Is the prophet Daniel buried in Samarkand?

Above the entrance to the Guri Amir Mausoleum in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, there is an inscription: ”Here rests the famous and merciful monarch, the greatest sultan, the mighty soldier, Mr. Timur Lenk, the conqueror of the world”. During his reign from 1370 to 1405, the Turkic-Mongols occupied a large part of our planet: Russia, Turkey, Central Asia, Egypt, the Middle East, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, as well as parts of present-day India and China.

It has been estimated that Timur Lenk’s conquests and wars would have resulted in the deaths of more than 15 million people. Many were slaughtered in an unspeakably cruel manner, and hardly anyone today would want to describe him as a merciful ruler. However, he was famous and certainly also a great soldier. During Timur Lenk’s lifetime, the city of Samarkand, now located in Uzbekistan, was built, also called the Mirror of the World, the Garden of the Blessed, or the Fourth Paradise.

However, few people know that because of Timur Lenk’s campaigns and conquests, many prophecies of judgment were proclaimed over him: God would still let His vengeance pass over his country and people. Samarkand would be reduced to ruins unless King Timur repented and turned to a merciful God.

Daniel is taken to Samarkand

According to a legend Timur Lenk thought much of how to hinder the fulfilment of the prophecy. Later on he learned, that the city could be saved from destruction, if the remains of a saint were moved to Samarkand.

When his army burned the city of Damascus on March 17, 1401, he decided to continue his journey to Baghdad to confront the forces of Sultan Achmad Dzhelairs, who also controlled many of Islam’s holy sites. Baghdad was occupied in July during the same year. Thus, King Timur was given the opportunity to take with him the remains of the body of Saint Daniel, which, according to Mohammedan tradition, were buried in Mecca.

Guides to the present burial site tell us that Timur Lenk, inclined to superstition, thus brought the bones of the prophet with him to Samarkand. So he believed that he would also prevent the Garden of the Blessed, from being destroyed. The Fourth Paradise would thus forever blossom and be a radiant mirror and a paradise for the rest of the sinful world.

Daniel’s tomb is now located on the banks of the Siab River, near the old city wall of Samarkand. For a long time it was forgotten by the general public. This was mainly because religious pilgrimage sites were only popular with so-called superstitious people during the Soviet era.

But when the former Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Alexy II, in the late 1990s visited Central Asia, he said that he wanted to visit the tomb. At that time, its chapel was restored and a road was built on the mound, where the burial place is now located. This would make it easier for the patriarch to reach the holy place. He also went there and told the media, that it was also the tomb of the biblical holy prophet Daniel. After that, many Protestants began to visit it to honor Daniel’s memory.

Resurrection of the Dead

Today, many go to Daniel’s grave to pray. They take money and sacrificial animals with them, which are received with blessings by serving Muslim priests. There are those who want intercession for their children. Some look back on their deceased relatives. Others may even throw out the idea in memory for those, who fell victims to the armies of the legendary ruler Timur Lenk.

When priests are performing sacred ceremonies and telling the stories about the final journey of Daniel’s remains to Samarkand, the question arises to our minds: How can the dead who have fallen, or victims of wars and violence be resurrected? When will the day come, when those who died in Christ will rice from their graves and move to the paradise?

Encouragingly, it is the prophet Daniel of the Old Testament, who clearly conveys the idea of the resurrection of the dead: ”But at that time your people, everyone whose name is found written in the book, will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake; some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:1-2).

Rauli Lehtonen

The article has been published in Ristin Voitto (Victory of the Cross) in Finnish on the 25th of June 2020.

Translation by AI