The Sayyid ‘Ala ad-Din (Alauddin) mausoleum is one of the oldest (14th c.) monuments in the open-air museum complex of Ichan-qala. It stands on the eastern side of the Muhammad Niyaz Devanbegi Madrassah, near its western gate.
Judging by local folk stories and epigraphic materials, the mausoleum was built by the most eminent representative of the Sufi Order of Khwajagqan- Naqshbandiyya – Amir Kulal (died 1371) above the grave of his teacher ‘Ala ad-Din.
... His name was Shaikh ‘Alа ad-din, He was a unique pearl in the sea of gnosis,
Several times he practiced seclusion [during pilgrimage to] Ka‘aba. But eventually he ended up in here...
The mausoleum (13.0.×10.4 m) consists of two square halls - a pilgrimage room and a tomb. In the first half of the 14th century the main portal of the burial chamber was facing south. Later (in the 17th c.) a facility for pilgrimage rituals (ziyarat-khana) was attached to it on the west. The mausoleum buildings are overcovered by domes. Inside walls are plastered with ganch (a local kind of gypsum). The sepulcher of Sayyid ‘Ala ad-Din has a shape of a rectangular parallelepiped decorated with small corner columns called «Piramani bandi rumi». The gravestone surfaces are ornamented with painted majolica tiles. On the top surface there are two prolate gabled (arch-shaped) finials (sagana).
The side walls of the tombstone are decorated with magnificent floral patterns. In 1825, the architect Hamid Khwaja, the son of Khubbiquli Khwaja, restored the collapsed portal and refurbished the interiors of the burial chamber, the gravestone and the pilgrims’ rooms. The information about these repairs is left on the walls of the pilgrims age hall.