Khoja Akhrar — Conversant with Prophets

Half a century after the passing of the renowned Tashkent saint Khavendi at-Takhur, the ancestral estate of the Bogustan ishans in the Charvak valley gifted Central Asia a new Muslim ascetic who would become one of the most influential figures of his time. In 1404, in the village of Bogustan, a descendant of Sheikh Umar Vali welcomed into the world the great-grandson of Sheikh at-Takhur, Nasir al-Din Ubaydullah ibn Mahmud. He was given the name Ubaydullah, meaning “servant of Allah,” because he was born on the Night of Decree, the 27th night of the holy month of Ramadan. According to Islam, it was on this night that Allah revealed the first surah of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad through the archangel Jibril.

According to tradition, as befitted a future saint, Nasir al-Din Ubaydullah exhibited extraordinary qualities from the very first moments of his life. For forty days, he did not drink his mother’s milk, thereby observing his first fast. When his parents gathered the villagers for the celebration of “the cutting of the first hair,” the feast had to be canceled upon receiving the news of Timur’s (Tamerlane’s) death.

In his childhood and youth, Ubaydullah shunned the ordinary amusements of his peers, preferring solitude at the graves of his holy ancestors and the study of Sufi wisdom. He often became so engrossed in dhikr khafi — the mental repetition of the names of the Almighty — that even in the midst of a bustling market, he was oblivious to everything around him. The ascetic calling of the young man was evident, so at the age of 22, his parents sent him to study at the best madrasahs in Samarkand, where, at the mausoleum of the saint Qusam ibn Abbas, known as Shah-i Zinda (the Living King), he was visited during his spiritual raptures by the Prophet Muhammad and Isa Paygambar (Jesus Christ).

Following the call of a dervish, Nasir al-Din Ubaydullah journeyed from Samarkand to Bukhara to connect with the spiritual legacy of Sheikh Baha al-Din Naqshbandi — the founder of the Naqshbandi mystical brotherhood. In 1430, hearing of the outstanding follower of Naqshbandi, the ishan Yakub ibn Usman al-Charkhi, Ubaydullah set off on foot to seek him out in the inaccessible Gissar Mountains. When he finally reached the mountain village of Khalkatu, where al-Charkhi’s abode was located, he was so exhausted that he fell into unconsciousness and lay feverish for twenty days. The locals even thought that the young dervish would die.

However, he recovered and began to study under al-Charkhi. The latter soon recognized the calling of the young Sufi and acknowledged his spiritual achievements. As a result, Ubaydullah received from his teacher the irshad — a certificate granting him the right to be a Sufi mentor. Among other things, this also meant that through Yakub al-Charkhi, he had received the silsila — the chain of spiritual grace from Sufi teachers. The young sheikh then moved to Herat, where he remained a disciple of the famous Sufi teacher Said-i Tabrizi for another five years.

Along with the irshad, al-Charkhi passed on to Nasir al-Din Ubaydullah the testament of Baha al-Din Naqshbandi, stating that “the heart must always be with God, and the hands in work.” This injunction, proclaimed by the Naqshbandi order, emphasized humility and diligence, which in those times meant that its followers renounced asceticism and living on alms in favor of actively participating in societal life. The extreme forms of mystical asceticism, practiced mainly by followers of the Yasavi Sufi order, had once organically blended with the nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle of Turkic tribes. However, during the reign of Tamerlane and his immediate descendants, the ideas of strong statehood took root in Central Asia. The Naqshbandi order was initially more widespread among settled farmers and urban craftsmen. It continued to adapt its doctrine to their way of life. Gradually, this order even began to challenge the authority of secular rulers — primarily spiritually, but not exclusively.

In 1432, Sheikh Nasir al-Din Ubaydullah returned to Tashkent, where he diligently and consistently implemented the principle of active participation in societal life. Soon, he was nicknamed Khoja Akhrar — meaning “devoted to God.” Later, the epithet wali — “holy seer” — was added to his name. Khoja Akhrar taught his followers that the task of a spiritual seeker was not only personal salvation but also the salvation of humanity. This task could not be accomplished by renouncing worldly concerns such as daily crafts or farming, participation in community life, and even politics.

Initially, the young sheikh led a life in Tashkent reminiscent of his great-grandfather Khavendi at-Takhur — praying often, speaking little, avoiding bad company and places of amusement, wearing simple clothing, and caring for the sick, widows, and orphans. Later, Khoja Akhrar became interested in agriculture, renting a one-acre plot near Parkent, borrowing a pair of oxen from relatives in Bogustan, and beginning to cultivate the land. According to him, he did all this in accordance with the guidance he received during mystical visions after dhikr. From the very beginning, he remarkably managed to choose the right crops for each specific soil. Consequently, he harvested extraordinary yields. This proved invaluable in 1430 when a drought caused a famine in the region, and Khoja Akhrar opened his granaries to the people. This act brought him fame and won the hearts of many of his compatriots.

Before long, the number of Khoja Akhrar’s followers reached into the thousands. Among the students arriving from afar were quite noble and wealthy individuals. By tradition, they made gifts and offerings to their mentor, most of which the sheikh, also in accordance with tradition, spent on charity — thereby further enhancing his fame and authority. A significant portion of the offerings went to the Naqshbandi order, within which Khoja Akhrar was referred to as the qutb — the pillar or “pole” of faith. According to contemporaries, during the saint’s lifetime, he personally owned thousands of hectares of land near Tashkent and Samarkand, countless flocks of sheep, herds of horses, and camels. Yet, Khoja Akhrar strived to live and appear very modestly, blending into the crowd and spending large sums on the construction of madrasahs and mosques.

The famous poet and writer of that era, Alisher Navoi, wrote about Khoja Akhrar in his book “Nasaim al-Muhabbat min Shama’il al-Futuvat” (“Winds of Love”): “Many Muslim rulers of Khorasan, Azerbaijan, and other lands, from Rum and Egypt to China and India, considered themselves companions and subjects of Khoja.” Another contemporary, the Persian poet Nuriddin Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad Jami, remarked about Khoja Akhrar: “Khoja is a Khoja — a man who understands the essence of things. Before his holiness, appearance, and strength of spirit, people fell prostrate.“

Soviet historians, imbued with the spirit of “scientific atheism,” attributed Khoja Akhrar’s involvement in a conspiracy that resulted in the murder of Timur’s grandson, the enlightened ruler of Samarkand, philosopher, and astronomer Muhammad Taragay ibn Shahrukh Ulugh Beg. However, there is no documentary evidence to support this version.

Sultan Mirza Ulugh Beg was indeed killed in October 1449 by order of his son Abd al-Latif. Shortly after his death, a bloody civil war erupted in the Timurid states. Abd al-Latif reigned for only six months; in May 1450, he was killed by a warrior of Ulugh Beg, Bobo Hussein, in the suburbs of Samarkand. The new usurper, Abdullah ibn Ibrahim, held the throne for a year before being overthrown and killed by Timur’s great-grandson, Sultan Abu Said. The latter called upon the khan of the nomadic Uzbeks, Abu al-Khayr, for assistance, and before the decisive battle for Samarkand in 1451, he personally sought spiritual blessings from Khoja Akhrar.

After Abu Said’s victory, Khoja Akhrar was invited to the court of the new sultan and became his closest advisor, as well as the spiritual mentor of his sons. Some historians believe that from this point on, power effectively shifted to Khoja Akhrar. Following this, the cultural renaissance of the Ulugh Beg era in Central Asia was replaced by a religious counter-renaissance. All phenomena deemed inconsistent with Sharia were harshly eradicated from public life. The role of the Muslim clergy in state governance significantly increased. At the same time, in 1460, Khoja Akhrar succeeded in persuading Sultan Abu Said to abolish the oppressive tax known as tamga. This tax had been levied on the local population since the time of Mongol domination but was entirely inconsistent with the norms of Islam and Sharia. Moreover, Khoja Akhrar managed to significantly soften the Chagatai system of punishments adopted in the Timurid Empire. Both changes had a positive impact on the development of crafts and agriculture throughout the region.

Before departing for Samarkand, Sheikh Ubaydullah personally financed the construction of a Friday congregational mosque for the residents of Tashkent. It was built near the oldest market, Chorsu — in the very place where nine centuries earlier, the city’s founder, Yahya ibn Asad Samanid, ordered the first mosque to be laid. Nasir al-Din Ubaydullah ibn Mahmud Khoja Akhrar Shashi lived in honor and prosperity until the age of 85, passing away in 1489. A large white marble stone was erected at his grave, inscribed with numerous epitaphs in Arabic.

Fourteen years after the death of Khoja Akhrar, the tribes of the nomadic Uzbeks, led by Muhammad Shaybani-khan, conquered Tashkent and soon extended their power to Samarkand and Bukhara. For some time, only the descendant of Timur and the Tashkent khans, the young emir of Ferghana, Zahiru’d-Din Muhammad Babur, who later founded the Mughal Empire in Northern India, resisted their victorious invasion. Babur, renowned not only as a military leader but also as a philosopher and poet, was a great admirer of Khoja Akhrar. In particular, the main theological treatise of Nasir al-Din Ubaydullah, “Risala-i Walidiyya” (“Parental Epistle”), dedicated to the knowledge of Allah and the inner life of the Naqshbandi order, was translated by Babur from Persian into Turkic.

Meanwhile, in Central Asia, the rulers of the Shaybanid dynasty, fearing the influence of the Naqshbandi order, confiscated all lands and property belonging to Khoja Akhrar’s family. However, they made no attempts to dissolve the order itself. Moreover, in the 16th century, the Shaybanid rulers of Tashkent constructed the famous Kukeldash madrasah (“Milk Brother”) next to Khoja Akhrar’s Friday mosque, which remains an active Muslim educational institution to this day. Additionally, many religious buildings in the Hast Imam square and near the mausoleum of Khavendi at-Takhur were strengthened, restored, or completed, including the mausoleum of Yunus Khan of Moghulistan.

Two hundred years later, Tashkent, having become the capital of the Turkestan General Governorship of the Russian Empire, was struck by terrible earthquakes — in 1866, 1868, and 1886. The last was particularly devastating, destroying almost all the ancient buildings of the city, including many monuments in Hast Imam and Eski Juva squares. Only the mausoleum of Sheikh Khavendi at-Takhur withstood the devastation. The Friday mosque of Khoja Akhrar at the Chorsu market suffered greatly and was restored only twenty years later — with funds donated to the Muslims of Tashkent by Russian Emperor Alexander III, which led to it being popularly referred to as the “Royal Mosque.”