IDEOLOGICAL CONNOTATIONS OF THE INSCRIPTIONS OF JUMA MASJED OF ISFAHAN

Abstract

This paper refers to the role of sacred texts in defining a building by using some texts more than others, by highlight some issues in a context while skip others, or by adopting references from the Quran or Hadith to bolster certain beliefs. The sacred texts in this mosque depend mostly on the Shiites Imams’ speech, some from Hadith of Prophet Muhammad, and the minority of the sacred texts is taken from the Quran. Minority here is not in terms of quantity but in using the context to confirm the Shi’a ideology in contrast with the Sunni ideology, by depending on the interpretation of the sacred texts in Quran. The reasons for this clearly appear in the influence of ideologies using sacred texts from the same religion, among Sunni and Shi’a, to attract people to a certain ideology and to simultaneously stand against the other which was the method used in the middle age. In this paper, the focus will be on tracing the meanings that characterize this mosque in the Islamic world by reflecting on its history, architecture, and arts element. This mosque was first established following the Sunni ideology, then, it was transformed to belong to the Shi’a in the Safavid Period to spread their ideology.