The second province wilāyat ū ḥukūmat of the provinces of Bukhara is the district qaẓā of Qarakol. Its distance from Bukhara the Noble is seven farsakhs A "farsakh" is an old Persian unit of measurement, around 4 miles. .
This province is vast and populous. The denizens of this province are all well-off, and all of them have livestock have herds . In the past, this province was even vaster; [but then] in the span of a century, sand enveloped a quarter of the province from the west, north, and south. Nevertheless, [Qarakol is among] the most propserous of the provinces. Due to a lack of learning ʿadam-i ʿilm , the population does not engage in trade. However, in this province there are many individuals who own more than one or two million Tanga a currency , and many of them are even wealthier than the Bukharan merchants. Qarakol [sheep] skins are well known for their high value, and are even more prized in Europe Ūrūpā ū Farangistān than in Bukhara, and are obtainable in greater numbers and earlier [in the season] than in other provinces.
In this province there is: one brick and mortar sangīn madrasa and one qārī-khāna Qur'an recitation center ; adjacent to the fortress Qurghan are seven sufi lodges khānaqāh (both wooden and stone) and eighteen mosques. [The province] comprises 809 villages, which contain 150,000 residents.
Water in this province is inadequate, but despite that, agriculture is good. In a bad [drought] year, the land is irrigated, which leads to a strong harvest.
To the west of this province is a salt mine maʿdan-i namak , located four farsakhs from the center az markaz-i qażā-yi ān . Every year around ten thousand individuals beset by illnesses of the nerves amrāż-i ʿaṣabānī , such as back pain ʿirq al-nisā , come to this salt mine for treatment. Even foreigners consider the mineral water from this mine to be superior to others.
To the east of this province, in the territory of Paykand Paykand was indeed a major silk road town destroyed during the Arab conquests. , there is a ruin in the sand. This is in fact the original, ancient city of Bukhara, and Ubaydallah ibn Ziyad The text actually identifies this Arab general as ʿAbdallāh ibn Ziyād, but the author surely intended ʿUbaydallāh ibn Ziyād (d. 686), who led the first Arab invasion of Bukhara. fought there. Now all of the walls and fortresses suwar ū qalʿa ū arg and some of the buildings still remain, but - in the words of the holy Qur'an - "and it was an empty and ruined town" The longer passge is: "Or such as he who passed by a city that was fallen down upon its turrets; he said, 'How shall God give life to this now it is dead?'" (Q 2:259) . The people of Paykand excavate this area to find silver and gold coins, and other old artifacts, and in this manner make their living. The reason for the ruination of this province is twofold: first, the Arab armies devastated it during the conquest [of the 7th and 8th centuries]; second, sand has enveloped it. For these two reasons, the province has fallen into ruin.
The third province is the district qażā of Kharqānrūd. This province of Ghijduvan is an ancient city and great land.
This province is long; it spans from the plain qir (Turkic origin) of Bābā Dūghī to the hill tall of Ghandak. East-West it is nine farsakhs of pasture and farmland.
Inside the fortress Qurghan there are a number of ancient structures, including a stone bathhouse, as well as a stone sufi lodge khānaqāh at the head of the shrine mazār of Shaykh Tāj al-Dīn. Inside the city there are seven other mosques. Also inside that city are one thousand households. The cities of Pirmast and Sultanabad run right up against the fortress, along which flows a ditch [of water]. At the head of the Abd al-Khaliq shrine Shaykh Abd al-Khaliq Ghijduwani's shrine is the first stop of the "seven saints" pilgrimage circuit. at the outskirts of the city there is a stone madrasa built by Ulugh Beg This madrasa built by the famous Timurid prince still stands. .
Most of the people are Kazakhs of Nur-Ata who come to this province to work; they do not go to Bukhara itself.
The people of this province are constantly injured by fireworks bi-ātash-bāzī ū mūshak-andāzī during the holidays . Every year several individuals are killed or injured. Nevertheless, they persist in this activity; despite their learnedness [in this city], they devote great foolishness to this pursuit.
Across five hundred and sixty villages there are 715 mosques and twenty-six congregational mosques.
In the village of Bāy-Khātūn, at the fut of a great mulberry tree on the road to Bukhara, there is a footprint shrine qadam-gāh of Bahā’ al-Dīn [Naqshband] from when he was on pilgrimage ziyārat to the shrine of ʿAbd al-Khāliq. Halting a fourth of a Farsakh from the village of Unf al-Bayān, on the way back from the pilgrimage, every person travelling from Bukhara to Ghijduvan can see the sacred footprints at the aforementioned mulberry tree.
The third province of Bukhara is the province of Kamat, i.e. Wabkand. The province tūmān of Kamat is better known as Wabkand
The bazar [Wabkand] is rich and prosperous, and the weather of the province is good.
In terms of remnants of ancient ruins, there is a stone minaret built by Arp Aslan Khan A famous Seljuk sultan (r. 1063-1072) , who built it in the year 455 hijri [1063-1064 CE]. The mosque of that [minaret] was destroyed by an earthquake ḥarakat-i arż . Now there is a five-prayer mosque located nearby the [old] minaret, as well as a stone madrasa, and a partial sufi lodge with numerous dorms ḥujrāt next to the shrine of Mir Khurd.
In terms of other ancient remnants, the ruins of Shar Narchaq are also located in this province, a half-farsakh from the district center.
Most of the denizens of this region are merchants or otherwise well off.
The agriculture of this province is also good.
In this province there are three thousand households of descendants of the original Muslim conquerors mujāhidīn-i Islām , from the Arab Najib tribe. [In all], this province has five hundred and nine villages.
This province has four hundred and sixty mosques and twelve sufi lodges khānaqāh-i ʿaydayn wa jumaʿa khwānī .
The total number of residents of this province is fifty thousand households. Of the Turkic tribes, the Manghits, the Saray, and the Nayman are many in this province. And there are also Tajiks.
According to local lore, Abu Ali Ibn Sina was from the village of Narchaq. Others say he was from [a different village] . However, according to the book Rawżat al-Ṣafāʾ [Ibn Sina] was from a village to the south of Bukhara.