A Study of Religious Inscriptions Used in the Luster Tiles of the 7th-8th Centuries A.H. Iran

Luster Tile is one of the most beautiful and expensive tiles produced in Iran during the Islamic era. The peak of this kind of tiling art in Iran dates back to the 7th-8th centuries AH. and a period of about 150 years. During this time, many historical monuments in Iran, especially the tombs associated with Shiites, such as the shrine of Imam Reza (AS), were decorated with these tiles. Unfortunately, over time, and especially in the last century, many of the tile decorations of these buildings have been destroyed or removed from the body for various reasons, such as protection or even profit, and entered directly or indirectly into domestic or foreign museums, a trend that still continues. Therefore, it is of importance to study and know more about these tiles from different aspects. One of the lesser known aspects of these tiles is the religious writings in some of them, which partly reflect some of the religious beliefs of the people of that time. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is the analytical study of these inscriptions. The findings show that the religious inscriptions of this type of tile are mostly composed of some Quranic verses, which are mainly about topics related to the worship of the One God, creation and the Day of Judgment.