'Shrine of the Arab Father') is a cubical, domed brick mausoleum built in 977-78 in the village of Tim, Samarqand Region, Uzbekistan.
Built during the Samanid Empire, the Arab-Ata Mausoleum was among the earliest buildings to include three notable features of Islamic architecture: the muqarnas, mihrab, and pishtaq.
[1] Around the pishtaq ran an inscription in relief of sura 2, 281, a verse out of the Quran, marking it as one of the earliest surviving examples of Arabic calligraphy appearing on an Islamic building in Central Asia.
[7] The doorway recesses into the mausoleum and is topped by a pointed arch on two engaged columns, decorated with an interlacing star pattern done in stucco.
[1] Like the Samanid Mausoleum in Bukhara, the Arab-Ata showcases a tripartite transition between a square base and circular dome via the construction of two spherical triangles.