Tamerlane and the Jews by Michael Shterenshis

Author:Michael Shterenshis [Shterenshis, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Jewish, Middle East, General, Religion, Judaism, Social Science, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781136873737
Google: ndv5AQAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-11-05T01:44:47+00:00

Plate 3 The tomb of the Prophet Daniel in Samarkand. According to the legend, ashes of the biblical Prophet were brought to Samarkand by Tamerlane

Samarkand where there is a spring with water considered to have healing properties. The building itself is twelve metres long and six metres wide and is devoid of any external or internal decorations. In its present form it has existed since the nineteenth century and was last restored in the twentieth century. The interior is very simple and the few arches and cupolas on the ceiling provide the Oriental beauty.

The tomb itself is ten metres long and occupies nearly the whole of the interior. White cloths without inscriptions or decorations cover it. At the head of the tomb there are several fragments of an imbedded tombstone and these fragments have incomplete Arabic and Persian (or Tajik) inscriptions. The Arabic phrases (in fragments) represent the Koranic verses and the fragment of the Persian inscription has these three words: Allahi charikor mardoni that can be translated as Oh, Allah, a day-labourer, some men …’.

Uzbekistan became an independent state in 1991. Since that time some additional effort has been made to renovate this historical site including the new road leading to the brick building, as pregnant women from Samarkand and women wishing to conceive make a pilgrimage to the tomb and to the spring.

According to legend, the Prophet, after his burial, continued growing inside the tomb, and the tomb, therefore, continued to grow with him, hence the unusual length of the tomb. In 1912 the Russian administration of occupied Turkestan ordered the local Muslim authorities ‘to stop’ the growth of the deceased. Since that time the ‘growth’ has stopped.8 Since 1946 this mazar (a tomb of a Muslim saint) was not counted as a historical site and was neglected by tourist authorities. It was only in 1992 that the tomb became a historical heritage once again.

There are two legends about the appearance of Daniel’s tomb in Samarkand in connection with Timur. The first legend was described by E. N. Adler a hundred years ago:

Tradition has it that Tamerlane had seen the tomb at Susa in Persia, with a warning inscribed thereon, that none should open its door; and so he broke it open from behind, and found it written that Nebi Daniel was there buried. The impetuous conqueror had the sarcophagus removed with all reverence, and carried it with him to his own capital to be its palladium. The sarcophagus is over twenty yards long as beseems a prophet’s stature. It has been recently covered by a brick chapel with three cupolas, but photographs of the ancient structure can be had in Samarkand. It is grandly placed at the edge of a cliff overhanging the rapid river Seop. The local Jews do not believe the story, nor do they quite disbelieve it, for I went with two who prayed there at the grave of the righteous.9

V. Barthold also visited Samarkand with an archaeological expedition at approximately the same time as Adler.

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