Afaq Khoja

Afaq Khoja (Uyghur: ئاپاق خوجا), born Hidayat Allah (Uyghur: ھىدايەت ئاللاھ;, also known as Apaq Xoja or more properly Āfāq Khwāja (Persian: آفاق خواجه), was a Naqshbandi īshān and political leader with the title of Khwaja in Kashgaria (in present-day Southern Xinjiang, China). He was also known as Khwāja Hidāyat Allāh (خواجه هدایت‌الله).

Spelling variants

In Chinese, Afaq Khoja is known as 伊達雅圖勒拉; Yīdáyǎ Túlēilā. His name is also written as 阿帕克霍加 (Āpàkè Huòjiā) or 阿帕克和卓 (Āpàkè Hézhuō) and occasionally just 阿帕霍加 (Āpà Huòjiā); Khoja may also appear as 和卓 (Hézhuō). In the Uyghur Latin alphabet, it is written as Apaq Xoja and in Modern Uyghur script as ئاپاق خوجا.

Biography

Under the later Chagatai Khans, Islam recovered from the set-back it had received from the invasions of Chengiz Khan and his immediate successors, thanks mainly to the influence of Bokhara and Samarcand, which had become important centres of Moslem learning. During the reign of Rashid Khan, the celebrated saint Sayyid Khoja Hasan, more generally known as Makhdum-i-Azam (مخدومِ اعظم) or "The Great Master", visited Kashgar from Samarkand and was received with extraordinary honours. The saint's sons settled at Kashgar, where their father had married a wife and had received rich estates, and gradually established a theocracy, laying upon the necks of the submissive, apathetic people a heavy yoke which they still bear. In course of time two parties were formed whose influence on the subsequent history of the country has been profound. The supporters of the elder son were termed Ak Taulin or "White Mountaineers", from the name of the range behind Artush, their headquarters, whereas the supporters of the younger were known as Kara Taulin or "Black Mountaineers", from the hills near Khan Arik.