Entrance of the mausoleum
| Afaq Khoja Mausoleum | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Uyghur name | |||||||
| Uyghur | ئاپاق خوجا مازار | ||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||
| Chinese | 阿巴和加麻札 | ||||||
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| Persian name | |||||||
| Persian | مزار آفاق خواجه | ||||||
The Afaq Khoja Mausoleum is a mausoleuminXinjiang, China; it is the holiest Muslim site in the region. It is located some 5 km northeast from the centre of Kashgar,[1] in Haohan Village (浩罕村; Ayziret in Uyghur),[2] which has is also known as Yaghdu.[1] The shrine is heavily patronized by sightseers and has been designated as a tourist attraction by Chinese officials.[3][4][5]
The mazar (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 region (present-day Southern Xinjiang) in the early 17th century and possibly was also active in spreading SufisminChina 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 the Afāqi family, providing resting places for 72 of its members.
The mausoleum is perhaps the finest example of Islamic architecture in Xinjiang. A large dome of 17 m is at the center surrounded by four corner minarets with stripes and arabesque 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 tiled iwan-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 with muqarnas 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]
Chinese officials have been associating the site with the Fragrant Concubine, or Xiang Fei, a Kashgar woman in Chinese legend 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.[8][7] She was the wife of a rogue leader who was captured by Qianlong's troops and was taken to Beijing 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.[7]
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.[3][4][5][8]
39°29′26″N 76°01′23″E / 39.49056°N 76.02306°E / 39.49056; 76.02306
