Langar Village

Langar is a popular name for a village in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Iran and other countries. And among all of them, the small village of Langar in the vicinity of Shakhrisabz stands out, which is famous for the mausoleum of Muhammad Sodiq, one of the great Sufis.

The history of the name Langar for the settlement is very interesting - it comes from an Iranian word, which in turn was borrowed from Greek, and means "anchor". The transformation took place as follows: anchor-angor-langor-langar. By the way, the Turkish city of Ankara also translates as "anchor". And the meaning of this name lies in the fact that it was the name of the places of permanent stops of caravans on the Great Silk Road, places where they stopped, where they "anchored", and therefore settlements with this name are so common in Central Asia.

However, the name of this particular Langar appeared in a slightly different context, and this is due to one legend. Once upon a time, in the 15th century, there lived Sheikh Muhammad Sodiq, who was a disciple of the famous Sufi Ishkiya Baba, the founder of the Ishkiya Sufi order. One winter morning, Muhammad Sodiq overslept and did not have time to heat the water for his teacher's ablution, but in order to somehow warm her and make amends, he pressed the jug to his chest. When he handed the jug to Ishkiya Baba, it turned out that the water was boiling. Then the teacher told the student that he had comprehended all the stages of enlightenment, and the two of them had nothing to do in one place, and then ordered them to get on a camel and ride until the camel could stand up, and there the young Sufi would have to "anchor." So Muhammad Sodiq left his mentor and reached places in the vicinity of Shakhrisazb, and where the camel could no longer walk, the village of Langar appeared.

Today, to get to this picturesque and distinctive place, you need to drive about 60 km from Shakhrisabz, first along the highway, and then turn east into the foothills of the Gissar range. Langar appears unexpectedly – first you drive over a deep canyon, drive around small hills, and suddenly a small village with adobe houses appears around the corner, under a serpentine, and a mausoleum stands on a separate hill. This is the mausoleum of Muhammad Sodiq, and it is more than 500 years old. There is also an ancient mosque in the village that is more than 400 years old. At the same time, the whole Langar looks as if time stopped here even during the construction of the mosque and mausoleum.