Turkmenbashi Ruhy Mosque or Gypjak Mosque ( tk, Türkmenbaşy Ruhy Metjidi / Tүркменбaшы Рухы Mетҗиди) is a

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

Gypjak Gypjak (also known as Kipchak) is a former village that was annexed into the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat in 2013. It is now a neighborhood in Bagtyýarlyk Borough of Ashgabat. Overview The neighborhood is known as having been the home village o ...

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

and the resting place for

Saparmurat Niyazov Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov; tk, Saparmyrat Ataýewiç Nyýazow, in Cyrillic: Сапармырат Атаевич Ныязов (19 February 1940 – 21 December 2006), also known as Turkmenbashi, was a Turkmen politician who rule ...

, the leader of Turkmenistan from 1985 to 2006. The mosque is located about west of the capital,

Ashgabat Ashgabat or Asgabat ( tk, Aşgabat, ; fa, عشق‌آباد, translit='Ešqābād, formerly named Poltoratsk ( rus, Полтора́цк, p=pəltɐˈratsk) between 1919 and 1927), is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies ...

, on the M37 highway.

Overview

The mosque, constructed by the French company

Bouygues Bouygues S.A. () is a French industrial group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Bouygues is listed on the Euronext, Euronext Paris exchange and is a blue chip (stock market), blue chip in the C ...

, was built in the home town of President Saparmurat Niyazov. It opened on October 22, 2004, and was built by Niyazov with a

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...

in preparation for his death. Niyazov died two years later, and was buried in the mausoleum on December 24, 2006. The mosque has been at the center of controversy as scriptures from both the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

and the ''

Ruhnama The Ruhnama, or Rukhnama, translated in English as Book of the Soul, is a two volume work written by Saparmurat Niyazov, the President of Turkmenistan from 1990 to 2006. It was intended to serve as a tool of state propaganda, emphasizing the bas ...

'' (The Book of the Soul), Niyazov's 'pseudo-spiritual guide to life' are built into the walls. It has outraged many Muslims that the ''Ruhnama'' is placed as the Koran's equal. Indeed, despite its capacity to accommodate 10,000 congregants, the mosque is often empty as the Ruhnama inscriptions are considered blasphemous by devout mosquegoers.Türkmenbaşy Ruhy Mosque

Atlas Obscura ''Atlas Obscura'' is an American-based online magazine and travel company. It was founded in 2009 by author Joshua Foer and documentary filmmaker/author Dylan Thuras. It catalogs unusual and obscure travel destinations via user-generated content ...

(www.atlasobscura.com). Retrieved on 2019-07-05.

Notes

References

2004 establishments in Turkmenistan Gypjak Mosques in Turkmenistan Mosques completed in 2004 21st-century mosques Saparmurat Niyazov {{Turkmenistan-mosque-stub

Overview

See also

Notes

References