The Mausoleum of Abu Bakr Muhammad Kaffal al-Shashi

The historical center of Tashkent, located between Eski Juva Square and the Chorsu Market, is today referred to as the Old City. It was on this very site, in times immemorial, that a settlement was founded, which became a stronghold of Muslim civilization on the border with the nomadic tribes of the steppe. From here, Islam began to spread not by the force of arms but by the power of preaching, one of the pillars of which was the great teacher and theologian Abu Bakr Muhammad Kaffal al-Shashi.

In 715, the troops of the Arab emir Qutayba ibn Muslim, continuing their successful conquests and moving north of the Amu Darya, reached the agricultural oasis of Chach, which was under the rule of a Turkic tudun—a local prince named Mokhedu. The Arabs burned and destroyed the capital of the oasis, the city of Chach, located on the banks of the Salar River. However, the complete subjugation of the region was still far off. The rulers of Chach attempted to resist the Arabs and sought help from the powerful Chinese Empire, which at the time was also engaged in expansionist campaigns. However, the Chinese set unacceptable conditions, and in 749, their general Gao Xianzhi treacherously captured and executed the tudun of Chach. After this act of betrayal, the sympathies of the Turkic tribal leaders shifted toward the Muslims. The Arabs and Turks united and together defeated the Chinese in the Talas River valley. This defeat marked the end of further advances by the Chinese army.

However, the Arab Caliphate was already beginning to lose its grip on Central Asia, where one rebellion after another erupted—first by the “people in white robes” led by the heretical “masked prophet” Muqanna, and later by Rafi ibn al-Layth. The suppression of these uprisings involved Iranian-speaking commanders from the Samanid dynasty. In gratitude for this, Caliph al-Ma’mun granted them control of the region.

In 819, the Samanid emir Yahya ibn Asad, who received a charter from the Arab governor to rule the Chach region, chose a site for the new regional capital. It was located on a flat hill near sacred springs, whose waters, according to local legends, had once healed Alexander the Great himself. It was here that a fortress with watchtowers (juva) and a congregational mosque were built. At the foot of the hill, at the crossroads of four caravan routes, a bazaar emerged, and around it grew quarters of merchants, butchers, and artisans. Thus ended the history of ancient Chach and began the history of a new city, initially called Madinat al-Shash or Binkent, but which two hundred years later acquired its current name—Tashkent. From that time, almost nothing remains in today’s Tashkent except ancient names and sacred sites associated with the names of Muslim ascetics and teachers of faith who once inspired this center of civilization. (For more on Tashkent during this period, the mausoleum of Kaffal al-Shashi, and other medieval memorial complexes, see the book by M.I. Filanovich, “The Ancient and Medieval History of Tashkent in Archaeological Sources.” Tashkent: IPTD “Uzbekistan,” 2010.)

According to legend, Abu Bakr Muhammad Kaffal al-Shashi was born at the beginning of the 10th century in Binkent into a family of artisans. Not much is known about his life. Legends claim that from an early age, he was distinguished by extraordinary religious zeal and a thirst for knowledge. However, the care of his parents—one of the main virtues of a Muslim—kept him within the family circle for a long time. Only at the age of forty was he able to fulfill his youthful dream and travel to Baghdad to study, specifically at the Bayt al-Hikma academy, which had been founded during the time of Caliph al-Ma’mun by scholars from Central Asia: the astronomer al-Khwarizmi and the mathematician al-Farghani.

However, Abu Bakr was not drawn to the natural sciences but to Islamic theology, which was inseparable from Islamic law. He became a follower of the Shafi’i madhhab—one of the four canonical schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Soon, Abu Bakr gained fame as an interpreter of the Quran and the Sunnah—the sacred tradition about the life of the Prophet Muhammad. It is worth noting that among the Turkic peoples, the Hanafi madhhab is more widespread, and it remains dominant in Uzbekistan to this day. Nevertheless, the theological works of Kaffal al-Shashi are still studied in religious institutions across various Muslim countries, including Uzbekistan.

From Baghdad, Abu Bakr returned to Binkent. Following the tradition of many ascetics of that time, he settled on the outskirts of the city, where the streets gave way to the steppe. However, unlike the famous Sufi hermits, this orthodox Muslim theologian did not make seclusion the purpose of his life nor indulge in ascetic practices. As in his youth, he combined prayers and scholarly pursuits with ordinary daily activities. The people of Binkent found in him a mentor and advisor, who was also one of the most authoritative jurists and theologians of his time. His contemporaries gave him the nickname “Kaffal,” which could be related to his craft as a locksmith or carry a deeper meaning—protector or intercessor before the Almighty. During his lifetime, he was already revered, and his descendants later honored him with the title “Hazrat Imam”—the great leader of the faithful.

In Islamic tradition, Abu Bakr Kaffal al-Shashi is credited with the significant role of introducing Islam to the Turks—both those living in the Chach region since the time of the Khaganate and the nomadic tribes that began to penetrate the oasis from the northern steppes. Inspired by his teachings, preachers spread far and wide, converting Turkic tribal leaders through persuasion, which played a crucial role in the history of the entire region.

In the mid-10th century, the rulers of the Karakhanid dynasty voluntarily embraced Islam, uniting numerous Turkic tribes such as the Karluks, Chigils, and Yagma, who soon embarked on conquests to the southwest.

In 992, the Chach region was conquered by Harun Bughra Khan of the Karakhanids, and its capital began to be called Tashkent in the Turkic manner, meaning “stone city.” This renaming likely stemmed from phonetic similarity, as there were few stone or even brick structures in the city at the time. For this reason, the first mausoleum of Kaffal al-Shashi, who died in 976, did not survive. The second mausoleum also succumbed to the passage of time. However, the saint’s grave remained a revered site throughout the centuries, despite numerous catastrophes—earthquakes, wars, invasions, and the relentless change of rulers. The current mausoleum, built as a khanqah—a guesthouse for pilgrims—was erected in the 16th century under the Uzbek Shaybanid dynasty and has survived to this day largely in its original form.

Between 2007 and 2010, the mausoleum of Abu Bakr Muhammad Kaffal al-Shashi underwent a major restoration by order of the Uzbek government. During this time, a large-scale reconstruction of the entire architectural complex of Hazrat Imam Square was also undertaken, transforming it into a historical and religious center. Additionally, the madrasahs of Barak Khan and Muyi Mubarak, built by the Shaybanids in the 16th century and located on the square, were restored.

According to tradition, the Muyi Mubarak Madrasah houses sacred Muslim relics—a hair from the head of the Prophet Muhammad and one of the oldest and most complete copies of the legendary Quran of Caliph Uthman. In Islam, it is believed that the original and uncreated Quran was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad by Allah through the archangel Gabriel, who, on the 27th night of the holy month of Ramadan, transported the Prophet to the lowest heaven, from where the divine revelations were transmitted over many years. During the Prophet’s lifetime, there was no urgent need for a written Quran, as oral explanations could always be obtained from Muhammad himself. However, during the time of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, disagreements began to arise within the Muslim community. The situation was exacerbated by the rapid expansion of jihad—the war for the spread of faith—which reduced the number of people who had personally heard the founder of Islam and remembered his sermons.

In 650, the third Rightly Guided Caliph, Uthman, tasked Zayd ibn Thabit, the Prophet’s adopted son and former personal scribe, with compiling all the recorded sermons of the Prophet into a single book. Four other assistants were also engaged in this work, collecting records and interviewing people, resulting in four additional versions of the text. These texts were carefully compared and consolidated into one, which was then canonized. Only a few copies were made, and all other versions and drafts were burned.

As it soon became clear, the compilation of the canonical Quran was completed just in time. In 656, a mob of rebels, disguised as pilgrims, stormed the palace of Caliph Uthman in Medina and killed him with swords. Legend has it that at the moment of his death, Uthman was reading one of the canonical copies of the Quran, the pages of which were stained with his blood. From that moment, the Quran of Uthman became a sacred relic, always kept at the court of subsequent caliphs—first in Medina, then in Damascus and Baghdad. The various religious sects and movements that later emerged within the caliphate could still dispute certain passages of the holy book, claiming that they had been distorted by scribes either by mistake or even by the malicious intent of the caliph (whom, for example, the Shiites—supporters of the hereditary authority of Ali’s family—do not revere). However, no one dared to oppose the Quran of Uthman with other sacred texts.