SAMANGAN (SW) – The grand mosque and Khanqah of Hazrat Khalifa Dar al-Aman, which is more than 150 years old, is located in “Deh Asal” village of Khorram Wa Sarbagh district of Samangan, is considered one of the cultural heritage of the country.
It was built by the order of Salahuddin Khan, the grandson of Hazrat Khalifa Dar al-Aman, and its construction and decoration was done by the famous architects of Bukhara.
82-year-old Gholam Ghous says about the historical antiquity of this building: “We came to our country before the revolution. At that time, this monastery was for zikr and madrasah, which was promoted by the elders and they were connected with the whole place. It has been almost one hundred and fifty years since the monastery was completed. This place, which later became part of the Ministry of Information and Culture’s historical monuments, was later restored.”
Seyyed Zakir Sadat, a resident of “Deh Asal” village, says that this monastery is one of the historical monuments of Samangan. He adds: “The foundation stone of Hazrat Sahib Dar al-Aman monastery was laid 153 years ago by Seyed Salahuddin Khan, grandson of Hazrat Sahib Dar al-Aman. At the same time that this work started, it was carried out by Master Reza or Khalifa Reza who worked in Bukhara, and it is one of the historical works of our Samangan.”
This mosque, which is a place of worship for 364 families, is made of mud and therefore is very vulnerable to natural events. The worshipers of this mosque want the caretaker government to pay attention to the preservation and care of this building and to restore its damaged places.
Sayed Zaker Sadat states: “Before it was restored, it had many damages. Alhamdulillah, it was restored with the attention of the officials of the Ministry of Information and Culture, but this year, due to the earthquake or something else, one of its columns has a leak and the wood between its roof, and people are worried. It is necessary that it is covered with iron on the top because this is the only historical, ancient and Islamic work at the level of Samangan.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Amin Azizi, director of cultural heritage preservation of Samangan information and culture department, says that they are trying to restore this monastery and other cultural monuments of this province.
Mr. Azizi added: “The holy places of Khorram and Sarbagh are one of the most famous holy places or monasteries that are old and are registered and managed to preserve cultural heritage. It had already been substantially restored, but the problem that has arisen at the moment is not directly associated with the Directorate of Information and Culture. But we have a plan, we have issued written letters about the issue and other problems. The Ministry of Information and Culture is only concerned to the promise of the deposits and the order of Amir al-Mu’minin to refer the historical and ancient areas to the ministry in a basic form of maintenance and restoration works they have. Since we reflected the problems to them, God willing a budget will be determined and the technical and professional delegation that works in the historical records department come and ask them to conduct a survey and examine the problems exactly. Then work will be done on the issue.”
This place also known as “Khoram Khanqah” is built in an old architectural style. It is 17 meters long and 9 meters wide, and according to local residents, about 300 worshipers can pray in it at the same time.
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