Editing Ustad Isa

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
[[File:Edwin Lord Weeks - The Taj Mahal - Walters 37316.jpg|thumb|The Taj Mahal.]]

'''Ustad Isa Shirazi ''' ({{langx|fa|استاد عيسى شیرازی}} translation ''Master Isa'') was a [[Persian people|Persian]] architect<ref>{{Cite web |title=Construction of the Taj Mahal |url=https://www.wonders-of-the-world.net/Taj-Mahal/Construction-of-the-Taj-Mahal.php |access-date=2022-03-18 |website=wonders-of-the-world.net |quote=Ustad Isa [Shirazi] and Isa Muhammad Effendi, from Persia: Architectural Designer}}</ref> from the city of [[Shiraz]] in [[Safavid Iran|Safavid Persia]] (modern-day [[Iran]])<ref name=":0" /> often described as the assistant architect of the [[Taj Mahal]] in [[Agra]], India.<ref>(Heather Kissock) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Wb62DwAAQBAJ&dq=Ustad+Isa&pg=PA16 Ustad Isa, Chief Designer page 16] Taj Mahal (The Builders including Ustad Isa) via Google Books, Published 2018, Retrieved 18 November 2021</ref>

The lack of complete and reliable information as to whom the credit for the design belongs, led to innumerable speculations. Scholars suggest the story of Ustad Isa was born of the eagerness of the British in the 19th century to believe that such a beautiful building should be credited to a European architect. Local informants were reported to have started British curiosity regarding the origins of the Taj by also supplying them with fictitious lists of workmen and materials from all over Asia. Not much is currently known about his background though his surname ''Shirazi'' indicates Persian origin. Certain sources have conflated Ustad Isa Shirazi with Isa Muhammad Effendi,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Creation History |url=https://www.tajmahal.gov.in/creation-history-of-taj-mahal.aspx |access-date=2022-03-18 |website=tajmahal.gov.in |quote=Architects and Craftsmen; Ustad Isa and Isa Muhammad Effendi of Persia, Credited with a key role in the architectural design.}}</ref> which would corroborate a [[Turco-Persian tradition|Turco-Persian]] origin.

Recent research suggests the architect, [[Ustad Ahmad Lahauri]] was the most likely candidate as the chief architect of the Taj Mahal, an assertion based on a claim made in writings by Lahauri's son Lutfullah Muhandis.<ref name="unesco">[https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/252/ Taj Mahal Description and Profile] UNESCO website, Retrieved 18 November 2021</ref><ref name="A212">Asher, p.212</ref><ref name="B65">Begley and Desai, p.65</ref><ref>[http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/ikram/part2_14.html The Age of Splendor (The Reign of Shah Jahan)] Columbia University website, Retrieved 18 November 2021</ref>

==See also==
*[[Taj Mahal]]- Built (1632–1653)
*[[Mughal architecture]]
*[[Shah Jahan]] (1628–1707)

Ustad Isa Shirazi was the assistant of [[Ustad Ahmad Lahori]].{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite book| last1 = A| last2 = Desai | first2 = Z.A.| title = Taj Mahal – The Illumined Tomb  | year = 1989 | publisher = University of Washington Press  | isbn = 978-0-295-96944-2 | pages =392 }}
*{{cite book| last = Koch | first = Ebba | author-link=  Ebba Koch | title = The Complete Taj Mahal: And the Riverfront Gardens of Agra | url = https://archive.org/details/completetajmahal0000koch | url-access = registration | date = Aug 2006 | edition = First| publisher = Thames & Hudson Ltd | isbn = 0-500-34209-1}}

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[[Category:Architects from the Mughal Empire]]
[[Category:17th-century Indian architects]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing]]
[[Category:Year of death missing]]
[[Category:17th-century Mughal Empire people]]
[[Category:Taj Mahal]]