Abstract

This article is about the 829/1426 charitable trust deed of the Gawhar Shād Mosque and its social and economic implications. The deed was for a public-private trust : the private aspect advanced Gawhar Shād’s family interests, while the public aspect promoted the commonweal, being income for the Shiʿi shrine-complex of Imām Riżā, the Gawhar Shād Mosque, and the Sunni shrine-complex of Aḥmad-i Jām; funding for the maintenance of hydrological systems; increasing agricultural production and employment; and increasing revenues to the Timurid fisc. The Persian text, an annotated translation, and a map of certain endowed blocks are included.