The Mushaf of Uthman: Inside Tashkent's New Center of Islamic Civilization

Some objects you look at. Others look back. In a hushed marble hall in Tashkent, beneath a dome that borrows its geometry from Timurid Samarkand, lie the deerskin pages of a Qur'an written in the seventh century — letters the width of a thumb, ink that has outlived caliphates, empires and revolutions. Nobody tells you to lower your voice. The room does it for you.

This is the Mushaf of Uthman, and since March 2026 it has had a home worthy of it.

The Center of Islamic Civilization: Tashkent's new landmark for Islamic heritage tours

The Center of Islamic Civilization opened on 17 March 2026 in Tashkent's historic Hazrati Imam quarter, the old spiritual heart of the city in the Almazar district. It spreads across more than ten hectares and holds a museum, a research library, archives, restoration laboratories and halls built for international scholarship — Timurid proportions rendered in contemporary engineering, digital interpretation and light.

At its centre, beneath the great dome, rests the Mushaf of Uthman, one of the oldest surviving Qur'anic manuscripts in the world and an entry on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register. Around it, a gallery of 114 Qur'ans traces the evolution of Islamic calligraphy century by century, from angular early Kufic to the flowing hands of the Silk Road ateliers. It is not a display case so much as an invitation to sit still.

Ziyarat in Uzbekistan: the road of the great imams

Tashkent is where the journey begins, not where it ends. Uzbekistan is the land that produced the scholars whose names are recited from Jakarta to Jeddah, and their resting places are a day's drive apart.

Outside Samarkand stands the complex of Imam al-Bukhari, compiler of the Sahih, set in gardens where the only sound is water and recitation. Near Bukhara lies Bahauddin Naqshband, whose Sufi order carried the name of this city across the Muslim world, and the desert necropolis of Chor-Bakr. Far south in Termez, on the bank of the Amu Darya, is the shrine of Al-Hakim at-Termizi. In Samarkand itself rests Imam al-Moturidi. Between them run bazaars, caravanserais and blue-tiled madrasas that were the Harvard and Oxford of the eleventh century.

A well-planned ziyarat route through Uzbekistan takes seven to ten days. It is unhurried by design: prayer times shape the itinerary, not the other way round.

Visa-free travel and one direct flight from the Gulf

Getting here has never been simpler for Gulf travellers. Citizens of the GCC — including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait — travel to Uzbekistan visa-free, with stays of up to 30 days for UAE and Saudi passport holders. Since 9 August 2026, Etihad Airways has flown daily between Abu Dhabi and Tashkent, with a codeshare that puts eight Uzbek cities, Samarkand and Bukhara among them, on a single ticket. From Dubai, direct services reach Tashkent in around three and a half hours.

Halal food is not a special request in Uzbekistan; it is simply lunch. Mosques are everywhere, families travel together as a matter of course, and the hospitality codes will feel familiar from the first cup of tea.

Why autumn is the season to come

While the Gulf is still holding its summer heat, Uzbekistan turns golden. September days sit around 22–28°C and October settles into crisp mornings and 18–22°C afternoons — the weather for climbing a Khiva minaret at noon or crossing the Registan without hurrying. The bazaars are at their peak: melons stacked like cannonballs, pomegranates splitting open, grapes, figs and the year's first walnuts. This is the season Uzbeks call Oltin Kuz, the golden autumn.

Plan it with a licensed Uzbek operator

GoUzbekistan is the brand of Lochin Express Plyus LLC, a company operating in Uzbek tourism since 2007 and holding tour-operator licence No. 662280, issued on 13 March 2025 by the Committee for Tourism Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan. We are based in Bukhara, on Islam Karimov Street 21 — not in a foreign call centre — and we build private, guided journeys with Arabic-speaking guides on request.

Tell us your dates, your prayer needs, your pace and your family size, and we will build the route around them. Create your own custom tour or explore our tours — and let this autumn be the one you finally stand beneath that dome.

Plan your Uzbekistan trip — in your language

العربية

السياحة في أوزبكستان تبدأ من طشقند: مركز الحضارة الإسلامية الجديد يضم مصحف عثمان من القرن السابع الميلادي. ثم تنطلق رحلة الزيارة إلى الإمام البخاري في سمرقند وبهاء الدين نقشبند في بخارى على طريق الحرير. دخول بدون تأشيرة لمواطني دول الخليج وطقس خريفي مثالي. صمّم رحلتك الخاصة الآن.

Deutsch

Ihre Usbekistan Reise beginnt in Taschkent, wo das neue Zentrum der Islamischen Zivilisation den Koran des Uthman aus dem 7. Jahrhundert bewahrt. Von dort führt die Seidenstraße Rundreise weiter nach Samarkand, Buchara und Chiwa — im goldenen Herbst bei angenehmen 18 bis 28 Grad. Entdecken Sie unsere Rundreisen.

Español

Los viajes a Uzbekistán comienzan en Taskent, donde el nuevo Centro de la Civilización Islámica custodia el Corán de Utmán, del siglo VII. Después, la Ruta de la Seda continúa hacia Samarcanda, Bujará y Jiva, con un otoño dorado de bazares repletos de melones y granadas. Diseñe su viaje a medida.

Français

Votre voyage en Ouzbékistan commence à Tachkent, où le nouveau Centre de la civilisation islamique abrite le Coran d'Othman, datant du VIIe siècle. La Route de la Soie vous conduit ensuite à Samarcande, Boukhara et Khiva, sous la lumière dorée de l'automne. Découvrez nos circuits.

中文

乌兹别克斯坦旅游从塔什干开始：全新的伊斯兰文明中心珍藏着七世纪的奥斯曼古兰经。随后沿丝绸之路前往撒马尔罕、布哈拉与希瓦，金色的秋季气候宜人，集市上瓜果飘香。立即定制您的专属行程。

Русский

Туры в Узбекистан начинаются в Ташкенте: новый Центр исламской цивилизации хранит Коран Усмана VII века. Дальше — Шёлковый путь: Самарканд, Бухара и Хива, золотая осень, базары с дынями и гранатами. Смотреть наши туры.