Abakh Khoja born Hidayat al-Lah, a.k.a Apaq Xoja, or more properly Āfāq Khwāja (? - 1693/94) was a religious and political leader with the title of Khoja

Khoja (Turkestan)

Khwāja or Khoja, , a Persian word literally meaning 'master', was used in Central Asia as a title of the descendants of the famous Central Asian Naqshbandi Sufi teacher, Ahmad Kasani . The most powerful religious figure in the late Timurid era was the Naqshbandi Shaykh Khoja Ahrar...

 in Kashgaria (in modern-day southern Xinjiang

Xinjiang

Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...

). He was also known as Khwāja Hidāyat Allāh.

Name spelling

In Chinese, Afaq Khoja's name is usually written as (Apake Huojia) or (Apak Hezhuo), occasionally just (Apa Huojia); khoja may also appear as (hezhuo).

Biography

Afaq Khoja was a great-grandson of the famous Naqshbandi

Naqshbandi

Naqshbandi is one of the major Sufi spiritual orders of Sufi Islam. It is considered to be a "Potent" order.The Naqshbandi order is over 1,300 years old, and is active today...

 Sufi teacher, Ahmad Kasani (1461–1542) (also known as Makhdūm-i`Azam, "the Great Master"), and was revered as a Sufi teacher in his own right. He was born in 1626 year in Kumul, where his father Muhammad Yusuf Khoja was preaching, his mother was Zuleiha Begum

Begum

Begum, Begam or Baigum is a Turkic title given to female family members of a Baig or 'Beg', a higher official. The term Begum is derived from the word Beg, and means a female member of the Beg's family.Also used Begzadi, for Ex...

, the daughter of a rich Bek

Bey

Bey is a title for chieftain, traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups. Accoding to some sources, the word "Bey" is of Turkish language In historical accounts, many Turkish, other Turkic and Persian leaders are titled Bey, Beg, Bek, Bay, Baig or Beigh. They are all the same word...

 from the village of Beshkerim in Kashgar vilayet, who settled in Kumul after fleeing from Kashgar

Kashgar

Kashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...

 several years before. In 1638, at the age of 12, he came with his father to Kashgar and settled there.
Among some Uyghur Muslims, he was considered a sayid, who is a relative of the prophet Muhammad

Muhammad

Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...

.

As a highly respected religious figure, he was in a clash with ruling elite of Chagatai dynasty and this conflict does have both religious and secular nature, for the religious part he was an advocator of implementing Islamic law against Mongol Yassa

Yassa

Yassa was a secret written code of law created by Genghis Khan. It was the principal law under the Mongol Empire even though no copies were made available...

 law which was legal law at that time ,for secular part he heavily criticized the luxurious lifestyle which the ruling elites enjoying.This clash was very serious due to the fact that Chagatai Khan

Chagatai Khan

Chagatai Khan was the second son of Genghis Khan and first khan and origin of the names of the Chagatai Khanate, Chagatai language and Chagatai Turks....

 (c. 1185–1241 or 1242) had been appointed by Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....

 to see if the Yassa was observed so it eventually resulted expelling of Afaq Khoja by Ismail Han,the later ruler of Chagatai Khanate

Chagatai Khanate

The Chagatai Khanate was a Turko-Mongol khanate that comprised the lands ruled by Chagatai Khan , second son of the Great Khan Genghis Khan, and his descendents and successors...

. Since Ishaki khoja

Khoja (Turkestan)

Khwāja or Khoja, , a Persian word literally meaning 'master', was used in Central Asia as a title of the descendants of the famous Central Asian Naqshbandi Sufi teacher, Ahmad Kasani . The most powerful religious figure in the late Timurid era was the Naqshbandi Shaykh Khoja Ahrar...

s is another offshoot of Naqshbandi

Naqshbandi

Naqshbandi is one of the major Sufi spiritual orders of Sufi Islam. It is considered to be a "Potent" order.The Naqshbandi order is over 1,300 years old, and is active today...

 Sufi ,Ismail Han purposefully approached to Ishaki khoja

Khoja (Turkestan)

Khwāja or Khoja, , a Persian word literally meaning 'master', was used in Central Asia as a title of the descendants of the famous Central Asian Naqshbandi Sufi teacher, Ahmad Kasani . The most powerful religious figure in the late Timurid era was the Naqshbandi Shaykh Khoja Ahrar...

s ( known also as Kara Taghliks, i.e. "Black Mountaineers") for balancing Afaq Khoja influences at aim of preventing dangerous propaganda against him by followers of Afaq Khoja . This way a clash between religious sects had successfully created at Ismail Han's benefit .However exiled Afaq Khoja had accomplished a diplomatic mission that had led collapse of Chagatay dynasty in 1678. In this diplomatic mission Tibet Muslims played a crucial role by convincing 桑结嘉错 write a letter of introduction to Dzungar. Using this recommendation letter Afaq Khoja allied with Dzungar and formed a strong coalition forces which included some Chagatay (Moghul) royal family members like Abdirishit Han,Muhammad Imin Han ,Muhammad Momin Akbash who were against Ismail Han, Moreover there were significant numbers of followers of Afaq Khoja inside the Khanate,the profile of the Afaq Khoja had raised considerably.

He made himself a powerful ruler

Ruler

A ruler, sometimes called a rule or line gauge, is an instrument used in geometry, technical drawing, printing and engineering/building to measure distances and/or to rule straight lines...

, controlling East Turkistan including Khotan

Khotan

Hotan , or Hetian , also spelled Khotan, is the seat of the Hotan Prefecture in Xinjiang, China. It was previously known in Chinese as 于窴/於窴 and to 19th-century European explorers as Ilchi....

, Yarkand, Korla

Korla

-Economy:Korla has long been the biggest centre in the region after Karashahr itself, having abundant water and extensive farmlands, as well as controlling the main routes to the south and west of Karashahr. Due to the discovery of oil in the Taklamakan Desert, Korla is now both more populous and...

, Kucha

Kucha

Kuchaor Kuche Uyghur , Chinese Simplified: 库车; Traditional: 庫車; pinyin Kùchē; also romanized as Qiuzi, Qiuci, Chiu-tzu, Kiu-che, Kuei-tzu from the traditional Chinese forms 屈支 屈茨; 龜玆; 龟兹, 丘玆, also Po ; Sanskrit: Kueina, Standard Tibetan: Kutsahiyui was an ancient Buddhist kingdom...

 and Aksu as well as Kashgar

Kashgar

Kashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...

. According to sources from Ishaki khoja

Khoja (Turkestan)

Khwāja or Khoja, , a Persian word literally meaning 'master', was used in Central Asia as a title of the descendants of the famous Central Asian Naqshbandi Sufi teacher, Ahmad Kasani . The most powerful religious figure in the late Timurid era was the Naqshbandi Shaykh Khoja Ahrar...

s Afaq Khoja paid 100,000 tangas (silver coins) to Dzungar for his military assistants and accepted the mandate of Dzungars, led by Galdan Boshughtu Khan (1670–1697)

Afak Khoja died in 1694 and was succeeded in Kashger by his son Yahya Khoja (r. 1694-1695). After Yahya Khoja death (he was killed by Apak Khoja's wife Khanam Padshah) the Yarkand Khan Muhammad Imin (Akbash Khan, r. 1695-1706) restored Chagatay dynasty of Yarkand, attempting to get rid of the Dzungar mandate, but finally he was killed by Kyrgyz leader Arzu Muhammad. Kashgaria was soon reconquered by Dzungar Khan Tsewang Rabtan

Tsewang Rabtan

Tsewang Rabtan was a Choros-Oirat prince and the Khong Tayiji of the Zunghar Khanate from 1697 until his death in 1727. He was married to Lha-bzang Khan's sister.Tsewang Rabtan married his daughter to Lha-bzang Khan's son in 1714...

.

Influence on Islam in China

Afaq Khoja's influence spread far outside of Xinjiang. From 1671-72, he was preaching in Gansu

Gansu

' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...

 (which then included parts of modern Qinghai

Qinghai

Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...

 province), where his father Muhammad Yusuf had preached before. On that tour, he visited Xining

Xining

Xining is the capital of Qinghai province, People's Republic of China, and the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau. It has 2,208,708 inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 1,198,304 live in the built up area made of 4 urban districts.-History:...

 (today's Qinghai

Qinghai

Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...

 province), Lintao, and Hezhou (now Linxia), and was said to convert some Hui

Hui people

The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...

 and many Salars there to Naqshbandi Sufism.

According to the Chinese (Hui

Hui people

The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...

) followers of the Qadiriyya

Qadiriyya

The Qadiriyya , are members of the Qadiri Sufi order...

 Sufi school, when Afāq Khoja was in Xining

Xining

Xining is the capital of Qinghai province, People's Republic of China, and the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau. It has 2,208,708 inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 1,198,304 live in the built up area made of 4 urban districts.-History:...

  in 1672, he gave his blessing to 16-year-old Qi Jingyi

Qi Jingyi

Qi Jingyi , also known as Hilal al-Din, was a Chinese Sufi master, instrumental in the spread of the Qadiriyyah school among Chinese Muslims. He was known among his followers as Qi Daozu , i.e...

 (later also known as Hilal al-Din, or Qi Daozu (1656–1719)), who was then to introduce Qadiriyya into China proper. His two other spiritual descendants, Ma Laichi

Ma Laichi

Ma Laichi , also known as Abu 'l-Futūh Ma Laichi, was a Sufi master, who brought the Khufiyya movement to China and created the Huasi menhuan - the earliest and most important Naqshbandi order in the history of Islam in China.-Afaq Khoja's blessing:Ma Laichi is a hybrid of Hui and Han Chinese...

 and Ma Mingxin

Ma Mingxin

Ma Mingxin was a Dungan Sufi master, the establisher of the Jahriyya Sufi order in China.-Names:Ma Mingxin's religious name was Ibrāhīm. After returning to China from Arabia he started calling himself 'Azīz.He was also called Muhammad Emin.-Life:A Persian-speaking Muslim from Gansu, Ma Mingxin...

, went to study in Central Asia and Arabia, and upon return to China founded two other Naqshbandi menhuans (brotherhoods) there: the Khufiyya and the Jahriyya

Jahriyya

Jahriyya is a Sufi order in China that once existed in Persia and the Turkish World. Founded by Hadrat Abu Yaqub Yusuf Hamdani, it was brought to China in the 1760s by Ma Mingxin...

, respectively.

The Afaqis

Khoja Afaq's descendants, known as the Āfāqi khoja

Khoja (Turkestan)

Khwāja or Khoja, , a Persian word literally meaning 'master', was used in Central Asia as a title of the descendants of the famous Central Asian Naqshbandi Sufi teacher, Ahmad Kasani . The most powerful religious figure in the late Timurid era was the Naqshbandi Shaykh Khoja Ahrar...

s, or the Aq Taghliqs, i.e. 'White Mountaineers', played an important part in East Turkestan

East Turkestan

East Turkestan is a controversial political term with multiple meanings depending on context and usage...

's politics for almost two centuries after Afāq's death. They first ruled Kashgaria as Dzungars' vassals, but after the death of Dzungars' Galdan Khan managed to gain independence for a while.

The next strong Dzungar ruler, Tsewang Rabtan

Tsewang Rabtan

Tsewang Rabtan was a Choros-Oirat prince and the Khong Tayiji of the Zunghar Khanate from 1697 until his death in 1727. He was married to Lha-bzang Khan's sister.Tsewang Rabtan married his daughter to Lha-bzang Khan's son in 1714...

 (1697–1727), subjugated Kashgaria again; to stay on the safe side, Dzungars this time were now to keep the Afaqi Khojas as hostages in the Ili region, and rule Kashgarian cities through Afaqis' rivals, the Ishaqi khoja

Khoja (Turkestan)

Khwāja or Khoja, , a Persian word literally meaning 'master', was used in Central Asia as a title of the descendants of the famous Central Asian Naqshbandi Sufi teacher, Ahmad Kasani . The most powerful religious figure in the late Timurid era was the Naqshbandi Shaykh Khoja Ahrar...

s -Karataghliks, i.e. 'Black Mountaineers'.

In the 1750s, two Afaqi Khoja descendants- brothers, Burhān al-Dīn and Khwāja-i Jahān, who had been held by Dzungars as hostages in Ili, aided the Manchu

Manchu

The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...

 Qing

Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....

 emperor Qianlong

Qianlong Emperor

The Qianlong Emperor was the sixth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. The fourth son of the Yongzheng Emperor, he reigned officially from 11 October 1735 to 8 February 1796...

 in annihilating the Dzungars ( from spring 1755 till summer 1757 around 300,000 Dzungars, no subject to gender and age, were massacred by the invading 300,000 (?) Qianlong Army, which executed a official order, given to General Jiao Hui in spring 1756 by the Son of Heaven

Emperor of China

The Emperor of China refers to any sovereign of Imperial China reigning between the founding of Qin Dynasty of China, united by the King of Qin in 221 BCE, and the fall of Yuan Shikai's Empire of China in 1916. When referred to as the Son of Heaven , a title that predates the Qin unification, the...

, to liquidate the whole Dzungar nation till last baby, those who survived were killed by the following epidemic of smallpox

Smallpox

Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...

, total loss of the population in Dzungaria reached 1,000 000, transforming it eventually into the Land without people; at the same time Khoja Jahan, executing Khoja Burhan ad-Din order, razed to ground in 1755 both Dzungar temple

Temple

A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...

s, Golden and Silver, in Ghulja and Kainuk cities of Ili River

Ili River

thumb|right|300px|Map of the Lake Balkhash drainage basin showing the Ili River and its tributariesThe Ili River is a river in northwestern China and southeastern Kazakhstan .It is long, of which is in Kazakhstan...

 Valley, that were built by Galdan Boshugtu Khan and represented the sacred symbols of Dzungar Power) and establishing Qing hegemony over Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin

Tarim Basin

The Tarim Basin is a large endorheic basin occupying an area of about . It is located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China's far west. Its northern boundary is the Tian Shan mountain range and its southern is the Kunlun Mountains on the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The...

 in which they waged in 1755-1756 a bloody war against their old rivals- Karataghliks, who previously took total control of Kashgaria since 1752, having terminated annual tribute payments to Dzungars. However, as the two eventually victorious khojas began to seek more independence for themselves, they soon ( in autumn 1757 ) came into conflict with the Qing power. Having lost Yarkand and Kashgar to the Qing armies in 1759, they fled to Badakhshan

Badakhshan

Badakhshan is an historic region comprising parts of what is now northeastern Afghanistan and southeastern Tajikistan. The name is retained in Badakhshan Province which is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, in the far northeast of Afghanistan, and contains the Wakhan Corridor...

, where they were promptly killed by the local ruler, Sultān Shāh, who sent their heads to the Qing.

According to a legend, Iparhan

Fragrant Concubine

The Fragrant Concubine is a figure in Chinese legend who was taken as a consort by the Qianlong Emperor during the 18th century. Although the stories about her are believed to be mythical, they may have been based on an actual concubine from western China who entered the harem of the emperor in...

, granddaughter of Apak Khoja was given to emperor Qianlong as concubine. Under Qing auspice, Khojijan rulers of city states often fell out of favor of the hegemonic power and had to flee to Uzbek

Uzbeks

The Uzbeks are a Turkic ethnic group in Central Asia. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, and large populations can also be found in Afghanistan, Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Pakistan, Mongolia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China...

 protection in the Khanate of Kokand

Khanate of Kokand

The Khanate of Kokand was a state in Central Asia that existed from 1709–1883 within the territory of modern eastern Uzbekistan, southern Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan...

.

By 19th century, prominent Afaqi Khojas (Khojijans) in exile in Kokand sought to influence their former domains through preaching or allying with new imperialist powers of Russia and Great Britain

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

. It was during the 1800s that two major attempts were launched from Kokand to claim the "Six City State of Tarim Basin" ( Altishahr ) from Qing domination. These were the British-supported Jihangir

Jihangir

Jahanghir Khoja, Jāhangīr Khwāja, or Jihangir Khoja was a member of the influential East Turkestan Āfāqī khoja clan, who managed to wrest Kashgaria from the Qing Empire's power for a few years in the 1820s.-Career:...

 Rebellion

Rebellion

Rebellion, uprising or insurrection, is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors aimed at destroying or replacing an established authority such as a government or a head of state...

 (1826–1828) and the usurpation of Kashgaria by Kokand retainer Yaqub Beg (1864–1877) who recognized Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 suzerainty.

Well into 20th century, there were still local princely families of Khojijan descent. The Chinese warlord and Military Governor (Duban) of Sinkiang

Xinjiang

Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...

 general Sheng Shicai

Sheng Shicai

Sheng Shicai was a Chinese warlord who "ruled" Xinjiang province from April 12, 1933 to August 29, 1944....

 (April 12, 1933- August 29, 1944) restored the status of several of these local rulers to facilitate his rule.

Afāq Khoja Mausoleum

Afāq Khoja's mausoleum is considered the holiest Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 site in Xinjiang

Xinjiang

Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...

. It is located at 39°29′26"N 76°1′23"E in Haohan Village , a northeastern suburb some 5 km from the city centre of Kashgar

Kashgar

Kashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...

. First built ca. 1640, initially as Muhammad Yusuf tomb, the beautiful tiled mausoleum contains the tombs of five generation

Generation

Generation , also known as procreation in biological sciences, is the act of producing offspring....

s of the Afāqi family, providing resting places for its 72 members, both men and women.

Literature

• Kim Hodong, "Holy War in China: The Muslim Rebellion and State in Chinese Central Asia, 1864-1877". Stanford University Press (March 2004). ISBN 0-8047-4884-5. (Searchable text available on Amazon.com)
• Gladney, Dru (1999). "The Salafiyya Movement in Northwest China: Islamic Fundamentalism among the Muslim Chinese?" Originally published in "Muslim Diversity: Local Islam in Global Contexts". Leif Manger, Ed. Surrey: Curzon Press. Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, No 26. Pp. 102–149.