Panjob Mosque

Masjid Panjob (Uzbek: Panjob masjidi; Persian: مسجد پنجاب‎‎) is a Friday mosque in Samarkand belonging to the Isna‑Ashari Shia denomination. It is one of the few Shia mosques in Uzbekistan and Central Asia.

The mosque’s name comes from Panjob, one of Samarkand’s historic districts, which is inhabited mainly by Central Asian Iranians. The mosque is located in that area. The district name derives from Persian and Tajik and is translated as Five Waters or Pyatirechye (panj — five + ob — water/river).

This mosque was built in the 19th century, was used for its intended purpose until 1924, and after the formation of the USSR the mosque was closed and in subsequent years the building was assigned to various organizational departments. In those years Panjob mosque held the status of a madrasa and was part of a complex that included a tall‑minaret Shia mosque that has not survived to the present; its architect was the local architect and merchant Khoja Abduraim. In those years the madrasa taught religious and secular sciences. The same complex, Dovuti Panjob, also included a bathhouse built by Khoja Abduraim after his pilgrimage to Mashhad, Nishapur, Isfahan, Shiraz, Yazd and Qom in Iran. The design and plan of this bathhouse were brought from Mashhad. The complex also featured a tea house and residential buildings.

At the beginning of the 1990s the mosque and the attached madrasa were completely rebuilt through government efforts, unlike the surrounding Uzbeks and Tajiks, by the initiative of the local community of Central Asian Iranians who adhere to the Shia branch of Islam. Sunni branch of Islam. In the following years small restoration works were also carried out in the mosque. Craftsmen invited from Iran also participated in the reconstruction works.

The “Panjob” mosque is active and receives believers and pilgrims. Every year the Shia mourning ceremony, Ashura, takes place in the mosque. As noted above, the “Panjob” Friday mosque is located in the neighborhood of the same name, mainly inhabited by Central Asian Iranians and Tajiks, and the madrasa built in the 19th century is attached to the mosque, it also did not function and is considered an architectural monument. In the courtyard of this madrasa there is a bronze monument to the famous Persian poet and writer Ferdowsi. The interesting aspect of this monument is that the statue is an exact copy of the Ferdowsi monument in Rome. A Shia cemetery and the cultural center of Central Asian Iranians are located a short distance from the mosque and madrasa.