Biography
Afaq Khoja was a great-grandson of the famous Naqshbandi 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, the daughter of a rich Bek from the village of Beshkerim in Kashgar vilayet, who settled in Kumul after fleeing from Kashgar 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.
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 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 (c. 1185–1241 or 1242) had been appointed by Genghis Khan to see if the Yassa was observed so it eventually resulted expelling of Afaq Khoja by Ismail Han,the later ruler of Chagatai Khanate. Since Ishaki khojas is another offshoot of Naqshbandi Sufi, Ismail Han purposefully approached to Ishaki khojas ( 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, controlling East Turkistan including Khotan, Yarkand, Korla, Kucha and Aksu as well as Kashgar. According to sources from Ishaki khojas 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.
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