Takyeh

History

In Classical Persian, a takya in the religious sense was originally a place for Sufi gatherings; Sufis were called تکیه‌نشین takya-nishīn or تکیه‌دار takya-dār. Following the Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam, existing takyas became used as husayniyyas, and the majority of takyehs built in Iran since Iran's conversion have been built to be used as husayniyyas, like the Takyeh Dowlat built by Naser al-Din Shah Qajar. Tehran alone is said to have had up to 50 takyehs under the Qajar dynasty.