The complicated history of Islam in Uzbekistan Jean-Pierre Dalbéra / Wikimedia Commons Jean-Pierre Dalbéra / Wikimedia Commons
The Lyab-i Hauz Tajik for “by the pool” complex is the tourist hub of the storied city of Bukhara in Uzbekistan, surrounded by the ubiquitous accoutrements of such centres: bed-and-breakfasts, money-changers, souvenir shops and bistros. The rectangular Hauz was created in the seventeenth century next to the decades-older Kukeldash Madrasa, at the time the biggest Islamic school in Central Asia by Nadir, vizier to Imam Quli, the khan of Bukhara. A
khanqah, or Sufi hermitage, and a caravanserai, both named after Nadir, flank the pool. However, while inaugurating the complex, Imam Quli called the caravanserai a madrasa. As the khan could not be wrong, Nadir added to the structure, commissioning a magnificent portal and adjoining loggia, as well as an additional floor with cells for students.