Uzbekistan: Qazi Zadeh Rumi mausoleum, Shah-i-Zinda, Samarkand

Qāḍī Zāda al-Rūmī (1364 in Bursa, Ottoman Empire – 1436 in Samarqand, Persia), whose actual name was Salah al-Din Musa Pasha (qāḍī zāda means 'son of the judge', al-rūmī 'the Roman' indicating he came from Asia Minor, which was once Roman), was a Turkish astronomer and mathematician who worked at the observatory in Samarkand. He computed sin 1° to an accuracy of 10−12.

Together with Ulugh Beg, al-Kāshī and a few other astronomers Qāḍī Zāda produced the Zij-i-Sultani, the first comprehensive stellar catalogue since the Maragheh observatory's Zij-i Ilkhani two centuries earlier. The Zij-i Sultani contained the positions of 992 stars.

Shah-i-Zinda (Persian: شاه زنده‎ meaning 'The Living King') is a necropolis in the north-eastern part of Samarkand.

The Shah-i-Zinda Ensemble includes mausoleums and other ritual buildings from the 9-14th and 19th centuries. The name Shah-i-Zinda is connected with the legend that Kusam ibn Abbas, a cousin of the prophet Muhammad is buried here. It is believed that he came to Samarkand with the Arab invasion in the 7th century to preach Islam. Popular legends speak that he was beheaded by Zoroastrian fire-worshippers for his faith.

Copyright:

CPA Media Co. Ltd.

Photographer:

David Henley

Credit:

Pictures From Asia