Simurgh on the portal of Nadir Divan-Beghi madrasah (part of Lab-i Hauz complex)

The history of this ensemble is closely connected with the name of Nadir Divan-Beghi, who was an important grandee, vizier, and also an uncle of the Emir of Bukhara Imam Quli Khan. It is said that when Nadir Divan-Beghi built the khanqah which bears his name, near the site of the building there was a large holding owned by an old Jewish widow. (There was a substantial population of Bukharan Jews.) Nadir Divan-Beghi had decided that this site would be the perfect place for a pool, but the widow turned down his offer to buy the property. Then Nadir Divan-Beghi brought her before Imam Quli Khan in the hope that the Emir would coerce her into selling. The Emir of Bukhara ordered a congress of muftis to inquire into the question. However, these specialists in Muslim law decided that there was no legal way to purchase the property, other than with the widow's consent, since Jews had rights on a par with Muslims if they paid the Jizya or poll-tax on non-Muslims.

So, Nadir Divan-Beghi had to build a small reservoir near the house of that stubborn Jew. But he dug an aryk, an irrigation ditch, to his new pool in such a way that the water ran right near her house, although it was more expensive. Soon the water began to undermine the foundations of the widow's house. When she came to Nadir Divan-Beghi for justice, he confirmed his readiness to buy her house for a fair price. But widow rejected the money, laying down her own conditions instead. She promised give up her property if the Bukharan rulers would give to her another piece of land with permission to build a synagogue. In return for the widow’s holding Nadir Divan-Beghi gave her a plot of land, belonging to him, in a residential area, which later was named the Jewish quarter (Mahalli Kuma).

Soon the first synagogue at Bukhara and a large pool were built. People started to call it Lab-i Hauz (see picture), which means in Persian "by the pool". The date of its construction is about 1620. But folk memory still retains another epithet – Hauz-i Bazūr, "pool made with force".