Many centuries ago, in the agricultural oases of Khorezm and Bukhara, Islam replaced ancient beliefs and traditions that revered the elemental forces of nature. Alongside the arrival of Islam, a unique cult emerged here. Its foundation was laid upon four verses from the Quran that supplemented the biblical story of the patriarch Job (known as Ayub in Islamic tradition). In various corners of Central Asia, there are places that are believed to be the sites of Job-Ayub’s life and deeds—he is regarded as the patron of freshwater wells. In particular, even today, pilgrims from three religions—Islam, Judaism, and Christianity—visit the mazar of Ayub in Kunya-Urgench, the ancient capital of Khorezm. These places are identified by pilgrims with the legendary land of Uz, where, according to the biblical Book of Job, the Almighty tested the faith and patience of the great righteous man.
Within the territory of Uzbekistan, there are three unique monuments associated with the name of Ayub. One is located in the city of Karshi, another near the village of Vabkent in the Bukhara region, and the third, the most famous, is the mausoleum of Chashmai Ayub in Bukhara. According to the Bible, Job was an upright and just man; he diligently prayed to the Lord not only for himself but also for the members of his family. For his piety and righteous life, God granted him herds of fat livestock, honor, and peace in a family that had seven sons and three daughters. But one day, Satan appeared before God and claimed that he doubted Job’s steadfastness: would he still be grateful and diligent in his prayers to the Lord if everything he had were taken from him? Wishing to shame the tempter, the Lord permitted him to subject the righteous man to severe trials.
After a raid by bandits, a lightning strike, and a hurricane, Job lost all his possessions and children. However, he did not complain against God; instead, he tore his clothes and fell to the ground, saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!” (Job 1:21). Then Satan afflicted him with sores. Job’s body was covered with festering boils, and he had to leave the city, sitting among the dung, pouring ashes on his head. Everyone turned away from him. Yet even then, the righteous man did not succumb to temptation and did not curse God. His wife came to him and reproached him for having previously praised the Lord so fervently, urging her husband, on the contrary, to blaspheme the Almighty. However, Job replied to her: “You speak as one of the foolish women: shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10). Eventually, Job fell into despair and began to curse the day of his birth. But then the Almighty Himself appeared to him with counsel, after which He restored the righteous man’s health, wealth, and children. Job lived happily for another one hundred and forty years and died “in old age, full of days.”
In the Christian tradition, the land of Uz, where these remarkable events took place, is believed to be the lands at the borders of Palestine, Arabia, and the Babylonian interfluve. Secular Bible scholars have noted several times that the author of the Book of Job was familiar with phenomena such as snowfall and ice. At the same time, the book mentions mountains and seas, as well as animals—ostriches and peacocks, jackals, lions, hyenas, onagers (a type of wild ass), unicorns (rhinoceroses), and hippos. From this, one cannot make a definitive conclusion that the land of Uz was located in Africa or India, although it is evident that the geographical understanding of the author of the Book of Job was quite expansive. The verses of the Quran in Surah 38, “Sad,” repeat the happy conclusion of Job’s story, adding some details. Verse 41 states: “Remember, Muhammad, Our servant Ayub, when he cried out to his Lord: ‘Satan has afflicted me with suffering and torment!’” Verse 42: “He was commanded: ‘Stamp your foot on the ground, and cool water will flow for bathing and drinking.’” Verse 43: “We revived his children, doubling their number, as a mercy from Us and as a lesson for the prudent.” Finally, verse 44 tells how the Almighty commanded Ayub, who had vowed to punish his wife with a hundred lashes for urging him to blaspheme God during his misfortunes: “Allah said: “Take in your hand a bunch of twigs and strike with it, and do not break your oath.” Indeed, we found him patient. A splendid servant! Truly, he turns to Allah in all things.”
Islam and the Quran arrived in Bukhara later than the biblical stories propagated by the small communities of Jews and Christians. Here, popular tradition clung particularly to the detail about the source of healing water—and this is not surprising.
The agricultural civilization of the Bukhara oasis, which originated in the 3rd millennium BC, developed under unique conditions. Flowing down from the mountain peaks of the Pamirs, the Zarafshan River, once more abundant than it is today, poured into the desert lowlands, filling them with fertile silt. This allowed the sandy soils to become suitable for agriculture. However, the water in this natural irrigation dead-end, surrounded on all sides by the sands of the Kyzylkum Desert, was salty, bitter to taste, and not always suitable for drinking. For this reason, freshwater wells and clean springs were especially revered here, each having its own patron from the pantheon of Zoroastrianism or the preceding nature deities. With the arrival of the Arabs in the 8th century, who established strict monotheism through sword and preaching, ancient cults had to be adapted to the new conditions. For this, tales that circulated within Islam itself were used.
According to the hypothesis of researchers from the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, the emergence of the cult of Ayub in the Bukhara oasis may have been facilitated by the Arab conquerors themselves, specifically the tribal leaders from South Arabia who actively participated in military campaigns. Not long before this, the tribal nobility of Yemen had to adapt the pre-Islamic traditions of their country to the demands of Muslim monotheism. The descendants of the rulers of the Himyarite Kingdom, who accepted Islam, sought to link the culture of the conquered lands with familiar tales of the exploits of biblical prophets and hanifs (monotheists)—Noah (Nuh), Abraham (Ibrahim), Moses (Musa), Job (Ayub), David (Daud), Solomon (Suleiman), the prophet Daniel (Daniyar), Alexander the Great (Zul-Qarnayn), King Tubba, as well as Muslim saints of South Arabian origin. For example, the cult of the Yemeni Islamic ascetic Uwais al-Qarani became widespread in Khorezm, with an entire mountain range named after him—Sultan Uwais. Later, when the Turkic conquerors of the Karakhanid dynasty came to Bukhara, having only accepted Islam at the end of the 10th century, local legends were supplemented with oral tales from nomadic peoples who also traditionally revered the elemental forces of nature.
According to legend, the mausoleum of Chashmai Ayub in the historical center of Bukhara was built during the rule of the Karakhanid prince Mansur Arslan Khan in the early 12th century, simultaneously with the construction of the colossal Kalon minaret in the Registan Square. Other sources attribute the completion of the mausoleum to the period after the Mongol invasion of the 13th century—the era of Timur and his successors. Repeatedly reconstructed and restored even in the Middle Ages, the mausoleum’s building, with its conical dome atypical for architectural monuments in Uzbekistan, still preserves its unique appearance.
The mausoleum remains one of the most revered cult sites in the region, although it now has official status as a museum. With deep reverence, pilgrims circumambulate the presumed grave of the righteous Ayub, leaving handfuls of rice or wheat and sprigs of fragrant herb (raihon) on it. They also make sure to draw water from the well, which is considered healing for internal disorders and skin diseases.
At the entrance to the mausoleum, above the doorframe, there is a medieval relief made of ceramic tiles with a floral ornament on a turquoise background and a relief inscription in white letters. The inscription reads: “This building was erected by Amir Khajjaj in the year 785 (Hijra), during the reign of the Sultan of Mawarannahr and Khorasan, Amir Timur Guragan—may his mercy increase for all Muslims!” If this inscription is to be believed, the mausoleum was constructed in 1383, thirteen years after Bukhara became part of the empire of Tamerlane. However, scholars remain puzzled regarding the identity of the builder. It is possible, though unlikely, that the inscription, made during one of the restorations, conflated the time of Timur with the era of the Umayyads. At that time, the governor of the eastern provinces of the Caliphate, who commanded the military campaigns of Emir Qutayba, was Hajjaj ibn Yusuf.
Scholars believe that the tomb within the mausoleum likely holds the remains of Hafiz Gunjari himself—a renowned theologian and interpreter of Hadith, who died in 1022 in Bukhara. The burial place of Job-Ayub in the Muslim world is claimed by Naw and Hawran near Damascus in Syria. Thus, in Bukhara, pilgrims venerate Chashmai Ayub only in memory of the legendary righteous man. In the square between the mausoleum and the bazaar by the ancient gates of Talipach, sometimes disabled and frail old men ask for alms, their very appearance perhaps reminding pilgrims of the sufferings of Job-Ayub.
There is another sacred site called Chashmai Ayub, revered as a “kadam goh”—a place of visitation—and located thirty-five kilometers north of Bukhara, in a small village called Khayriabad near Vabkent.
From the mausoleum here, lost among cotton fields, only the portal has survived, which specialists consider one of the unique architectural monuments of the 12th century. Behind the portal lies an ancient well, hidden beneath a wooden sarcophagus. Opinions differ on when the well acquired its wooden protection: some say it was in the 18th-19th centuries, while others suggest the early 20th century. Regardless, the healing water from Job’s source is now drawn from a new shaft, dug just a few steps from the sacred well.
Researchers believe that the mausoleum of Chashmai Ayub in Khayriabad was the burial place of the Muslim theologian Abu Sa’d Khajushi, who was born and lived in the neighboring village of Khargush. Thus, the interpreters of Hadith connected the text of the Quran with local traditions, dedicating these places to the biblical patriarch Job.
On the upper portico of the mausoleum in Khayriabad, one can see a vibrant geometric pattern made of colored ceramics featuring images of swastikas. Traditionally, the swastika is a solar symbol, representing the sun. It is possible that in the Islamic architecture of Bukhara and Samarkand, swastikas remained as a cultural legacy of Zoroastrianism or even Buddhism, which was prevalent in these regions during the time of the Kushan Empire, specifically in the 2nd-3rd centuries AD. Solar symbols, woven into geometric or floral ornamentation, are not particularly rare in medieval architecture in Central Asia. However, here they possess a distinct expressiveness. In this regard, they can only be compared to the decoration of some mausoleums in the Shah-i-Zinda temple complex in Samarkand, on the slopes of the ancient Afrosiab settlement. Moreover, the Shah-i-Zinda sanctuary, associated with the legend of the Muslim saint, the “living king” Kusam ibn Abbas, is also topographically linked to underground springs. Yet in Samarkand, their patrons are other legendary figures—the biblical prophet Daniel (Daniyar) and the eternal wanderer Hazrat Khizr, who drank from the waters of the sacred lake that grants immortality.
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