A research about quiddity of Khan mosque in jahrom, A dome_based mosque in Fars province

In the post-Islamic era, mosques were among the most important types of buildings in Iran. Mosques have been the center of manifestation of Muslims' spiritual identity, their reference, refuge, and reliance, from the earliest times of Islam until the recent years, these buildings have also been the most important urban and architectural elements and the center of appearance of the highest forms, creativity, and taste of Muslim architects and the most important buildings of Islamic culture. Despite similar functions of mosques in all the regions, this building after entering Iran, and under the influence of different factors in every geographical area of the country, has gained special characteristics which led to its differentiation from the mosques of other regions. One of these geographical-cultural zones is the cultural zone of Fars province. Non-use of the dome is one of the architectural features of the historical mosques of this area. But among all the historical mosques of Fars, there is an exception that has a dome. This mosque that is located in the city of Jahrom, combined with the Khan School (Madrasa-e- Khan), has formed two separate buildings as a mosque and the Khan School. In this research, with the use of logical reasoning as our research methodology, through the comparative study of the mosques and tombs of this region and other parts of Fars province, and Iran and also the use of the historical interpretive methodology in confronting with the historical documents related to our research, we tend to not only comprehensively introduce the mosque but also to answer the questions that when and why this mosque had gained a dome. Given the significant similarity between the form of the mosque with the tombs of Jahrom's Imamzades and the central parts of Iran, also the possibility to pass through the Mihrāb of the mosque, it is hypothesized that the Khan Mosque was originally built as a tomb and later, with the change in its use, transformed into a mosque. The results of the research indicate that the building was probably built in several stages. In the first stage, due to the structural difference between the dome and the surrounding corridors and other spaces, it was built as a single vault with the function of a tomb or other functions in the post-Islamic era. In the second stage, the corridors around the vault, in the style of tombs of central areas of Iran, have been added to modify the function of vault into a tomb or expansion of vault by preserving the function of the tomb. In the third stage, based on historical documents during the construction of the school in the Qajar period, and under the rule of Haji Mohammed Momen, who ruled this area at the time, the construction of an ayvān in front of the dome as a mosque and other related parts was implemented. This suspicion is reinforced by the ornamentations, orientation of the ayvān, and the climate of Jahrom, which provides the conditions for outdoor and semi-outdoor prayer.