The mausoleum of Said Amir al Kulal

Bukhara is one of the centers of the formation of the mystical, Sufi trend of the Islamic religion in Uzbekistan. The city of pearl, which bears the title of “noble, holy city of the Islamic religion". The city, homeland and burial place of seven Sufi pirs (teachers), one of whom is a scholar of the Hanafi Madhhab (one of the four canonical legal schools in Sunni Islam), murshid (spiritual mentor), spiritual teacher of the founder of the Nakshbandi Order, Bahauddin Nakshbandi – Said Amir al Kulal. 

The future sheikh of the Khajagan Order, a connoisseur of Plato and Aristotle, Amir Kulal, was born and spent his whole life in the village of Suhar, 11 km from Bukhara, where he was buried. Said Amir's family belongs to the Sayyid branch and are direct descendants of the Prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima and her son Hussein. Nickname “Kulal” Said Amir got it because he was a skilled potter who perfectly mastered his craft. He was popularly called “Kalon”, which translates from Persian as “Great".

Said Amir was fond of kurash wrestling. The talented athlete often participated in competitive events in the ring, which was called the Maidan. At one of these competitions, Said Amir, who had just turned 15, met his future spiritual mentor Bobo as Samasi.

According to legends, one of the seven feasts of Bukhara, the spiritual mentor of one of the most famous Sufi orders of Khajagan, Bobo as Samasi, being with his disciples, visited the Maidan, where the Kurash battles took place. His students expressed dissatisfaction with attending the competitions, to which Bobo as Samasi publicly stated: “There is a man in this field, thanks to whom many believers will find the true path.” Said Amir heard his words and turned around, crossed eyes with Bobo as Samasi, after which the great Sufi sheikh got up and left. The next day, Amir Kulal sought him out and asked the sheikh to take him as his disciple. Since Bobo as Samasi agreed to take Said Amir as his disciple, Said Amir left the struggle and traveled 25 km daily from the village of Suhar to the village of Samas, where his teacher lived. Later, Bobo as Samasi entrusted Amir Kulal with the spiritual education of one of his most talented students, and the future head of the Khajagan Order, Bahauddin Nakshbandi.

Contemporaries described Amir Kulal as a tall man with a powerful physique, broad-shouldered, whose swarthy face was framed by a beard with gray. Despite his powerful physique, he was a modest, gentle and courteous person, far from objections and stubbornness. The Sufi sheikh combined everything from tarikat, Sharia and marifat. 

According to legends, it was Said Amir who met with the great commander Amir Temur and was his spiritual inspirer. 

The architectural ensemble of the mausoleum of Said Amir Kulal includes: a mausoleum, a minaret, a mosque, a well and a garden.

The entrance to the complex is through an arch with two domes, from which a narrow path leads to the mausoleum itself. On the sides of the path stretched a garden with fruit trees and a flower garden. The entrance to the mausoleum, built of burnt brick, is decorated with a peshtak (a richly decorated portal niche, in the form of a vertical rectangle with a pointed arch, the height of which exceeds the height of the building itself). The top of the peshtak is decorated with inscriptions from the Koran, there is no other decor. The dome of the mausoleum is sky-blue, decorated with glazed bricks, inscriptions from the Koran are printed at the base of its drum. The second dome of the ensemble, located above the mosque, is made in the colors of burnt brick, without decoration. The doors leading to the mausoleum are decorated with wood carvings in the form of geometric patterns. The mausoleum itself consists of two halls: a prayer hall (mosque) and the burial of the sheikh with a stone tombstone, a white sarcophagus. At the burial of the sheikh there is a pole with a triangular flag on it and the outlines of a hand on top. Such signs were accepted to be installed in the Middle Ages, at the graves of holy people, so that they could be seen from afar. 

Inside the mausoleum is quite clean, the floor is decorated with carpets. 

Behind the mausoleum there is a large garden of fruit trees.

Said Amir al-Kulal, who was once one of the elders of the Tariqa, adhered to the rule: “Everything that is dignity should be seen in others, not in yourself. And all that is a disadvantage to see in yourself.” Today, these words are a parting word for the entire Muslim world.