The role of unread inscriptions of Darab's Stone Mosque in Identifying the function and the date of building construction

The stone Mosque/Mill of Darab is one of the most controversial monuments in the history of Iranian architecture. Attracting the attention of orientalists and many Iranian historians, from the beginning of 19th century, it made them to speak and present various opinions about its function and the date of its construction. Some have considered it as a Mithraic temple, a Zoroastrian fire temple, a Christian church, a Buddhist temple, an Islamic mosque, and even a monastery or caravanserai. The main cause of this turmoil and the variety of presented views, from the writer's point of view, is the lack of attention and disability in reading the inscriptions on the entrance, the altar, and the stone mill inscriptions that leads to the failure of many studies related to the construction. In addition to reading the full text of the inscriptions, in present study, the antiquity of the building, the date of its construction, the type of its use, and the name the founder of the masonry of the Darab's stone mosque and his consanguinity have been clarified according to contemporary historical texts.