Mausoleum of Imam al-Maturidi

Abu Mansur al-Maturidi lived and taught in Samarkand in the late ninth and early tenth centuries, and died there in 944. He founded one of the two main schools of Sunni theology (kalam), the Maturidi school, which became the creed of most Hanafi Muslims: across Central Asia, in Turkey and the former Ottoman lands, and in much of South Asia. For many Turkish, Pakistani, Indian and Central Asian pilgrims, his grave is as important as that of Imam al-Bukhari.

The site

Al-Maturidi was buried in the Chokardiza cemetery, a burial ground of Samarkand scholars that lay just outside the old city walls. Nothing survives of the medieval monuments; the present mausoleum is a modern building put up after independence over the grave.

In 2025–26 the area was redeveloped as a memorial complex with a new mosque, library, museum and study centre. Nearby stands the rebuilt mausoleum of Burhaneddin al-Marghinani, the twelfth-century author of al-Hidaya, the classic textbook of Hanafi law, which makes this one of the most significant scholarly burial grounds in the Muslim world.

Visiting

This is a place of quiet prayer and recitation rather than a monument to tour. Dress modestly, with a headscarf for women, and keep your voice low near the graves. A guide who knows the history of Islamic scholarship in Samarkand will bring the site to life far more than the buildings themselves. It is often combined with the Imam al-Bukhari complex and the shrine of Khoja Ahror Vali in a ziyarat day.