The Role of Endowment in Water-supply Development and Formation of Urban Spaces of Mashhad in Safavid Period

Endowment enjoys a special status as a value within the Islamic society. This practice has grown and thrived in the history of Iran¡ especially at the Safavid period¡ for several reasons¡ including formal recognition of Shi’ism; and has left profound impacts on different aspects of life. Among other things¡ its role can be noticed in geographical development and creation of urban spaces. Mashhad is one of such cities¡ and perhaps the most important one.
Although many independent books and articles have been written on endowment and even its impact on some cities has been studied¡ no comprehensive research has been conducted concerning the impact of endowment on making geographical changes and creating urban spaces in Mashhad in the Safavid period. Thus¡ the present writing is intended to address the role of endowment in development of water supplies¡ development of inner city spaces¡ immigrant acceptance¡ and population attraction in the Safavid period in Mashahd. This has done through using library sources¡ endowment deeds¡ and valuable documents relating to financial and accountancy issues of endowed properties¡ available in AQR archive center. The method adopted is descriptive-analytical approach.