Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi

The Mausoleum of Khawaja Ahmed Yasawi (Kazakh: Қожа Ахмет Яссауи кесенесі, Qoja Axmet Yassawï kesenesi) is an unfinished mausoleum in the city of Turkestan, in southern Kazakhstan. The structure was commissioned in 1389 by Timur, who ruled the area as part of the expansive Timurid Empire, to replace a smaller 12th-century mausoleum of the famous Turkic poet and Sufi mystic,Khoja Ahmed Yasawi (1093–1166). However, construction was halted with the death of Timur in 1405.

Despite its incomplete state, the mausoleum has survived as one of the best-preserved of all Timurid constructions. Its creation marked the beginning of the Timurid architectural style. The experimental spatial arrangements, innovative architectural solutions for vault and dome constructions, and ornamentations using glazed tiles made the structure the prototype for this distinctive art, which spread across the empire and beyond.

The religious structure continues to draw pilgrims from across Central Asia and has come to epitomize the Kazakh national identity. It has been protected as a national monument, while UNESCO recognized it as the country's first site of patrimony, declaring it a World Heritage Site in 2003.

Khoja Akhmet Yassawi

Khoja Akhmed Yassawi (Arabic: خوجة أحمد‎) (Uzbek: Xoja Ahmad Yasaviy; Kazakh: Қожа Ахмет Ясауи, Turkmen: Hoja Ahmet Ýasawy, Turkish: Hoca Ahmet Yesevi or Ahmed ibn-i İbrâhim ibn-i İlyâs Yesevî also spelled Ahmad Yasawi, Ahmet Yasevi, Ahmed Yesevi or Ata Yesevi) (born in Sayram in 1093, and died in 1166 in Hazrat-e Turkestan, both cities now in Kazakhstan), was a Turkic poet and Sufi (Muslim mystic), an early mystic who exerted a powerful influence on the development of mystical orders throughout the Turkic-speaking world. Yasavi is currently the earliest known Turkic poet who composed poetry in a Turkic dialect. Ahmed Yesevi was a pioneer of popular mysticism, founded the first Turkic Ṭarīqah (order), the Yasaviyya (Yeseviye), which very quickly spread over the Turkic-speaking areas. He was an Hanafi scholar like his murshid Abū Yāqub Yusūf Hamdānī.

Background

Yassawi was born to Shaykh Ibrahim. At age seven, when he was orphaned by the loss of his father, Yasawi was raised by another spiritual father, Arslan Baba. By age seven, Ahmad Yasawi had already advanced through a series of high spiritual stages and then, under the direction of Arslan Baba, the young Ahmad reached a high level of maturity and slowly began to win fame from every quarter. His father Shaikh Ibrahim had already been renowned in that region for performing countless feats and many legends were told of him. Consequently, it was recognized that, with respect to his lineage as well, this quiet and unassuming young boy, who always listened to his elder sister, held a spiritually important position.

Mausoleum

A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb, or the tomb may be considered to be within the mausoleum. A Christian mausoleum sometimes includes a chapel.

Overview

The word derives from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (near modern-day Bodrum in Turkey), the grave of King Mausolus, the Persian satrap of Caria, whose large tomb was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Historically, mausolea were, and still may be, large and impressive constructions for a deceased leader or other person of importance. However, smaller mausolea soon became popular with the gentry and nobility in many countries. In the Roman Empire, these were often ranged in necropoles or along roadsides: the via Appia Antica retains the ruins of many private mausolea for miles outside Rome. However, when Christianity became dominant, mausoleums were out of use.

Ahmad

Ahmad, Ahmed or Ahmet are the principal transliterations of an Arabic given name, أحمد.

Etymology

Ahmad comes from the Arabic triconsonantal root of Ḥ-M-D, meaning "highly praised", which in turn implies "one who constantly thanks God." Several Arabic names are derived from this root word.

The name Ahmad has its origins in a prophecy attributed to Jesus, in the Quran in Surah 61: As-Saff (The Ranks). Some Muslim scholars see the names parallel in the word 'Paraclete' in the biblical text. This view is not universal considering translations, meanings and etymology.

Regarding Ibn Ishaq's biography of Muhammad, the Sirat Asul Allah, Islamic scholar Alfred Guillaume wrote:

Lexicology

Other Arabic names from the same root include Mahmud, Ahmed, Hamed, Muhammad and Hamid. The name has one of the highest number of spelling variations in the world.

Interpretations and meanings of Ahmad

Ahmad passage

Here are three translations of the passage in question in Surat 61 verse 6:

- Sahih International