Dargazin, Hamadan

In the 11th century, the Darjazin area had a significant population of Mazdakis and the related Khorramites.[7] The Dargazini family of viziers was also from the area.[7]

The 14th-century author Hamdallah Mustawfi described Darjazin (as Darguzīn) as previously "merely a village of the A‘lam district" that had become "a provincial capital" by his lifetime.[8] He wrote that it had good agricultural lands that produced grain, cotton, grapes, and other fruits.[8] Its population, he said, were devout Sunnis of the Shafi'i madhhab (i.e. the Shafi'i sub-school of Islam) who followed the Shaykh al-Islam Sharaf ad-Din Darguzini.[8] The revenue of Darguzin, he wrote, was 12,000 dinars.[8]

The Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi passed through Darjazin in 1654 and left a description of the town's layout, as well as its garrison and fort.[7] Evliya associated the fort with an unspecified Sasanian king named Yazdegerd, which possibly refers to Yazdegerd I.[7] No traces of the fort survive today.[7] By the time of Evliya's visit, Darjazin's population had become Shi'i; he described the Moharram mourning rites observed here.[7] In the 1700s, Darjazin became contested between Iran and the Ottoman Empire.[7]

The shrine of Emamzadeh Azhar in Darjazin is dated to the Ilkhanid era; it may be the tomb of either Shaykh Salman 'Aref Dargazini (13th century) or the above-mentioned Sharaf ad-Din Dargazini (14th century).[7] The shrine itself has a circular tower with a conical dome that reaches 12 m off the ground at its highest point.[7] There is a wooden chest in the shrine which bears the date 1056 AH, or 1646 CE; part of the chest is missing.[7]