TheAfaq Khoja Mausoleum is amausoleum inXinjiang; it is the holiestMuslim site in the region. It is located some 5km northeast from the centre ofKashgar,[1] in Haohan Village (浩罕村;Ayziret in Uyghur),[2] which has is also known as Yaghdu.[1] The shrine is visited by sightseers and has been designated as a tourist attraction by Chinese officials.[3][4][5]
Themazar (mausoleum) was initially built in ca. 1640 as the tomb ofMuhammad Yūsuf, a Central AsianNaqshbandiSufi master who had come to theAltishahr region (present-day SouthernXinjiang) in the early 17th century and possibly was also active in spreadingSufism inChina proper.[6] 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 theAfāqi family, providing resting places for 72 of its members.
The mausoleum is perhaps the finest example ofIslamic architecture in Xinjiang. A large dome of 17 m is at the center surrounded by four corner minarets with stripes andarabesque floral patterns.[7] 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 tilediwan-niche style typical of Central Asian mosques.[7]
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 withmuqarnas 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.[7] A gateway also has blue glazed tiles and there is a pond in the courtyard for people to cleanse before entering.[7]
In 2015, officials opened a tourist park named Xiang Fei Garden near the mausoleum. The shrine is visited by pilgrims and sightseers especially China'sethnic-Han majority, and has been designated as a tourist attraction by Chinese officials.[3][4][5][8]
^Due to scanty and imprecise documentary evidence, the late career of Muhammad Yūsuf and the date of his death remain uncertain. According toJoseph Fletcher's research, Muhammad Yūsuf had worked amongHui andSalar people in present-dayGansu andQinghai 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 ofHui studies in China,Ma Tong, thought that Muhammad Yūsuf died in 1622, and all preaching in Qinghai and Gansu was done by his sonAfāq Khoja. (Lipman, Jonathan Neaman (1998).Familiar strangers: a history of Muslims in Northwest China. Hong Kong University Press. p. 59.ISBN962-209-468-6.Archived from the original on 2017-01-09. Retrieved2016-09-21. Lipman's source is:Joseph Fletcher, "The Naqshbandiya in Northwest China", inBeatrcie Manz, ed. (1995).Studies on Chinese and Islamic Inner Asia. London: Variorum.)
^abcdChina. Eye Witness Travel Guides. pp. 512–513.
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