Sheihantaur

Sheihantaur (Uzbek: Shayxontavr) is a historic mausoleum complex in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.^[1] It is the burial site of Sheikh Hovendi at-Tahur, a local Sufi figure of historical significance.^[2]

The Mausoleum of Sheihantaur was erected in the 14th century.

Hovendi at-Tahur

Sheikh Hovendi at-Tahur (Sheihantaur) was born in the late 13th century.^[3] He was a sayyid, meaning he claimed descent from the Quraish, a tribe associated with Muhammad. Sheikhantaur was a local Sufi saint born in the late 13th century believed to be a descendant of the Rashidun Caliph Umar. As a child, he was initiated into the Yasaviyya order of Si Khodja Ahmed Yassaui, and he was known in Tashkent as a spiritual guide. He died in Tashkent around 1360; his tomb is contemporary, though heavily restored.^[4]

His father, Sheikh Umar, was believed to be a direct descendant of Umar ibn al-Khattab, therefore male members of this family also bore the title of Khoja & Arif (Khwaja). Sheikh Khoja Umar was a sufi and one of the followers of Dervish Hasan Bulgari. He arrived in Tashkent with a mission to disseminate Islam.^{[citation needed]}

He later moved to the mountain settlement of Bog-i Ston, where he spent the rest of his life. Thus, the birthplace of Sheikh Khoja Hovendi at-Tahur was Bog-i Ston^[5] near Charvak Lake in the Tashkent Province of Uzbekistan. As a young man, Sheihantaur joined the Yasaviyya order of Dervishes in the town of Yasi (now Turkestan in modern-day Kazakhstan).^{[citation needed]}

The mausoleum of Sheihantaur

Example of a live saur in Bog-i Ston village.

The mazar (mausoleum) of Sheihantaur was erected in the 14th century, but its outward appearance has undergone repeated changes over the years. The mausoleum is the small, brick-built structure with dark blue majolica tiles and a tall dome. Metal sheeting protects the Sheikhantaur's brick dome, restored in the 19th century, from weather and pollution, while an ancient tree trunk seems to sprout from the interior.

Sheihantaur burial complex

The mausoleum is surrounded by a burial complex to which the saint has given his name. Several prominent figures from Tashkent's history are buried here. Such individuals include Yunus Khoja, was the ruler of Tashkent when it was a semi-independent city-state in the 18th century.

Alimqul Parvarchi was the Kokandian General who defended Tashkent against the Russians in 1864-5 but was eventually killed in a skirmish before Chimkent, shortly before the two-day siege of Tashkent by General Mikhail Grigorevich Cherniaev in 1865, which led to the capture of the city.

Of the sixteen monuments of the Shaihantaur burial complex, only three remain intact. In addition to the mausoleum of Shaihantaur, the mausoleum of Qaldirghochbiy and that of Yunus Khan of Moghulistan can also be found there.

See also

• Gates of Tashkent
• Tourism in Uzbekistan
• Sheikh Hovendi at-Tahur Complex