Ishan Babakhan ibn Abdulmajidkhan ( uz, Eshon Boboxon ibn Abdulmajidxon, 1858—1957) was Islamic religious figure, Grand Mufti of
Soviet Central Asia
Soviet Central Asia (russian: link=no, Советская Средняя Азия, Sovetskaya Srednyaya Aziya) was the part of Central Asia administered by the Soviet Union between 1918 and 1991, when the Central Asian republics declared ind ...
.
Born in
Tashkent
Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...
in a family of
ulama
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
who traced their lineage to
Ahmad Yasawi
Ahmad Yasawi ( kk, Қожа Ахмет Ясауи, Qoja Ahmet Iasaui, قوجا احمەت ياساۋٸ; fa, خواجه اَحمدِ یَسوی, Khwāje Ahmad-e Yasavī; 1093–1166) was a Turkic poet and Sufi, an early mystic who exerted a pow ...
, Babakhan studied at the Mu-yi Mubarak madrasa, where his father was
mudarris. Among his other teachers was Shami Domla, who in the 1920s presided over regular gatherings of local ulama where
hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
was discussed.
Shami Domla posited the supremacy of hadith over all other sources of authority in questions of theology and law. The teachings of Shami Domla were to have a lasting influence of Babakhan’s thought.
Ishan Babakhan was elected
mufti
A Mufti (; ar, مفتي) is an Islamic jurist qualified to issue a nonbinding opinion ('' fatwa'') on a point of Islamic law (''sharia''). The act of issuing fatwas is called ''iftāʾ''. Muftis and their ''fatwas'' played an important rol ...
of
(SADUM) when the latter was established in 1943. His son
Ziyauddin was its secretary and the officially recognized
qadi
A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...
.
He died on June 5, 1957, at the age of 99 and was buried in the mausoleum of Kaffal Shashi in Tashkent by the decision of the government of the Uzbek SSR.
References
{{Authority control
Soviet muftis
Grand Muftis
1858 births
1957 deaths