Hazrati Imam Complex

Hazrati Imom majmuasi

Tashkent's religious centre, home to the world's oldest Othman Quran manuscript (7th century), surrounded by a 16th-century madrasa and a large mosque built in 2007.

The Hazrati Imam ('Holy Imam') Complex centres on the mausoleum of Abu Bakr Kaffal Shashi, a 10th-century Islamic scholar, poet and first imam of Tashkent, and it is the religious heart of the city. The main highlight is the Quran Museum inside the Muyi Muborak Madrasa. It preserves the Othman Quran, dating from the mid-7th century. It is one of the standard copies of the Quran ordered by Caliph Uthman, the third caliph. It is written on parchment in Kufic script. According to legend, Uthman was reading it when he was assassinated, and bloodstains remain on its pages. Timur carried it from Iraq to Samarkand. In the tsarist era it was taken to St Petersburg. It was returned to Tashkent in 1924. UNESCO has inscribed it on the Memory of the World Register. The museum also holds dozens of hand-copied Qurans from various periods. Admission costs about 30,000 som, and photography is prohibited. Other sights nearby include the 16th-century Barak Khan Madrasa (now a handicraft shop), the Tilla Sheikh Mosque (which houses a relic said to be a hair of the Prophet Muhammad), the Kaffal Shashi Mausoleum, and the Hazrati Imam Grand Mosque. The mosque was built in four months in 2007 under the supervision of President Karimov. It has two 53-metre minarets, a blue dome, and interior columns of sandalwood. In 2024, an Islamic Civilization Centre opened next to the complex. Entry to the complex is free, and it is open roughly 09:00 to 18:00. Women must wear a headscarf to enter the mosque, and one can be borrowed at the entrance. Getting there: a 15-minute walk or 5-minute taxi ride from Chorsu Bazaar. Allow 1 to 1.5 hours, plus 30 minutes for the Quran Museum.

Hazrati Imam Complex

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