Excursions in Termez.

“History and philosophy have the following distinction: history tells about things that nobody knows, with words that everyone knows, while philosophy tells about things that are known to all, with words that nobody knows.”

Erica Ponsel.

Excursions to the museums of Termez.

“We left Samarkand and drove through the city of Nasaf, from where Abu Hafs Umar an-Nasa-fi is going on - the author of the book“ Al-Manzuma f-l-Masayil al-Khilah-fiyya bayna al-fuqah al-Arbai ”(“ Works on controversial questions between faqihs of four interpretations "), may Allah be pleased with them!
Then we arrived in Termez, from where Imam Abu Isa Muhammad ibn Isa ibn Surat at-Tirmizi, the author of the book “Al-Ja-mi al-Kabir fi-sununi” (“The Great Sunna Collection”), comes from. It is a large city with beautiful buildings and bazaars. It is crossed by canals, it has many gardens, grapes and quince are extremely sweet there. Lots of meat and milk.
Residents of this city wash their heads in the baths with sour milk instead of gafla. Each bath attendant has many large jugs filled with sour milk. Everyone who enters the bath, pours from them into small vessels and washes his head.
It refreshes hair and makes it smooth. Inhabitants of India use headwashing with sesame oil, which they call shiraj, after which they wash their hair with tafle. It softens the skin, makes the hair smooth and promotes their growth. Therefore, the beards of the Indians and all those living in India are long.
The old city of Termez was built on the banks of Jaihun. When Genghis destroyed it, a new city was built two miles from the river. We stopped there in the eyes of the virtuous Sheikh Azizan, one of the chief and honorable sheikhs, the wealthy owner of many lands and gardens.
He spends his money to serve the pilgrims. Before my arrival in this city, I met with the governor Ala al-Mulk Khudawand-zadeh, who wrote a letter there, indicating that I was received as befits. And every day, while we were staying in Termez, food was brought to us. I also met the cadi of this city, Kivam ad-Din.
He went to the sultan Tarmashirin to see him and ask him for permission to travel to India. Stories about my meeting with him and with his two brothers, Diya ad-Din and Burkhan ad-Din, in Multan and the journey we all went to India, as well as about his other two brothers, Imad ad-Din and Saif ad-Din, about my meeting with them at the court of the king of India, about the two sons of the same cadi Kchwam ad-Din and their arrival to the king of India after the murder of their father, about their marriage with the two daughters of vazir Khoja Jihan and everything that happened on this occasion, will be outlined below, if it is pleasing to Allah the Most High.
Then we crossed the Jaihun River to Khorasan. After our departure from Termez and the crossing, we walked for a day and a half on the sands of the deserted desert to the city of Balkh, which is completely ruined and uninhabited, But whoever sees the city will think that it is populated: its buildings remained in such good condition.
This city was huge and spacious. His mosques and madrasas are still preserved, as well as inscriptions on his buildings, decorated with azure. People believe that the azure comes from Khorasan, but in reality this stone is brought only from the Badakhshan Mountains, from where the Badakhshan rubies, called by the people al-balakhsh, come from.
This will be mentioned below, if it is the will of Allah the Most High. Damned Chingiz devastated this city and destroyed one third of its mosque in search of treasure, which, he was told, was hidden under one of its columns. It was one of the most beautiful, largest mosques in the world.
The mosque in Rabat in Morocco is like its size of its columns, but the mosque in Balkh is more beautiful in other respects.”

Authority:
"Ibn Battuta and his travels in Central Asia." Moscow, "Science", 1988.