The Tilla Shaikh Mosque

Tashkent. Old town. The Hazrati Imam ensemble, which harmoniously combined the religious buildings of the Middle Ages and modern Uzbekistan. The ensemble includes the Tilla Sheikh Mosque, however, before getting acquainted with its architecture, you need to get acquainted with the history of the appearance of the ensemble itself.

The complex gradually appeared around the mausoleum to the great Abu Bakr Kaffal Shashi, a skilled lockmaker, well-informed about religious and secular sciences, a polyglot who spoke more than 70 languages and a diplomat. He was a wise ruler who once stopped the raids of the Turks on Tashkent, and persuaded the invading ones to convert to Islam, for which the townspeople later called him Hazreti Imam - Holy Imam. Hazrati Imam is also famous for being the first to translate the Old Testament into Arabic. However, the mausoleum in his honor did not appear immediately. After the death of the Holy Imam, a crypt was erected to him, and only in 1542 Gulam Husain, who was the chief architect of the Khan at that time, built a mausoleum around the crypt, which today is one of the most important landmarks of the Muslim world.

Today, the Hazreti Imam ensemble includes the mausoleum of Hazreti Imam, Muyi Muborak Madrasah, Barak Khan Madrasah, Namazgoh Mosque, Tilla Shaikh Cathedral Mosque, the Hazreti Imam Cathedral mosque built in 2007, and the building of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims throughout Uzbekistan.

The Golden Sheikh Mosque, the Main Mosque of Tashkent, the Friday Mosque of the city – there are all synonyms of the Tilla Shaikh Mosque, which perfectly reflect the meaning of this mosque.

The history of the mosque begins at the end of the XIX century, when it was built by the Kokand Khan, a well-educated, not indifferent to human problems, a true Muslim - Mirza Ahmed Kushbegi. Along with the Main Mosque of Tashkent, he also built 3 more block mosques. The Golden Sheikh or Tilla Shaikh (Tilla translated as gold) is how Mirza Ahmed Kushbegi was nicknamed by the people, from there the mosque got its name. According to legend, the golden hair of the Prophet Muhammad is hidden in the walls of the Tilla Shaikh mosque.

To date, the mosque is not the largest in size in Tashkent, but it still remains one of the main sights of the city. The Tilla Shaikh Mosque includes a winter building, a summer courtyard, a domed gallery and 2 majestic minarets. There are spiral staircases in the minarets, along which the muezzins still call the faithful to prayer. In addition, in the past, minarets served as lighthouses for trade caravans.

Above the summer gallery there are 12 domes, which are painted with azure blue. The prayer hall has a square shape, the windows are painted in the style of “panjara” from gancha (one of the types of special materials from which windows were manufactured in Central Asia), which allows room to be ventilated and provides access to a large amount of sunlight. Also, visitors note the unusual painting of the gallery ceiling and its beautiful mosaic decoration. In the hall itself there is a beautiful carved mihrab (where believers turn during prayer) and a minbar (a pulpit from which the imam addresses parishioners).

The Tilla Shaikh Mosque is located in a complex that is the center of the spiritual life of Muslims. Visiting the mosque, you can feel the atmosphere of calm and tranquility. In a special way, it becomes magical in the evening.