Persian: مجموعهٔ آرامگاهی شیخ احمد جامی; Arabic: ضريح الشيخ أحمد جامي), also known as the Tomb of Ahmad-e Jam and as the Turbat-i Shaykh Jam, is a Sunni mausoleum and shrine complex located in Torbat-e Jam, in the province of Razavi Khorasan, Iran. The complex includes a collection of religious buildings, mosques, houses and tombstones all around the central tomb of Sheikh Ahmad-e Jami, an Iranian sufi who lived between 1048 and 1141. The mausoleum was added to the Iran National Heritage List on 6 January 1932 and is administered by the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization of Iran.
History
The shrine complex of Turbat-i Shaykh Ahmad-i Jam is located in the Khorasan province on the eastern Iranian plateau. It commemorates Sheikh Ahmad-i Jami (Ahmad ibn Abu'l Hasan), a Sufi theologian and poet who spent most of his life in the small town of Buzajan (or Puchkan), which was renamed Turbat-i Jam (Tomb of Jam) after his death in 536 AH (1141/1142 CE). The shrine that gradually developed around the Sheikh's grave was the main pilgrimage destination in the eastern Iran until the sixteenth century when Shi'ism prevailed under the Safavid dynasty. Lisa Golombek, an art historian, has identified ten structures on the site that were built in eight different phases beginning in the early thirteenth century. The shrine complex was renovated with private and public funds from Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization. As a shrine for a Sunni Sufi cult, the shrine-complex started sliding into decline when Iran's Shahs took the Shiʿi path in 1501, but has subsequently been renovated. Two madrasas, that teach Sunni curricula to males and females, were added to the complex.
Architecture The shrine complex is oriented with qibla along the northeast–southwest axis. A single gateway facing northeast gives access to the sahn, which is enveloped by halls of different sizes to the northwest and southwest. The core of the complex is the grand gunbad located to the southwest of the Sheikh's uncovered grave. It was built in 1236 CE by a descendant of Seljuk Sultan Sanjar identified by Golombek as Kartid forebearer Rukn al-Din Abu Bakr. In the early 14th century, a descendant of the Sheikh, named Shihab al-Din Ismail, built the Saracha Khanqah to the northwest of the Dome Chamber, while his son, Mutahhir b. Ismail, began the construction of a grand iwan for the chamber. Vizier Khwaja Muhammad Fariwandi contributed by building a madrasa near the khanqah. A son of Mutahhir b. Ismail named Khwaja Razi al-din Ahmad built a large arcaded mosque (Old Mosque) to the southeast of the Dome Chamber between 1320 and 1333. His other son, Ghiyath al-din Muhammad completed work on the grand iwan in 1362-1363 and added two small mosques to its southeast (Masjid-i Kermani) and northwest (Masjid-i Riwaq or Gunbad-i Safid). The northwest wing of the shrine, which contained a madrasa and its mosque (Gunbad-i Sabz), was built in 1440–1441 by Timurid Amir Jalal al-din Firuzshah. Firuzshah also erected the large courtyard mosque (New Mosque) that abuts the qibla wall of the Dome Chamber. Timurid Amir Shah Malik enclosed the shrine courtyard with a madrasa built across from the Firuzshah Madrasa two years later. Only Gunbad-i Sabz and a vestibule of the Firuzshah Madrasa remain of the Timurid construction today. Only the Dome Chamber, the grand iwan, the Kirmani and Riwaq Mosques and a section of the Old Mosque remain from the earlier compound. Entrance to the mausoleum is through a wooden door beautifully decorated in Kufic script. The mausoleum complex is over 800 years old.
Dome Chamber The Dome Chamber (or gunbad) is dated from 1236 CE and lies in the heart of the complex. It measures 10 metres (33 ft) per side and is crowned with a star-ribbed dome carried on muqarnas squinches. The interior walls are animated with shallow arched niches and covered entirely with painted geometric and floral motifs from the early 14th century. The painted foundation inscription envelops the walls below the squinches and contains the date of construction. Doorways centered on the northeast, southeast and northwest walls lead into the grand iwan, Old Mosque and Saracha Khanqah, respectively. The doorway on the qibla wall, which leads into the New Mosque, bears traces of plaster molding suggesting that it was a mihrab. Three of the doors feature carved woodwork from the fourteenth century.
The Grand Iwan The construction of the grand iwan, which rises 33 metres (108 ft) high, next to the Sheikh's uncovered tomb, was initiated by Mutahhir b. Ismail in the early 14th century. It was completed in 1362–1363 by his son Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad under Kart Malik Abu'l Husain Muhammad. (1332–1370). A tile inscription commemorates the patronage of Safavid Shah Abbas I (1587–1629), who ordered the redecoration of the pishtaq with tiles in 1613–1614. The portal screen and the soffit of the iwan arch are covered entirely with the recently restored Safavid tiles. A wide band of Arabic inscription, composed in white script on a dark blue background, frames the pishtaq. Its white-plastered interior is unadorned except for the muqarnas squinches supporting its ribbed semi-vault. Doorways on the side walls of the iwan lead into the Kermani and Riwaq Mosques. The pishtaq is crowned with two miniature turrets whose stairs are no longer accessible.
Saracha Khanqah and Fariwandi Madrasa Saracha Khanqah and Fariwandi Madrasa were built in the early 14th century to the northwest of the Dome Chamber. The patron of the khanqah was Shihab al-din Ismail (d. 1337–1338), a third generation descendent of the Sheikh. The madrasa was built by vizier Khwaja 'Ala al-Din Muhammad Fariwandi (d. 1337–1338). It is not certain whether the courtyard building that stands in their place today incorporates any segments of the earlier structures.
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