National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

T.H. Khudábanda now raised an army of Kirghiz and Kalmák to avenge this attack
upon Yárkand. Muhammad Amín at once appealed to Afák for protection, and the
Saint thus disclosed to the ruler of the State his own ambition : "Hold! Khán!
Restrain your desires. This country of Mogholistán is the garden of the Khojas.
I entrust it to your care. Do no violence, nor oppression. Be the friend of God's
friends. Withhold your tongue from the slander of my people, and be the enemy of
my enemies. If you fail in these duties, eternal pains and tortures are your lot,
for the wrath of the Saints is a reflexion of the wrath of God. Khudábanda is your
vassal. He now draws his sword? Go you against him. The spirit of the Saints
upholds your arms. Victory and triumph are yours. My son from Káshghar, Khoja
Muhammad Yahya, goes with you."
Accordingly they set out together with a large army against Aksú. The fort
was taken, Khudábanda was seized and taken before Muhammad Amín, who at once
slew him. The victory was claimed by the Khoja as the result of Afák's miraculous
aid; and on the return of the victorious army, he presented the deserving of the
soldiers before his father for reward. Amongst the foremost of these was Khudá-
birdi Bí, Chongbaghish Kirghiz, who was the first to assault and force the gate of
the castle. The Saint cast a benign glance on the hero, and inquired "What desirest
thou? Oh Mír?" The Kirghiz saluting replied "Tuesír Pádukáhím! = Sire! My
King! By your high favour I have no lack of worldly wealth. I have herds of
horses, and strings of camels, and droves of oxen. My flocks of goats and sheep
are countless, and there is no limit to the number of my slaves and wenches; but I
have no son." "How many wives have you?" asked the Saint. "Tuesír! I have
two wives" replied the Mír. Afák took two apples from a tray set before him,
and handing them to the Kirghiz Bí, said "Give this to the one wife, and this to
the other wife." And so he dismissed him. The hero returned home and did as he
was bid. Each wife conceived, and in due course each gave birth to a son. This
miracle is notorious in all the Káshghar and Yárkand territory.
Following this in 1043 H.=1630 A.D., Muhammad Amín Khán, alarmed
at the rapid rise of Afák and jealous of his power, declared war against him, and
closing the roads to Hindustán and Badakhshán to prevent his escape, vowed to exter-
minate the whole Khoja race. On this Afák summoned the aid of Yahya, called
also Khan Khoja, as the eldest of his sons; and on his arrival from Káshghar with
a numerous army, the troops of the Khán deserted to the Khoja; and thus reduced
to helplessness Muhammad Amín forgot his boasts and threats, and sought safety by
flight. He was pursued, captured, and executed beyond the Yárkand river.
Afák after this gained supreme control of the government. In his later years
he resigned the reins of authority to Yahya, who for fifteen years had been the
custodian of the family sepulchre at Artosh and the superior of its attached monas-
tery, and retired to spend his declining years in the society of his disciples over
whom his magic influence produced a spell of servile devotion.
Afák converted nearly a hundred thousand people to Islám, not reckoning the
ladies of the nobility and gentry amongst whom he exercised an influence and
control of a mysterious and imperious nature. He died suddenly at Yárkand in the
midst of a theological discussion with his disciples in the beginning of Rajab
1105 H.=1693 A.D., and was buried in the vault of his father at Altún Artosh.
His funeral was attended by ten thousand relatives, disciples, and retainers. His
grave is now the holiest shrine in the country, and is called Mazár Fyzulanwár
Astánae Hazrat Eshán Alishán Hazrat Afák="The shrine bounteous in lights, the
threshold of His Eminent Presence, the Most High Presence."
During the life of Afák, the mausoleum and monastery built over the grave
of his father, were destroyed and burned by the Kirghiz and Kazzák invaders. Yahya
rebuilt them, and, adding a college and alms-houses, much enlarged the area of
the shrine. And he gave the revenues of Fyzábád, Daulatbágh, and the Arwát canal
in bequest for their maintenance. These buildings were completed only shortly