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The Tatars destroyed the cities of Khorasan, such as Nishapur, Balkh, Herat, and Merv, in the seventh century AH. Ibn Battuta passed the Transoxiana region to Khorasan and said that Balkh and Merv were ruins, and the importance of the city declined a lot after that massive destruction.
The historical city of Merv, in southern Turkmenistan, is one of the most important civilizational and cultural centers in Turkish Islamic history, where scholars and important personalities lived there, including the Seljuk sultans.
Despite the passage of centuries, Marw still preserves its historical buildings and shrines, as it hosts many libraries, shrines, castles and buildings.
It includes the Ark Castle, which is the oldest in the region and was built in the fifth century BC on an area of 20 hectares, as it still maintains its 25-meter-high walls despite the passage of years.
Near Ark is Gower Castle, which is 2 km long and has an area of 400 hectares surrounding Ark Castle.
In a statement to Anadolu Agency, Mardan Juma Nazarov, an expert in the region, explained that Merv is located on the historic Silk Road, which played an important role in turning it into a cultural center.
He added, “The Silk Road had a significant impact on learning about Western culture and the cultures of the neighboring peoples in Meru, and the discovery of many antiquities belonging to different religions in the excavations that were conducted at the Ghawar Castle.”
The two castles of the Big Girl and the Little Girl are also among the favorite places to visit in the city of Meru, which is famous for its castles. Experts refer to its steadfastness to this day, despite its construction of raw mud bricks, in the sixth century, as a result of the architectural and engineering mastery in its construction, according to Nazarov.
The Greater Khorasan region is a historical region that includes the northwest of present-day Afghanistan and parts of southern Turkmenistan, and the Iranian Khorasan region, including the cities of Herat, Nishapur, Tus (Mashhad), Balkh, Merv and others.
Muro in the dictionary of countries
The traveler and geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi passed through Maru and stayed there for several years. saying:
“This is the Great Marv, the most famous city of Khurasan and its Qasbah. The ruler Abu Abdullah stipulated it in the History of Nishapur, even though he wrote his book on the virtues of Nishapur, but he was not able to pay the virtue of this city, and the relation to it is Marwazi without analogy, and the dress is narrated according to analogy, and between Marv and Nishapur. Seventy farsakhs, and from it to Sarakhs thirty farsakhs, and to Balkh, one hundred and twenty-two farsakhs, twenty-two houses. As for the word “maru,” we mentioned that it is in Arabic the white stones with which they are lit, except that this is Arab and Meru is still foreign, then I have not seen any of these stones at all, and as for the Shahjan, they are Persian meaning “same as authority,” because the jinn is the soul or the soul, and the Shah is the ruler.
The Tatars destroyed the cities of Khorasan, such as Nishapur, Balkh, Herat and Merv, in the seventh century AH. Ibn Battuta passed the Transoxiana region to Khorasan. He said that Balkh and Merv were ruins, and the importance of the city declined a lot after that massive destruction.
Al-Hamawi wrote on the authority of Marw, “Sultan Sanjar bin Malik Shah Al-Seljuqi, with the capacity of his kingdom, chose it over the rest of his country, and he still resided there until he died and his tomb with it in a great dome with windows to the mosque and its blue dome that appears from a day’s walk. I was informed that some of his servants built it for him after His death and standing on it as a waqf for those who read the Qur’an and cover the place, and I left it in the year 616 as best as it could be, and in Marw two collectors of the Hanafis and Shafi’is are combined by the wall, and I stayed in it for three years, and I did not find any fault in it except what its people suffer from the urban race, for they are in great distress. From it every year, and had it not been for the ignominious arrival of the Tatars to that country and its ruin, I would not have left it until death, because of its people’s longevity, softness of side, good behavior, and the large number of books of fundamental principles perfected in them.”
He continued, “I left it and it has ten cupboards for endowment that I have not seen in this world, the like of which is in abundance and quality, of which two are in the mosque, one of them is called Al-Aziziyah, the endowment is a man called Aziz Al-Din Abu Bakr Ateeq Al-Zanjani or Ateeq bin Abi Bakr. In Marw market, then he became his drinker and was of a high standing.”
Al-Hamawi added, “And it had twelve thousand volumes or something close to it, and the other one is called Al-Kamaaliyyah. I don’t know to whom it is attributed, and in it is the treasure of the honor of the fulfilled King Abi Saad Muhammad bin Mansour in his school. Al-Hassan bin Ishaq in his school, two lockers for the Samaanites, another locker in the Al-Amidiyah School, and a locker for the glory of the King, one of the late ministers in it, the Khatunya lockers in her school, and Al-Damaria in Khankah there. And her love for every country made me forget about my family and children, and most of the benefits of this book and others that I have collected are from those treasures, and I often sang when I was in Maru by saying some of the Bedouins:
The lunar valley whose elf has been betrayed by eternity came events and sermons
Come on, I will make you cry, for we are both in the wretchedness of the Shahjan
Shrine of the Brigades
The soil of Marv houses the tombs of the two venerable companions, Al-Hakam bin Amr Al-Ghafari and Buraidah bin Al-Husayb Al-Aslami, which are considered among the most visited places by the people of Turkmenistan in our time.
The expert, Nazarov, pointed out that the people of Turkmenistan call the burial place of the Muslim Companion “the shrine of the brigades”, because he was the flag-bearer of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.
He pointed out that the Seljuk Sultan Malik Shah called the eastern entrance to the Sultan’s citadel, which he built in the 11th century, “Gate of the Brigades”, because of the respect he had for the Companions.
It also houses the tomb of the great religious scholar Yusuf Al-Hamdani. The mosque near the shrine is considered a destination for Muslims, especially during Friday prayers and the two Eids (Al-Fitr and Al-Adha), in addition to the fact that the shrine is one of the most visited places in the region, according to Nazarov.
Historically, Islam entered Merv during the reign of the Rashidun Caliph Othman bin Affan, and it remained the capital of the Khorasan Province during the era of the Umayyad Caliphate.
It gained more importance when Abu Muslim al-Khorasani announced the beginning of the Abbasid era in Merv, re-establishing it and using it as a base against the Umayyads.
After the Abbasids settled in Baghdad, Abu Muslim continued to rule Merv as a semi-independent emir until his eventual assassination.
