Shah-Fazil complex hides historical mysteries

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

There is already something fascinating and intriguing in the name of this area. In any case, I had just such feelings when I first heard about Safed Bulan. I will make a reservation right away that it is quite difficult to get there. If you go from the capital, it is almost 10 hours of the road.

Moreover, the path is not always perfectly flat, there is off-road. You need to come to the south of Kyrgyzstan, to the Jalal-Abad region, this is a border zone with Uzbekistan. This is where that mysterious piece of land is located, the name of which sounds unusual for the Kyrgyz language Farsi motives - "Safed Bulan" - "White Bulan". Who is she and why is the village named after her? It is believed that it was from here that the spread of Islam began throughout Central Asia, it was back in the 7th century. There are many legends about a young girl named "Safed Bulan". And they are all intertwined with the history of those times.

“My grandparents told me that this is a sacred place because many great prophets are buried here. There are their graves here, so here you get strength and energy when you pray and read the Kuran,”said Zhetigerova, a local resident of Narvus.

Safed Bulan was a servant of the leader of the Arabs - Shah Jarir. And he, according to legend, was considered the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. It was under his leadership that Arab troops came to Central Asia to spread a new religion for these places.

“About 12 thousand soldiers came. Special ambassadors were sent to the people to accept Islam voluntarily. The population of this area then professed Zoroastrianism. The local akim did not have military forces to resist, so they adopted the religion. But, as it turned out later, the people became Muslims only in words,”explained Azim Kasymov, a leading tourism specialist.

In fact, as the legends tell, the locals began to secretly gather an army of men living in the neighboring areas. To gain confidence, the akim gave his only daughter Ubayda to the main leader of the Arabs. When the detachments of volunteers were assembled, there was only one thing left - to understand when it was better to attack. And they decided to do this during namaz, when men do not have weapons and guards with them, when everyone is immersed in reading namaz.

After waiting for the Arabs to indulge in collective prayer, armed detachments of conspirators rushed into the territory of the mosque. There were a lot of them. They attacked unarmed Arabs and killed many by chopping off their heads. In this massacre, 2,772 Muslims were killed. Local residents were forbidden to bury them on pain of death.

Shah Jarir had a faithful servant - a black twelve-year-old Negro girl named Bulan. She was not afraid of persecution from the pagans, who forbade them to approach the slain, and everywhere she looked for her master. She had to carry the found bloody heads of Arab missionaries to the spring and wash them near a huge stone. Legend has it that while she was washing all her heads, her hair and skin turned white from the experience of horror and fear. Therefore, she was nicknamed Safed Bulan.

More than ten centuries have passed since then, and she has remained a symbol of courage in this area. The girl died shortly after the tragedy. She was buried next to the place where she washed her heads. Later, a modest kumbez was erected in her honor. True, only women can enter it, because the girl died unmarried. When you go inside, the grave is not immediately visible. It is specially covered with a screen so that they cannot look at it from the street.

But after the death of Safed Bulan, the story did not end. The girl did not find Shah Jarir among the killed, because he managed to escape. When he and his subordinates saw the armed men burst in, then through a secret door, which was in the wall of the mosque, they got out into the street, where Ubaida was waiting with horses. She knew the surroundings well, so she easily took her husband out of the city and they returned to his homeland, to the territory of present-day Uzbekistan. There Shah Jarir and Ubayda had a son named Sayf. When the boy grew up, he decided to continue his father's work 40 after the tragedy. He again went to Central Asia.

The order of the local ruler not to bury the corpses of the murdered Arabs was still in effect. Sayf ordered to bury his brothers, and a mosque was built near the site of the massacre, which was named Kyrgyn-Machet ("kyrgyn" - "massacre", "massacre", "sword" - "mosque"). All those responsible for the tragedy were punished. A huge mound, where almost three thousand bodies of killed Arabs rest, still stands next to the mosque.

“At the same time, the understanding came to the new leader of the Arabs that a religion imposed by force would not be accepted by people with soul. And such peaceful means as trade, missionary sermons, economic measures will bring much more benefit,”Kasymov said.

And new rules began to be introduced. The people who converted to Islam were exempted from paying the per capita tax. Those who attended Friday prayer received two coins. The caravan trade was encouraged. And so, gradually, in almost all cities along the caravan routes, mosques began to appear, which served merchants and missionaries.

It is known from historical sources that Saif ruled this area for 16 years and was nicknamed Shah Fazil, which meant "just shah". But during one of the feasts he was poisoned and died a painful death. This is stated in the epitaph, engraved on the gravestones-kairak.

Legends say that it was in memory of the beloved shah that this mausoleum was built over his grave, which was named Shah-Fazil. And it was built next to the very place where Safed Bulan was previously buried - this was the request of the ruler. Inside the mausoleum, on the upper belt of the dome, there is an inscription: "This is the abode of a valiant man named Sayf-i Davlat-i Malikan, who was a generous man and for this acquired a glorious name."

Today this place attracts not only pilgrims, but also historians and architects. They try to study every crack and brick of all these structures built in the 11th century. After all, the time in question is called the era of the Karakhanids. There are not so many structures of that era on the territory of the republic. And for Kyrgyzstan, it was the heyday of urban planning and architecture.

“Ornaments of Shah-Fazil are a kind of encyclopedia of ornaments in Central Asia. This speaks to the fact that there is a variety of them. But not just a variety, but everything is done in the highest carving technique. It is a building architectural art. Some ornaments and their constructions are very complex. To make them, the achievements of geometry and mathematics of that period were used,”explained Jumamedel Imankulov, director of the Kyrgyz Restoration Research and Development Institute under the Ministry of Culture of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Last year, one of the most famous archaeologists of Kyrgyzstan, Lyubov Vedutova, also visited this place. According to the woman, before that she had only read about the complex. Arriving at the place, I studied Shah-Fazil thoroughly.

“Something bothered me for several years, and only two years later I realized that this was not a mausoleum. Then what is it? Obviously not a dwelling. The fact is that the mausoleum, if we take any Central Asian, Iranian mausoleums, we see that in the exterior the entrance is decorated with inscriptions in Arabic from the Koran. But the mausoleum has never been decorated inside, this is the place of the deceased,”the archaeologist noted.

Scientists cannot argue that is not proven by facts. Therefore, so far there are only some guesses. For example, the one that the mausoleum could originally have been built not as a mausoleum, but as the abode of the Sufis. These are representatives of the trend in Islam who preached asceticism and heightened spirituality. Usually they settled outside the city, and the rulers always turned to them for advice. For scientists, the best way to verify the authenticity of their guesses is to perform an autopsy on the grave. Based on the results, it will immediately become clear to what period the burial belongs, and whether it is there at all. But the locals would rather be against it, because they have considered this place sacred for many centuries.

Meanwhile, the historical complex is in need of another reconstruction. Repair work continues on its territory. They began back in the 80s of the last century. As money was received, the walls and roof of the mausoleum were restored and repaired.

The height of the mausoleum is 15 meters. Seven meters is the width of the inner part, and the length of the outer side is 11.5 meters. The total area is 130 square meters. While one thing is being put in order, time destroys the other. The work inside remained unfinished. The scaffolding has not been removed. Only 30% of the unique and authentic carvings on the walls remain. The complex is on the UNESCO waiting list for inclusion in the World Heritage List.