At some point during the 17th century CE it was converted in to a madrasah for students. Today the Muyi Muborak Madrasah (also spelled Muyi Muborak, Moʻyi Muborak, Moyie Mubarak) serves as a library. It contains more than 20 thousand manuscripts, lithographs of spiritual content, translations of the Holy Koran in more than 30 languages and thousands of books and manuscripts.

Muyi Muborak was first constructed in the 16th century CE. Its sanctity rests on two elements of exceptional religious significance: a relic believed to be a strand of the Prophet Muhammad’s hair and one of the oldest surviving Qurʾānic manuscripts. Relics connected to the Prophet are exceedingly rare in the Muslim world, and their presence here has long inspired pilgrimage-like devotion, drawing visitors from across Central Asia and beyond.

There is evidence that in 1856-1857 CE by decree of the Kokand Khan Mirza Ahmed Kushbegi, the madrasah building was rebuilt again. It is an Islamic religious-institution building within the Khast Imam (Hazrati Imam) complex in old Tashkent. In its current form the building functions as a library-museum. Its name means literally “Sacred Hair” (from Arabic / Persian roots), reflecting its status as the place where a relic attributed to the Prophet Muhammad (a hair strand) is preserved.

circa 1550 CE

Muyi Muborak Madrasah exhibits architectural features characteristic of Islamic Central Asian institutions, though it is relatively modest in scale. The structure is almost square in its plan. It is built primarily of baked brick. The entrance to the library-museum is from the identical eastern and western facades. The building has two main facades (on the eastern and western sides), each with three arches; in each, the central arch serves as the entrance, flanked by decorative arches. On the western side there are two large windows enlarging the facade beyond the symmetrical arch scheme. Both, eastern and western, facades have three arches, with the central arch being the entrance flanked with two decorative arches. The only difference between the eastern and western facades is the two large windows on the western side.

Also known as the Khast Imam library-museum it is topped with a single ribbed-dome, adorned with blue tiles. The dome, façade design, arches, and decorative elements reflect the regional Islamic architectural tradition as seen elsewhere in Tashkent and Central Asia: use of baked bricks, glazed tilework (especially blue and turquoise), symmetrical arch motifs, and restrained ornamentation tied to religious function.

Within, there are rooms originally used as hujras for pilgrims, now adapted for library and exhibit purposes. The environmental controls necessary to preserve manuscripts are in place. The site is part of the Hazrati Imam (Khast Imam) complex, which includes multiple mosques, mausoleums, other madrasahs. Its setting in the old city is among other religious and historic buildings, giving it both spiritual and urban-heritage value.

circa 530 CE

Tashkent Quran
Also known as the Samarkand Kufic Quran, Uthmani Quran, Samarkand codex, and Samarkand manuscript is an 8th or 9th century manuscript Quran written in the territory of modern Iraq in the Kufic script. This copy of the Quran is traditionally considered to be one of a group commissioned by the third caliph Uthman; however, the modern scholarship has put this attribution in question. The Tashkent Manuscript is one of the oldest Qurans known to exist.