Alymbek's Madrasah
The city of Osh in the 19th century, which we detailed in the previous chapter, has a direct connection to the story of the main heroine of our book, Kurmandzhan, for a very simple reason. This ancient city was viewed by the Alay tribal leaders as their stronghold in the Fergana Valley. Many of them owned lands, houses, and trading shops here. They built mosques and madrasahs. Such landowners were often granted a special form of property by the rulers - waqf. This represented a donation of immovable property for the benefit of a religious figure or an Islamic institution, such as a madrasah, mosque, or other similar establishment. Waqf could not be returned to the previous owner, nor could it be alienated, sold, or have the terms of the donation violated. However, in practice, things were not always so strict. The requirements of Sharia were ultimately adapted to secure property for the feudal lords, to protect it from arbitrary encroachments by khans, and to facilitate the evasion of taxes by the feudal lords.
Among the landowners who were honored with such endowments was a sufficiently influential person who later became the husband of the future Alay queen. This was Alymbek Datka. The story of this individual deserves a separate book... An Alay Kyrgyz from the Adygine tribe (according to other sources, Munduz), he entered the political arena at an early age. In 1831, he received the title of Datka - ruler of Alay - from Madali Khan, where he met the twenty-year-old woman Kurmandzhan, with whom he would spend the rest of his life. Alymbek possessed significant power and wealth. In Alay, which served as his ancestral estate, the main property of this ruler was concentrated - livestock. In Fergana, the tribal leader established centers of agriculture.
Retaining the right to govern his tribesmen, he rose to the position of court dignitary, hakim of the Andijan vilayet (district), and head of the city of Kokand, vizier of the khanate, actively participating in court intrigues and coups, often leading uprisings of the Alay and Tian Shan Kyrgyz against the Kokand khans.
He repeatedly served as the leader of the khan's troops in their confrontations with the imperial troops in Central Asia.
He experienced both disgrace and favor, knowing the ups and downs of a court career.
Of course, such a changeable fate, full of twists and turns, compelled this feudal lord to take serious measures to ensure the safety of his real estate. And for this, there is no better form of property than waqf.
Thus, one day the Alay tribal leader decided to secure what is known as waqf avlod - hereditary waqf, the right to dispose of which he bequeathed to his descendants. He did this in the following way.
In the late 1850s, in Osh, on the banks of the Ak-Buura River, he built a madrasah, which, by the way, is one of the most beautiful structures in the city. It is said that this architectural masterpiece rivaled the decoration of the khan's madrasah! According to a former employee of the waqf department of the city, D. Zainabidinov, the madrasah was generally a five-meter square structure with a foundation area of 40 by 50 meters. The facade was adorned with two fifteen-meter minarets. Inside this courtyard were four gumbez, a mosque, and ayvans. These rooms could accommodate thousands of worshippers on festive days. Since the madrasah was located on the opposite side of the river from the city center, Alymbek built a large hanging bridge over the Ak-Buura. The chief mudarris - spiritual mentor of the madrasah - was invited to be the well-known scholar Hadzhimat-alam.
Kurmanzhan Datka