Shaikh Hovendi at-Tahur

Shaikh Hovendi at-Tahur was born in the XIII century. He belonged to the Kureysh tribe, the native tribe of Prophet Mohammed. His father sheikh Omar was a direct descendant in the seventeenth generation of the second heavenly-minded caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab that is why the men in the family of Shaikh Omar had an honorable name Khoja.

Shaikh Omar was a consecrated Sufi, a disciple of dervish Khasan Bulgari. He arrived to Tashkent to propagate Islam. The Sheikh Omar’s family moved to mountain settlement Bogiston (not far from the Charvak reservoir) where he spent the rest of his life. It was there where Shaikh Hovendi at-Tahur (Shaikhantahur) was born.

Shaikh Hovendi at-Tahur was a consecrated Sufi, he adopted his ordination among the dervishes of Yassawi city, where by that time the cult of Sufi Shaikh Khoja Ahmad Yassawi, the founder of the Order was disseminated. The biographers report that the young Tashkent dervish was especially impressed by one of the Turkestan hazrat’s statements – “High spiritual quality and knowledge in science are in direct proportion to tolerance and placability of a Sufi to barbarity of boors”.

After long travelling in Mawerannahr, Shaikhantaur returned to his native land. He lived and taught in Tashkent and the people remembered him as one of the wisest man of his time. The sheikh died between 1355 -1360. And it is this day, when the history of the majestic mausoleum and mosque complex named Shaikhataur started. The mausoleum at its tomb was built by order of Amir Timur who visited this sacred place many times. In addition he is thought to be one of the founders of the Sufi Naqshbandiya Order.

Shaikh Hovendi at-Tahur’s grandson - Ubaidulla Khoja Ahrar, a famous public figure in the Temurid epoch built the main Friday mosque for Tashkent. More remote descendants of Shaikh Hovendi at-Tahur still live in Tashkent.