Khan's Mosque

The Shaki Khan's Mosque (Azerbaijani: Şəki xan Məscidi, Persian: مسجد شکی خان), previously the First Khan Mosque (Azerbaijani: Birinci xan Məscidi, Persian: مسجد اول خان), is an 18th-century mosque located in the city of Shaki, Azerbaijan.

The mosque was included in the list of local historical and cultural monuments by the decision No. 132 of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan on August 2, 2001. On July 7, 2019, as part of the "Khan's Palace, Sheki's Historical Center", the Shaki Xan Mosque was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

First periods

The mosque was built in 1183 AH (1769/1770 CE), by the order of Shaki Khan Muhammad Hussein Khan. After the completion of the mosque's construction, the poet Haji Muhammad Jalabi Efendi Zari, who lived during that period, composed a qasida consisting of nine verses. Within this qasida, hidden information indicates the construction date of the mosque. Additionally, literary scholar Salman Mumtaz states that the term "Riyaz-ul-Ulama," when calculated using the abjad system, corresponds to the construction date of the mosque in 1183 AH (1769/1770 CE). Both dates match the abjad calculation.

According to Salman Mumtaz's notes, the mosque was initially called the I Juma Mosque. In 1780 CE, during the battle with Haji Abdulqadir, Shaki Khan Muhammad Hussein Khan was wounded and forced to surrender. After spending a week as a captive, he was executed by drowning. His body was then buried inside the mihrab of the mosque that he had constructed. Following these events, the mosque came to be known as the Khan Mosque.

On April 14, 1853 CE the Shaki Khan Mosque burned down, along with the Nukha market. According to Mustafa Aga Shakikhanov, at that time, the market and the Jumu'ah Mosque, along with the surrounding houses, were also affected by the fire. After the fire, Mustafa Aga's father, Karim Aga Shakikhanov, started the restoration of the mosque, but unfortunately, he couldn't complete the task due to his passing.

During the Soviet occupation

After the Soviet occupation, an official campaign against religion began in 1928. In December of the same year, the Azerbaijan Communist Party Central Committee transferred many mosques, churches, and synagogues to the balance of educational clubs. If there were 3,000 mosques in Azerbaijan in 1917, by 1927, this number had decreased to 1,700, and by 1933, it was reduced to 17.

The Shaki Khan Mosque, after the occupation, was repurposed as a grain warehouse and used as the "House of intellectuals."

On March 6, 1968, by the decree of the Azerbaijan SSR Council of Ministers, the "Upper Bas State Historical and Architectural Reserve" was established in the historical Upper Bas neighborhood of Shaki. The Shaki Khan Mosque falls within the territory of this reserve.

Although a restoration project for the mosque was prepared in 1981, no work was carried out in the subsequent years.

After independence

The mosque, by the decision numbered 132 of the Cabinet of Azerbaijan on August 2, 2001, was included in the list of local significant immovable historical and cultural monuments.

Since 2001, the historical part of Shaki city has been nominated as a candidate for the UNESCO World Heritage List. On July 7, 2019, together with the Khan's Palace, it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as "Shaki's Historical Center." The decision was adopted at the 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee held at the Baku Congress Center. The Shaki Khan Mosque, located in the historical center of Shaki, is also part of the World Heritage Site.

In 1992, the mosque was entrusted to the "New Azerbaijani Islamic Community" religious organization. Controversies arose around the mosque because the organization kept it permanently closed and did not allow other religious believers who were not members of their community to worship there. In addition, the organization avoided official state registration. In 2010, the Shaki court issued a resolution stating that the "Khan Mosque" should be vacated and transferred to the cultural department. After several years of legal disputes, the mosque was eventually reclaimed and placed under the balance of the State Tourism Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Recovery

Since May 2021, restoration work has been initiated at the Shaki Khan Mosque by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. Before the restoration, research was conducted by the employees of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (AMEA), led by Zaur Huseynov. On June 3, 2021, during excavations beneath the mihrab, large-scale stone slabs were discovered. Restoration work was halted, and after examinations conducted by the Shaki archaeological expedition, a grave was found in that part. The discovery of 52 beads and a decorative bead cap in the grave suggested the possibility that the buried person held high religious or state status. Salman Mumtaz's work, noting the burial of Shaki Khan Mehmed Hussein Khan under the mihrab of Mustaq Khan Mosque, along with other findings, prompted further investigations on the uncovered remains. Samples were taken from the discovered skeleton, and they were sent to the laboratory of the University of Oxford for radiocarbon and genetic analysis. Research and genetic analyses were conducted not only in the United Kingdom but also in Austria, Estonia, and Turkey, based on samples from the discovered skeleton and other graves related to the Khan lineage on the mosque's premises. According to the results of laboratory analyses and the scientific opinion of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Science Institute of Archaeology, Ethnography, and Anthropology, it was confirmed that the discovered grave belonged to Shaki Khan Mehmed Hussein Khan.