Museum of Islamic Culture

The Museum of Islamic Culture is located on the ground floor of the Kul Sharif mosque. The idea of creating a museum arose simultaneously with the idea of building the Kul Sharif mosque as a single cultural and educational complex "in order to preserve the historical continuity of the Tatar people." The museum opened on February 21, 2006.

The main purpose of the museum is the implementation of scientific, educational, research and educational activities, identification and acquisition of museum items and museum collections on the history and culture of Islam and Muslim civilization in the Middle Volga region, their study and public presentation.

The first room presents topics about the history of religion, prophets, the primary sources and foundations of Islam, the role of Islam in regulating various spheres of society, the moral principles of Islam. In the exposition, a complex of objects for performing prayer-namaz is interesting - a prayer mat, a compass for finding a direction to Mecca, rosaries, a model of the Kaaba, numerous copies of the handwritten and typographical Koran that saw the light at different times and in different places of the planet.

In the second hall, in chronological order, the history of Islam in the Middle Volga region is told. The exposition includes silver coins with Arabic script from different countries and periods, a drawing-reconstruction of the Cathedral Mosque in Bulgary, a copy of the prose composition of the Golden Horde writer Mahmoud Bulgari “Nahj al Faradis”. Of particular value is the book of S. Marjani in Arabic - the introduction to the book "Obvious truth about the virtues of faith" in 1889 edition with the personal seal of the author. Of considerable interest are photographs and books of scholars-theologians, enlighteners - G. Barudi, R. Fakhrutdinov, A. Maksudi, Z. Kamali, G. Bubi, M. Bigiev; textbooks and schedules of lessons of madrasah. The exposition also presents materials about Muslim Tatar women of the late XIX - early XX centuries, about their struggle for secular education, for freedom and equality - photos, textbooks, documents, pre-revolutionary issue of the women's magazine "Syuyumbike".