Musakhan Dahbidi

Musakhan Dahbidi was born in the village of Dahbed near Samarkand, into a family of khojas who traced their descent to Makhdumi A’zam (d. 1542). His year of birth is uncertain: sources give 1708 or the very beginning of the eighteenth century. His father was Iso Khoja.

As a young man he went with his father to the Hisar region and became a disciple of his uncle Muhammad Riza. On the uncle’s advice he travelled to India, where in Jahanabad he took Muhammad Obid, a grandson of Ahmad Faruqi Sirhindi, as his master. The Mujaddidi branch founded by Sirhindi was a current of the Naqshbandi order that demanded strict adherence to the sharia.

After several years in India, Musakhan returned to Samarkand and headed the brotherhood at Dahbed. In his khanaqah, daily rituals and rules of conduct were strictly regulated according to the sunna and the sharia. He corresponded with Mujaddidi masters in India.

Works attributed to him include “Kasir al-fawa’id”, “Zubdat al-haqa’iq”, “Navadir al-ma’arif”, “Kanz al-fawa’id” and others. It was under the Manghit dynasty (from 1747) that the Mujaddidi order spread widely in Transoxiana.

He died in 1776 (some sources say 1776–77). The list of gravestones in the dakhma of Makhdumi A’zam at Dahbed includes that of Musakhan Khoja, son of Iso Khoja. His place in the history of the order has been studied by historians including B. Babajanov and Kh. Yuldashkhodjaev.