Bakhautdin Naqshband Memorial Complex

Twelve kilometres from Bukhara stands the memorial complex of Bahauddin Naqshband, the philosopher and Sufi whose name is borne by one of the largest Sufi orders. Pilgrims come here not only from Uzbekistan but from across the Muslim world. The village of Qasri Orifon stood on this spot before, known for its pagan festivals and old customs.

Bahauddin Naqshband (1318–1389) founded the order later named after him. His philosophy fits into one phrase: dil ba yoru dast ba kor — the heart with God, the hands at work. The order's emblem follows the same idea: a heart with the word Allah inside. Naqshband was Tamerlane's spiritual mentor and taught him, as he taught others, modesty and decency. He made the hajj to Mecca thirty-two times, and his mausoleum is called the Mecca of Central Asia: walking here from Bukhara three times is held to equal one hajj.

The crypt over the grave and the first buildings around it went up in 1544 on the orders of Abdalaziz Khan, and the complex then took shape over nearly four centuries. At the centre is a rectangular courtyard with the sheikh's tomb and a nineteenth-century mosque; a little beyond stood an iwan on wooden columns with the Shaybanid burial vault. The largest building is Abdalaziz Khan's domed khanaka. The complex was restored in the 1980s, and today it holds a courtyard with a pool, the Muzaffar Khan and Kushbegi mosques, a madrasah, a dakhma, a minaret and the tomb.

Inside the tomb lies a fallen old mulberry. Tradition says it grew from Naqshband's staff, and that a wish made while crawling under it will be granted.

A museum on site shows Sufi clothing, books, the cauldrons food was cooked in and other objects that make it easier to grasp what Sufism was in daily life. Almost everyone says the same thing about the place — it is quiet, and it settles you.