The Qur’an Museum in Tashkent is one of the most significant Islamic sites in Uzbekistan. It houses the legendary Qur’an of Uthman, also known as the world’s first Qur’an. This 7th-century manuscript is kept in the Muyi Muborak madrasah, located within the Khast-Imam complex, and attracts thousands of pilgrims and tourists.
Many ask where the original Qur’an of Uthman is located. The answer is: in Tashkent, in this museum. Here you can see the authentic manuscript written during the lifetime of Caliph Uthman and learn how it arrived in Uzbekistan. A visit to this site is a journey deep into Islamic history and the cultural heritage of the region.
Where is the original Qur’an of Uthman?
Khast-Imam Square
The Qur’an Museum in Tashkent is located on Hazrati Imam Square, commonly known by Tashkent residents as Khast-Imam.
Muyi Muborak Madrasah
The museum building is also known as the Muyi Muborak Madrasah, which translates as “Madrasah of the Blessed Hair,” and is usually included on the shortlist of must-see sites for visitors to Tashkent.
Muyi Muborak Madrasah: Islamic heritage
The building was constructed in the 16th century but was rebuilt several times. Initially, it was a khanqah, a modest shelter for dervishes. Later, it became a madrasah, an educational institution serving as both a secondary school and a Muslim theological seminary.
Today, it houses the library of the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan, which includes more than 20,000 manuscripts and lithographs, a large number of books, and translations of the Qur’an into dozens of languages. The library’s greatest treasure is the earliest surviving manuscript of the Qur’an, written in the 7th century by Zayd ibn Thabit, a disciple and scribe of the Prophet Muhammad.
History of the Qur’an of Uthman and its journey to Tashkent
This manuscript is known as the Samarkand Kufic Qur’an, or more commonly the Qur’an of Uthman, named after the Prophet’s son-in-law and companion, the 6th–7th-century ruler of the Arab Caliphate who completed the compilation of the Qur’an into one book.
Origin (7th century) — Medina
The book consists of 353 leaves, of which 284 are parchment made from deer skin; the remaining leaves are paper replacements for lost original parchment leaves.
It is believed that Caliph Uthman ordered seven copies of the Qur’an. He sent six of them to Mecca, Damascus, Kufa, Basra, Bahrain, and Yemen, and kept the seventh for himself in Medina (now a city in western Saudi Arabia where non-Muslims are prohibited). Most distributed copies were lost; one surviving copy is held in Istanbul.
Caliph Uthman lived in Medina, the capital of the Caliphate. On June 20, 656, he was killed by a group of Muslims from Basra, Egypt, and Kufa, who accused him of treating state assets as personal property and distributing wealth to relatives and friends. His murder triggered a five-year civil war in the Caliphate, ending with the split of the Muslim community into Sunnis, Shias, and Kharijites.
It is believed that blood stains preserved on the Qur’an of Uthman in Tashkent got there during the assassination. Some researchers dispute this.
Movements: Kufa → Samarkand → Tashkent → St. Petersburg → Ufa → Tashkent → Samarkand → Tashkent
After Uthman’s death, Caliph Ali, a man detached from worldly wealth and also a son-in-law of the Prophet, took the manuscript to the new capital, Kufa. Several versions exist regarding its later movements, but it is known that in the early 15th century the Qur’an of Uthman came into the possession of the conqueror and founder of the Timurid Empire, Timur (Tamerlane), who brought it to his capital, Samarkand. It was stored in a Samarkand madrasah until the arrival of the Russian army.
After Samarkand became part of the Turkestan region, the local clergy sold the Qur’an of Uthman to the imperial administration for 100 rubles, and it was sent to Tashkent to the governor-general of the Turkestan Territory, Konstantin von Kaufman. In autumn 1869, he sent the manuscript to St. Petersburg as a gift for the Imperial Public Library (now the National Library of Russia). In the late 19th century, orientalist Alexei Shebunin studied the Qur’an of Uthman there. Another orientalist made a facsimile copy in the early 20th century; this copy is also kept in Tashkent.
In December 1917, by decree of the Council of People’s Commissars of the RSFSR signed by its chairman Vladimir Lenin, the Qur’an of Uthman was transferred to the Regional Muslim Congress of the Petrograd National District, and a month later transported to Ufa for the All-Russian Muslim Council. The Bolsheviks pursued political goals, seeking Muslim support. They even tried to proclaim Moscow a new “Medina” for the oppressed.
In the early 1920s, at the request of the Turkestan Republic, the Qur’an of Uthman was sent to Tashkent and then to Samarkand, where it was kept in a mosque. In 1941, it was transferred to the Museum of the History of the Peoples of Uzbekistan in Tashkent. In 1989, it was handed over to Muslim representatives of Central Asia and Kazakhstan and initially stored in the Barak-Khan Madrasah.
What can be seen in the Qur’an Museum
The Qur’an of Uthman
The Qur’an of Uthman is on public display in the Muyi Muborak Madrasah in a special glass sarcophagus-safe.
Other manuscripts
Rooms of the museum display Qur’anic manuscripts in different languages.
Relic (a hair of the Prophet)
The madrasah also contains a hair of the Prophet Muhammad.
Some historians and linguists date the Qur’an of Uthman to the first quarter of the 8th century, claiming it was written about fifty years after Uthman’s assassination. There are also other stories or legends associated with finds connected to the Qur’an of Uthman.
In any case, the Qur’an of Uthman kept in the former Muyi Muborak Madrasah in Tashkent is a monumental book written no less than thirteen centuries ago and revered by Muslims worldwide.
How to reach Khast-Imam and the museum
The Muyi Muborak Madrasah, commonly referred to as the Qur’an Museum and home to the Qur’an of Uthman, is one of Tashkent’s most famous landmarks. Do not miss it during your visit to Uzbekistan.
Muyi Muborak Madrasah (the Qur’an Museum) in 2025. In April this year, the restoration of the Tashkent “Hazrati Imam” complex and its historical structures was approved. The decision sparked mixed reactions among Tashkent guides and social media users.