A HISTORY OF INNER ASIA

156 A history of Inner Asia
between the Shaybanids and the Chaghatayids; the latter continued to
rule Moghulistan and the Tarim basin throughout the sixteenth century
and were to do so, although with diminishing authority, even into the
seventeenth.
The Shaybanid century also witnessed a steady growth of
Naqshbandi sufism in Central Asia, with intimate relations between this
order and the khanly families matching or even surpassing those under
the Timurids.The beginnings seemed inauspicious, however.Shaykh
Muhammad Yahya, the son and khalifa of Khwaja Ubaydallah Ahrar,
may have sided with the opponents of Muhammad Shaybani at the time
of the Uzbek conquest, and the khan, although outwardly deferential to
the shaykh, did not forgive him.Feeling threatened, the dervish resolved
to perform the hajj and set out for Mecca, but did not get far: a party of
soldiers sent by hostile Uzbek emirs overtook him in Khurasan and killed
him, together with his companions including three of his sons.The
khan, although not openly involved in the murder, was suspected of at
least condoning it.
The Ahrari lodge soon recovered from this tragedy.Shaykh
Ubaydallah Ahrar’s prestige among the Uzbeks had even preceded their
conquest of Transoxania, a fact exemplified by the name of Muhammad
Shaybani Khan’s nephew and eventual successor Ubaydallah Khan,
apparently named after the shaykh.The Khwaja’s tomb generated the
growth of the Ahrari shrine, which in turn functioned as the headquarters
of the Naqshbandi tariqa.The Ahraris became a virtual dynasty of
Sufi saints, religious authorities, owners of agricultural and manufacturing
properties not just around the eponymous shaykh’s shrine but in
many other parts of Central Asia.They drew their wealth from their role
as trustees (mutavallis) of the continually growing waqf endowments
serving the shrine and its components, from personal property (milk)
which they were able to accumulate thanks to the largesse of royal as well
as other devout well-wishers, and through the economic activities of
investment, manufacture, and trade they and their agents engaged in.
Uzbek archives contain a number of waqfnames certifying numerous
endowments, as well as other documents revealing the Ahraris’ economic
strength and the respect shown them by the khans.
One such document was issued in 1543 by Abd al-Latif Khan
(1540–52; Ubaydallah Khan’s successor), certifying the ownership and
tax-exempt status of several properties of Shaykh Muhammad Yahya.
This individual was a grandson of Khwaja Ubaydallah Ahrar and son
and namesake of the founder’s murdered successor.The document can