Historical and Cultural Places

AMIR OLIMXON MADRASASI

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The Amir Alim Khan Madrasa is a madrasa founded in 1915 by the Manghit ruler Sayyid Alim Khan in Bukhara, which was then the capital of the Emirate of Bukhara.

History

The madrasa was built between 1914 and 1915 using funds provided by Sayyid Alim Khan, the last ruler of the Emirate of Bukhara. It was constructed on the site of the Qazi Kalon Bathhouse, where an octagonal domed structure has survived. The madrasa is located on the southern side of the Po-i-Kalyan complex square, next to the Miri Arab Madrasa.

After Soviet rule was established in Bukhara, the madrasa was closed. Beginning in early 1924, the building served as the city library. Later, during the period of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, it became the Pavlik Morozov Children’s Library.

Today, the madrasa is included in Uzbekistan’s National Register of Immovable Cultural Heritage Sites and continues to function as a library. Restoration work was carried out in 2011.

Education

In his article “On the Occasion of the Establishment of a Madrasa in Bukhara”, published in the newspaper Vaqt, Imam Sobirjon Mustafiy reported that the chief mudarris (teacher) of the madrasa was Kholmurod Afandi from Tashkent. Mudarris Sadriddin Makhdum taught arithmetic, geometry, and Islamic inheritance law (faraid), while Mudarris Ibadulla Makhdum taught the science of issuing religious legal opinions (fatwa).

The curriculum included Qur’anic exegesis (tafsir), hadith studies, Islamic theology (kalam), Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), principles of jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh), mathematics, tajwid (Qur’anic recitation), and history.

According to the madrasa regulations, students were prohibited from studying at another madrasa simultaneously. The regulations also required annual examinations at the end of each academic year.

At the time of its establishment, only residents of Bukhara were permitted to study at the madrasa. Later, students from outside the region were also admitted. A letter from Bukhara published in the journal Vaqt records that a student from Tatarstan named Ishaq Sayfiddin was admitted to the madrasa during the 1915–1916 academic year.