Sufi Shrine

This weekend I visited the Yaqub-e Charkhi Sufi Shrine, located on the outskirts of Dushanbe. This beautiful site is home to the grave of one of the first disciples of the Naqshibandi Sufis. While many people travel to the shrine to make a pilgrimmage or visit the mosque located on the site on Fridays, on the day I visited there were few other people. Upon entering the site, which is enclosed by high walls, one finds oneself in a beautiful garden. A variety of brightly colored flowers line a fairly large square. Large trees provide shade. After venturing in further, one comes upon a calm square pool of water. The surface was smooth, like glass. In a square a level down from this, ancient trees twist up from the ground. Their trunks are so broad, I can only guess at their age. In this square is the mosque, and a small minaret twists up. The walls of this square were lined with seating areas, and several women with children reclined on them. At the other end of the square, the caretaker of the shrine has an area where he reads prayers to the visitors. He recited a prayer for us, and then we were able to enter a gate to the actual location of the grave. We circled the path around the grave. As my group finished, a mother with two small children entered. They also circled the path, and in one corner the mother knelt down and said a prayer. After we left that area, I noticed a water-pipe emerging from the edge of the pool. The mother filled several bottles with the water. According to one of our language teachers, while this shrine is not associated with a spring as so many Central Asian shrines are, the water from the place is still considered sacred and is taken by people for this reason. People might visit this shrine, or others like it, for several reasons. They might have some problem they need help with and go to pray in a place they consider sacred. They might go simply for the sake of making a pilgrimmage, as is required for Muslims. For those who cannot afford to make the Hajj during their lifetime, this can serve as a substitution. The place was very peaceful and I would have liked to stay in the atmosphere longer and perhaps watch as other people visited. Unfortunately, as part of a group, this was not possible.

The next day, I visited a large bazaar on the outskirts of Dushanbe. I actually really don't like bazaar other than food bazaars, but I wanted to get some material to have some dresses made that will be suitable for my future travels. The bazaars are really too crowded for my liking, but I did notice one interesting thing. Many of the people in the bazzar were obviously quite religious-one could tell because of their dress and in the men's case, the beards. I am not sure if this is because the bazaar is away from the center, and so this is simply not visible where I am living. For the most part the bazaar is filled with cheap goods from China-really not very interesting at all. We did wander through the section of baby cradles, which was quite interesting. The cradles are wood and the baby is strapped with a small contraption through which the urine should flow so diapers are not needed. I've never figured out whether this is actually effective. The most interesting part of this trip though was the friend who was showing us around. Nazir is a Bukhoran Jew whose grandparents moved to Dushanbe to help develop area. There are so few Bukhoran Jews left in Central Asia, he is the first I have met. Soon he will emigrate to Israel-most others already have left for Israel or for New York. Nazir is so friendly and helpful, I am very much looking forward to an invitation to his house later this week.

Later that day I met my friend Sitora, whose sister celebrated her marriage in my last post. We went to her neighborhood by mini-bus and she introduced me to a seamstress who will hopefully finish my dresses in time for me to leave Tajikistan. After all of this I was exhausted and ready for bed!