23.06.2013 Views

A HISTORY OF INNER ASIA

A HISTORY OF INNER ASIA

A HISTORY OF INNER ASIA

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

Timur and the Timurids 143<br />

certainly harbors the spirit which inspired the Khwaja and with which<br />

he inspired his followers and imitators, however.<br />

As an organized tariqa, the Yasaviya eventually succumbed to the<br />

Naqshbandiya (or, more exactly, was absorbed by it), but less completely<br />

than the third of the Central Asian tariqas, the Kubraviya.As we might<br />

expect, it retained some of its identity among the Turks of the Kipchak<br />

steppe despite the inroads of the Naqshbandiya.Moreover, Khwaja<br />

Ahmad Yasavi’s enduring example and tomb continued to play their role<br />

as powerful anchors of Islam among the nomads of the Kipchak steppe<br />

or, if we shift the chronological angle, among the Muslim masses of<br />

Kazakhstan and the other Central Asian republics.As in the case of<br />

other Muslim saints, his tomb became the goal of pilgrimage of the<br />

common people as well as the object of veneration and generosity of the<br />

mighty.We have already mentioned the magnificent mausoleum erected<br />

over his tomb by Tamerlane in 1395.A century later Khwaja Ahmad<br />

Yasavi’s example served as inspiration to another conqueror, this time an<br />

Uzbek Turk from the Kipchak steppe – the aforementioned<br />

Muhammad Shaybani.The khan was not only a man of the sword but<br />

also of the pen, the author of politico-religious poetry and treatises<br />

written in Turki.One of this monarch’s ghazals expresses his veneration<br />

for Ahmad Yasavi, and the process that transformed the town of Yasi<br />

into the great place of pilgrimage of Turkestan:<br />

Avliyalar sarvari ol Shah-i Türkistan emish * Yär yüzini nuri tutqan<br />

Mah-i Türkistan emish…<br />

Dedilär: “Qayda barur sen, köp Samarqandda vali!” * Bu Shabani<br />

arzusi Dargah-i Türkistan emish.<br />

(The chief of saints is this Lord of Turkestan * He is the Moon of<br />

Turkestan shining over the face of the earth … People said: “Where are<br />

you going? There are many saints in Samarkand!” * I, Shabani, had one<br />

desire: the Court of Turkestan [i.e., the shrine of Ahmad Yasavi].) 1<br />

1 A.J.E.Bodrogligeti, “Yasavi ideology in Muhammad Shaybani Khan’s vision of an Uzbek<br />

Islamic Empire,” Harvard Journal of Turkish Studies 18 (1994): 41–56.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!