Samarkand - Mausoleum Abu Mansur al-Maturidi

The Abu Mansur al-Maturidi Mausoleum – is located in Samarkand, near the famous Registan Square. The mausoleum was built over the tomb of Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (870 – 944), a famous Islamic theologian, expert of Fiqh (Islamic law) and interpreter of the Koran (Mufassir).

The scientist was buried at the Chokardiza cemetery in Samarkand, where according to legend more than 3000 scientist-theologians were buried. A mausoleum was built over the grave, which was destroyed in the 1930s.

Abu Mansur al-Maturidi was born in the town of Maturid, near Samarkand, where he studied religious disciplines. He then taught Fiqh and Kalam. Maturidi believed that man had the freedom of choice and that faith consisted in the verbal recognition of Allah and not in religious rites.

In 2000, on the 1130th anniversary of the birth of Muhammad Abu Mansur al-Maturidi, an architectural complex designed by the architects Salakhutdinov and Nurullaev was built on the site of the destroyed mausoleum.

The interior was decorated by Najmiddinov, the exterior by Asadov. The dimensions of the mausoleum are 12 × 12 × 17.5 meters. The building is crowned with a double dome, the outer one – ribbed – is decorated with blue majolica, the drum is decorated with 24 arches.

On the white marble gravestone are engraved the sayings of a scientist and you can read the sayings of Imam al-Maturidi. To the west of the mausoleum there is a small building with a dome, on the north side a hill (Sufa) with tombstones from the IX-XVIII century. In the garden there is a pavilion – a rotunda with the tomb of the lawyer Burhaniddin Al-Margiloni.

The Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi had great theological knowledge and was known and highly respected not only among his numerous students but also in the scientific world of the Muslim Orient.