Karmana

Karmana's sixteenth-century history was closely associated with Qasim Sheikh, a religious teacher whose influence reached into the struggles of the Uzbek ruling houses. During the fighting of 1551, the young Abdullah Khan sought his counsel as rival forces threatened the Karmana stronghold. The sheikh's position connected religious authority with the negotiations and armed competition through which rulers sought control of Transoxiana.

In 1558, Abdullah sponsored a khanaqah for Qasim Sheikh in Karmana. This building provided a setting for religious instruction and communal practice, giving durable architectural form to the relationship between the ruler and his spiritual adviser. Qasim Sheikh died in 1578 and was buried beside the khanaqah. His tomb and the religious building became the centre of a lasting commemorative complex. Karmana's place in this history rests on more than its position between great Central Asian cities: it was also a setting where local religious leadership and the ambitions of an emerging ruler became closely entwined.