Dr Otambek Mastibekov, Manuscript Researcher and Cataloguer in the Ismaili Special Collections Unit, set up Maktab-i Madḥiya-khānī in Tajikistan in 2011.

"Madḥiya is a poetic genre in Persian and Arabic literature. For the Ismaili Muslims of the Silk Road—in Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Western China and Northern Pakistan—madḥiya is devotional singing that embodies the art of music, religion, philosophy and ethics. Known in the region as madḥiya-khānī (singing madḥiya) or qaṣīda-khānī (singing qaṣīda), its origin goes back, according to tradition, to the 11th century poet, philosopher and traveller Nāṣir Khusraw (1004-1088 CE). (You can follow the route of his Safar-nama, or “Travelogue”, from Central Asia to the Mediterranean Coast, Egypt, Arabia and back through this interactive map.)"