THE MAUSOLEUM OF BAHA-AL DIN NAQCHBAND

The tomb of the patron saint of the city is one of the main places of pilgrimage. Three Hajj on the grave of Baha'i Din are equivalent to a pilgrimage to Mecca. Baha-Al Din Naqchband, who lived from 1318 to 1389, is the founder of the Sufi order of the Naqchbandi, the most common in Central Asia. The ritual of pilgrimage is imitated from that of Mecca around the Kaaba. The pilgrims must do several times the tower of the tomb of the saint, then kiss the tugh, the sacred pole which indicates his grave. Then the pilgrim puts his head on a dark stone - the stone of the desire, reported in Mecca, embedded in one side of the mazar. Baha'i Din Naqchband is nicknamed "Balagardon", the one that pushes the evil. It was attributed to many miracles; to those who asked him to achieve one, he replied: " Here is a clear miracle: I have a lot of sin and I am still alive. " The architectural complex consists of several buildings built between the th and th centuries. The mausoleum and khanaka are the oldest and were built in the th century by Obaydullâh Khan of the Dynastie dynasty. In 1917, the mosque Abdulfis Khan was built near the mausoleum, and then, in 1860, the Mosque Isobaev Khan added to the whole, forming a courtyard around the tomb of the Saint. In the th century, a basin and a dome building were added. Behind khanaka, an old cemetery houses the vaults of Abdullah Khan II and Abdul Aziz Khan as well as noble boukhares families.