Gerdeshgari (Monthly in Persian)
(By: Muhammad Emin Riyahi)Summary: The researcher, Dr. Muhammad Emin Riyahi, has identified Shems's tomb in Khoy: in various sources such as Fassihi's Modjmal it has been mentioned that Shems died in Khoy around the year 1273. Today, all that remains from Shems's tomb is a minaret whose rows of bricks are adorned by gazelle horns that have been inserted in between them, according to an old Azeri tradition.
Centuries passed, and the mausoleum of Shams was destroyed; only its beautiful minaret, named after Shams-e Tabriz, still survives; in accordance with an old Iranian tradition, gazelle horns have been inserted between the rows of bricks. There is also a legend that Mevlevi, in search of Shams, arrived at the foot of this minaret, and saw Shams at its top. He ascended the spiralling steps inside the minaret, and when he looked from the top, he saw Shams at the foot of the minaret. Hastily, he came down the minaret, and once again, saw Shams at the top. This was repeated several times and at the end, Mevlevi could not reach Shams.
Another centuries-old legend, has been related by Abdulbaghi Golpanarelli in his book on the life of Mevlevi; he has quoted it from "Vilayat-name-yi Bektashi" written on the virtues of Haj Bektash-e Khorasani. Before proceeding to tell the story, I should mention that in the Ottoman lands, there are two groups of mystics: one known as Mevlevie school, were supported by the Ottoman government, the clergy and government officials were inclined towards them. The other were the Bektashiye school who were more influential among ordinary people, and the famous Yeni Cheri soldiers belonged to them; today they are scattered all over Turkey and are known as Alavite and Qizil-bash. As I have discussed in my biography of Ferdowsi, they are the survivors of the Khorramis who after being crushed by the army of the Abbasid Caliph in the 8th century, escaped to Rum (Anatolia) with their wives and kin.
The Bektashi legend aims to show that Haji Bektash is greater than Mevlevi: "Mevlana's son cut Shems's head off and caught it before it hit the ground; he took it dancing to Haji Bektash and from there he went to Tabriz. Mevlana followed him to Tabriz and found Shams prostate on the top of a green minaret. He went to the top of the minaret and saw Shams on the ground. He descended the minaret and Shams was atop the minaret. This was repeated seven times until Mevlana threw himself down the minaret. Shams caught Mevlana in midair and told him, 'Bury me here and then, go to Haji Bektash.' Mevlana buried Shams and went to Haji Bektash, and then with his permission he returned to Quniye." [12]
In this story, which is a result of the competition between the Bektashis and the Mevlevie, two points are communicated: one is the superiority of Haji Bektash and Shams to Mevlana, and the other is the association of Shams with the Bektashis. This latter point may not be baseless and should be researched more thoroughly.
Golpanareli has quoted this story from a manuscript of Vilayet-name-yi Bektashi preserved in the Library of the Istan

bul University. He has dated the manuscript to the reign of Sultan Bayazid II (1481-1512), but his dating is wrong. This story must have certainly originated after 1514, when the Yeni Cheri soldiers who had come to Khoy in the Chalduran Battle and had seen Shems's tomb beside the gazelle horn minaret, returned to the Ottoman lands. In fact when Shems was buried there, there was no minaret, rather this minaret is the remnant of the royal palace Shah Ismail built for himself on ascending the throne in 1501 (907 a.h. lunar calendar); a Venetian merchant had seen this palace in 1507 (913 a.h. lunar calendar). It can be surmised that the sufi king had built his palace beside the tomb of Shems-i Tabriz, out of the respect with which he and ordinary people regarded him.
From the writings of foreign travelers, it can be gathered that Shah Ismail had built for himself a palace in Khoy which had three minarets in front of its western gate. The Venetian merchant who visited Khoy in 1507, gives a detailed description of the royal palace and its minarets: he mentions that the perimeter of each minaret was 8 yards (7.3 meters), each one was 16 yards (about 14.5 meters) high, and gazelle horns were inserted in between the bricks [13], all being the result of one day's hunting trip of the Shah and his army.
In June 1813 (Meherrem 1228 a.h. lunar calendar), James Murrier, an Englishman, observed two minarets on his second trip. One of the minarets had fallen apart during the First World War, its stones, one of which carried an inscription, were used to build a mosque nearby. Today one of the minarets survives, and it has been mentioned in the "Danabale" history of Khoy, that the land surrounding the minaret had been "mughufe" (pious donations) and were sold in 1819 (1235 a.h. lunar calendar).
We know that Shah Ismail was hated by the Ottomans more that anybody else, and during their three invasions they totally destroyed Khoy: in 1576 (985 a.h. lunar calendar) on the orders of Murad III, in 1634 (1045 a.h. lunar calendar) on the orders of Murad IV, and in 1723 (1136 a.h. lunar calendar) during the invasion by Abdulla the king of Kuprulu. It is natural that during these events, Shah Ismail's palace was set to ruins with no trace left, except that the two minarets of the palace's gate beside Shems's tomb were left intact out of respect for him, these minarets came to be named after Shems.
In the local histories written during the last one and a half centuries, it has been mentioned that the location of the palace and the area around Shems's minaret were called Bagh-i Shah (Shah's gardens) and a dome was to be seen. That dome was certainly built over Shems's tomb and had nothing to do with Shah Ismail's palace.
The Shems-i Tabriz's area is on the path of floods coming down the slopes of the Avrin mountain, and now during excavations for making buildings, the remnants of old buildings are being found. Hopefully, one day, the archaeologists can find Shems's tomb in their excavations.

[12] ibid., pages 168-169.