HERITAGE SITE | KHAST-IMOM COMPLEX

• • The seemingly modern capital of Uzbekistan is in actual fact 2000 years old. Tashkent – which actually means “stone fortress” was always a busy business hub along the Silk Route and still is a busy city today.

  • The Khast-Imom Complex is situated within the city and its buildings are barely over half a century old. The musjid and buildings are not of as much importance as the artefact they contain.

  • The Telyashayakh Musjid in the complex is the location of Uthmani Quran. It is believed to be one of seven qurans that were commissioned by Uthman RA. 

  • The Quran had been housed in Damascus until around the 14th century. The narrations differ as to how the Quran was then taken to Samarkand. It was however taken there and preserved in the Khoja Ahrar Musjid of for about four centuries. In 1869, the Russian general Abramov managed to procure it and passed it on to Konstantin von Kaufman, the Governor-General of Turkestan, who in turn sent it to the Imperial Library of St. Petersburg (now the Russian National Library). There it attracted the attention of Orientalists and eventually a facsimile edition was published in Saint-Petersburg in 1905 and the 50 copies soon became rarities. 

  • After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, Vladimir Lenin, wanting to win over the Muslims of Russia, gave the Quran to the people of Ufa, Bashkortostan. After repeated appeals by the people of the Turkestan, the Quran was returned in 1924 to Central Asia, to Tashkent, where it has since remained.

  • The first thorough description and dating of the manuscript was undertaken by the Russian Orientalist Shebunin in 1891 and according to them, the manuscript was dated to the 7th century.

  • Due to its age, the manuscript is kept in sealed glass case which maintains a certain humidity and temperature in order to preserve it. 

  • The ink used is understood to be a mixture of olive oil and dye. The ‘paper ‘upon which is written is actually parchment (untanned leather).

  • The Quran isn’t complete as some pages have been lost over the years.