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The Afāq Khoja Mausoleum or Aba Khoja Mausoleum (آفاق خواجه مزار) (Uyghur: ''Apaq Xoja Maziri''), is a
mausoleum in
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
,
China. The holiest local
Muslim site, it is located some 5 km north-east from the centre of
Kashgar,
[ in Haohan Village ( Hào Hǎn Cūn; Ayziret in Uyghur), which has is also known as Yaghdu.][, page 75.] The shrine is heavily patronized by sightseers and has been designated as a tourist attraction by Chinese officials.
History
The ''mazar Mazar of Al-Mazar may refer to:
*Mazar (mausoleum); often but not always Muslim mausoleum or shrine.
Places
*Mazar (toponymy), a component of Arabic toponyms literally meaning shrine, grave, tomb, etc.
*Mazar, Afghanistan, a village in Balkh Pro ...
'' (mausoleum) was initially built in ca. 1640 as the tomb of Muhammad Yūsuf, a Central Asian Naqshbandi Sufi master who had come to the Altishahr
Altishahr (, , ; romanized: ''Altä-şähär'' or ''Alti-şähär''), also known as Kashgaria, is a historical name for the Tarim Basin region used in the 18th and 19th centuries. The term means 'Six Cities' in Turkic languages, referring to oasis ...
region (present-day Southern Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
) in the early 17th century and possibly was also active in spreading Sufism in China proper
China proper, Inner China, or the Eighteen Provinces is a term used by some Western writers in reference to the "core" regions of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty of China. This term is used to express a distinction between the "core" regions pop ...
.[Due to scanty and imprecise documentary evidence, the late career of Muhammad Yūsuf and the date of his death remain uncertain. According to ]Joseph Fletcher
Joseph Francis Fletcher (April 10, 1905 in Newark, New Jersey - October 28, 1991 in Charlottesville, Virginia) was an American professor who founded the theory of situational ethics in the 1960s, and was a pioneer in the field of bioethics. Flet ...
's research, Muhammad Yūsuf had worked among Hui
The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...
and Salar people
The Salar people ( zh, c=撒拉族, p=Sālāzú) are a Turkic ethnic minority of China who largely speak the Salar language, an Oghuz language. The Salar people numbered 130,607 people in the last census of 2010.
The Salars live mostly in ...
in present-day Gansu and Qinghai
Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...
provinces in the mid-17th century, then returned to Altishahr and died there in 1653, poisoned by his rivals. On the other hand, the dean of Hui
The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...
studies in China, Ma Tong, thought that Muhammad Yūsuf died in 1622, and all preaching in Qinghai and Gansu was done by his son Afāq Khoja. ( Lipman's source is: Joseph Fletcher
Joseph Francis Fletcher (April 10, 1905 in Newark, New Jersey - October 28, 1991 in Charlottesville, Virginia) was an American professor who founded the theory of situational ethics in the 1960s, and was a pioneer in the field of bioethics. Flet ...
, "The Naqshbandiya in Northwest China", in ) Later, Muhammad Yūsuf's more famous son and successor, Afāq Khoja, was buried there as well in 1694. As believed, the tiled mausoleum contains the tombs of five generations of the Afāqi
Khoja or Khwaja ( kk, Қожа; ug, خوجا; fa, خواجه; tg, хӯҷа; uz, xo'ja; ), a Persian word literally meaning 'master' or ‘lord’, was used in Central Asia as a title of the descendants of the noted Central Asian Naqshbandi Su ...
family, providing resting places for 72 of its members.
Description
The mausoleum is perhaps the finest example of Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Islamic world encompasses a wide geographic ...
in Xinjiang. A large dome of 17 m is at the center surrounded by four corner minarets with stripes and arabesque
The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foli ...
floral patterns. Each of the windows of the minarets are in a different geometric pattern while the tops have turrets with an inverted lotus dome and scalloped edges. The entrance to the mausoleum is a majestic facade and a tiled ''iwan''-niche
Niche may refer to:
Science
*Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development
*Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species
*Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...
style typical of Central Asian mosques.
The tombs are decorated with blue glazed tiles and draped in colorful silks. Inside the tomb hall is the Casket of Iparhan which supposedly carried her from Beijing.
There is a mausoleum, four prayer halls which are supported by wooden beams with muqarna
Muqarnas ( ar, مقرنص; fa, مقرنس), also known in Iranian architecture as Ahoopāy ( fa, آهوپای) and in Iberian architecture as Mocárabe, is a form of ornamented vaulting in Islamic architecture. It is the archetypal form of I ...
s on the capitals, a lecture hall and a cemetery which is still in use by the Ugyhur population and has distinctive mud and brick tombs. A gateway also has blue glazed tiles and there is a pond in the courtyard for people to cleanse before entering.
''"This was the famous shrine, and we were invited to step inside, where we saw a crowded mass of bluetiled tombs, that of the Saint-King being draped with red and white cloths. There were numbers of flags and banners before the tombs, and on one side was a palanquin in which a great-grandson of Apak had travelled to and from Peking. While there he had married his daughter to a Chinaman, and at the date of our visit a Celestial had arrived in Kashgar accompanied by a band of relatives, to demand his share of the great wealth of the shrine. His credentials were unexceptionable, and during a century and a half his ancestors had been given pensions by the Chinese Government; but owing to the revolution these subsidies had been stopped. Hence his appearance, which was causing much perturbation among the managers of the shrine funds."'' - Sir Percy Sykes and Ella Sykes. Sykes, Ella and Percy Sykes
pages 69-70 ''Through deserts and oases of Central Asia.''
London. Macmillan and Co. Limited, 1920.
Gallery
File:Kashgar-apakh-hoja-d06.jpg, Minarets
File:Kashgar-apakh-hoja-d13.jpg, Wooden beams
File:Kashgar-apakh-hoja-d07.jpg, Tombs are decorated with blue glazed tiles and draped in colorful silks
File:Afaq Khoja's tomb. Buried 1639-1640.jpg, Afaq Khoja's tomb, Kashgar. Built in 1640.
File:Tiled minaret at Afag Khoja's mausoleum. Kashgar.jpg, Tiled minaret at Afag Khoja's mausoleum. Kashgar.
Chinese tourism
Chinese officials have been associating the site with the Fragrant Concubine The Fragrant Concubine ( zh, c=香妃, w=Hsiang Fei, p=Xiāng Fēi; ug, ئىپارخان / / ) is a figure in Chinese legend who was taken as a consort by the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty in the 18th century. Although the stories about he ...
, or Xiang Fei, a Kashgar woman in Chinese legend
Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions.
Much of t ...
who was taken as a consort by the 18th-century Qianlong Emperor. Early accounts call Xiang Fei, known as Iparhan in Uyghur, the wife (or daughter) of a descendant of Afaq Khoja, and a sign has marked her supposed tomb at the Afaq Khoja shrine. She was the wife of a rogue leader who was captured by Qianlong's troops and was taken to Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
to be the emperor's imperial concubine. Refusing to serve him, a Uyghur tale said she was forced to commit suicide or was murdered by the Emperor's mother.
In 2015, officials opened a tourist park named Xiang Fei Garden near the mausoleum. Pilgrimage near or at the holy site has been discouraged or banned by the officials. The shrine is heavily patronized by sightseers, especially China's ethnic-Han majority, and has been designated as a tourist attraction by Chinese officials.
References
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Kashgar
Mausoleums in China
Dargahs
Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Xinjiang