The Khoja Abdi Birun complex
Said Abd-i ibn Yakub is a prominent Samarkand kaziy (judge) of the IX century, who was a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad through his daughter Rukaya. The Samarkand judge was famous for his honesty, righteousness, dignity and never refused those who needed help. He was respected by the people and nicknamed Khoja Abdi. After his death in 861, he was buried behind the Samarkand city gates in a small cemetery in a village called White Mosque.
After his death, a large number of pilgrims began to flock to the grave of Said Abd-i ibn Yakub. The cult of his personality developed in the IX-X centuries. Because of this, the last sultan of the Seljuk Empire, Sultan Sanjar, decided to refine the territory at the grave of kaziy.
However, in 1220, after the Mongol invasion, most of the city turned into ruins, as did the Abdi Birun complex.
Only in the XVII century the territory at the grave of the judge was again ennobled. In 1630, the vizier of the Bukhara Emir Imamkuli Khan, Nadir Divan begi, decided to build a memorial ensemble at the grave of Abd-i ibn Yakub. Nadir divan-begi was a prominent philanthropist and judge, on whose initiative such architectural monuments as the Namazgokh Mosque, the Nadir Divan-begi ensemble and the Abdi Birun complex were erected. The dignitary of the Emir of Bukhara erected a brick wall around the burial, inside which a dakhma (traditional burial structure) was located. Later, a khanaka (Sufi monastery), a mosque, and a square khauz (pond) were added here, and the brick wall was replaced with a stone one.
From the Tajik language, “birun” is translated as “external”, and “darun” means “internal”. It is noteworthy that in addition to the Khoja Abdi Birun complex, which was located outside the city walls, there is another complex inside the city – Khoja Abdi Darun. These two complexes are connected by legends. One of the legends says that the ensembles Abdi Darun and Abdi Birun were erected in honor of two brothers, both of whom were judges and came from the same family. According to another legend, both complexes were built in honor of the same person. The Abdi Darun complex is a real burial place of the city's kaziy, and the Abdi Birun ensemble was built for pilgrimage, since on holidays when the Abdi Darun complex could not accommodate a large number of pilgrims.
Today, after the reconstruction in 2000, the Khoja Abdi Birun ensemble is a complex of structures on an area of 4000m2, which is accessed by a gate with a portal. The first building that catches the eye inside the complex is a separate funeral courtyard, with gates on one side and curly lattices on the other three sides. Inside the burial courtyard there is a dakhma in the form of a sagan (tombstone), which stands on a rectangular marble stylobate. In addition, the complex includes a summer mosque in the form of an open terrace on wooden carved columns, in the center of the brick wall of which there is a mihrab (a prayer niche that points believers in the direction of the Kaaba), richly decorated with majolica. Another object of the ensemble is the khanaka (Sufi monastery), the entrance to which is also decorated with a portal, and the vault is a dome. There are 2 entrances to the khanaka, one of which is decorated with a peshtak (a rectangular portal characteristic of many monuments of Central Asia, which far exceeds the height of the building itself and has a pointed arch). The peshtak is decorated with glazed brick in the form of a geometric pattern called girikh. The second entrance of the khanaka is in the form of an arch and aivans on the sides. The other two facades are deaf. The tympanums of the khanaka are decorated with mosaics in the form of plant patterns. The inner halls of the khanaka are cross-shaped, in the corners of the halls there are hujras (rooms for forty-day prayer), in one of the walls of the khanaka there is also a mihrab. The dome of the khanaka is blue, spherical in shape, built on a cylindrical drum, which is based on an octahedron. The drum of the dome is decorated with an epigraphic ornament, and on the octahedron is decorated with the traditional girikh.
A square-shaped khauz is located in the courtyard of the ensemble. In addition, after the last restoration of the complex, in 2000, a minaret was built here.
The Khoja Abdi Birun complex is a memorial and cultural monument located in the suburbs of Samarkand, is one of the largest medieval ensembles in Central Asia.