Mufti Sadriddinkhan, Sadriddinkhan Sharifkhojayev (1878, Tashkent - 1946, Kandahar) was a great state and public figure who fought for the independence of Turkestan, and one of the famous scholars. Ha was also a member of the Turkestan National Assembly.
He was born in the city of Tashkent in the family of Sharifkhoja Qadi. His father was one of the prominent religious leaders of Tashkent in the second half of the 20th century. Sadriddinkhan first studied at the Russian-Tuzem school in Tashkent. He received a perfect religious education in his childhood. He graduated from the famous Mir Arab madrasa in Bukhara. With the title of mufti, he worked at the courthouse in the old city of Tashkent and was also a teacher at the Kokaldosh madrasa.
Mufti Sadriddinkhan took an active part in social and political processes in Turkestan in 1917. He was one of the leaders of “Shurai Islamiya” society. He took an active part in the establishment of the “Turk Adami Markaziyat (Federalists) party” in Tashkent (July 1917), and in the preparation of the program and regulations of this party. In August 1917, he founded the “Fuqaha” society and chaired it [1].
After the establishment of the Turkestan Autonomous Government, he was elected a member of the National Assembly of Turkestan. According to some information, Sadriddinkhan Sharifkhojayev led the activities of the parliament (Milli Majlis) of the first democratic government in the history of the region from December 1917.
After the overthrow of the autonomous government and the establishment of the Soviet regime in the region, he went to work secretly. Together with Munavvar Qari, he founded the “Ittihad va Taraqqiy” (1917-1919) and “Milliy Ittihod” (1919-1925) organizations in Tashkent. After being imprisoned by the Chekists in 1918, he was initially released due to an amnesty. In 1921, when he was imprisoned for the second time, he escaped from the prison with the help of his friends. He was the chairman of the Tashkent Committee of the organization “National Union of Turkistan” founded in Bukhara in August 1921 under the leadership of Ahmad Zaki Walidi (since 1921). At the same time, until March 1921, he also worked in various Soviet judicial offices in the Turkestan ASSR. He participated as a member of the Turkestan delegation at the Congress of Eastern Nations held in Baku in September 1920 [2].
Sadriddinkhan, who was sent among the qurbashis in the Fergana Valley by the decision of the “National Union of Turkistan”, as the political leader of the Rahmonkul Qurbashi group in Makhsum Asht district, raised the spirit of confidence in independence among the rebels and introduced the qurbashis to the current political situation in Turkestan [3]. So, he carried out great ideological and political work among the leaders of the Fergana Valley.
In July 1923, Sadriddinkhan was forced to emigrate to Afghanistan together with Salim Pasha, who came to the territory of Bukhara from Turkey. Various spies sent to Afghanistan by the Soviet authorities constantly provided information about the activities of S.Sharifkhojayev. Sadriddinkhan’s secretary was Bakhrom Ibrohimov, a Soviet Chekist originally from Jizzakh (he named himself Mahmud Ayqorli), who eventually poisoned and killed S. Sharifkhojayev in Kandahar in 1946.
Ibrohimov later returned to Tashkent and worked at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the AS of Uzbekistan. He and his wife were buried in the Chigatai cemetery in Tashkent.
[1] [Rajabov K-] Sadriddinxon muftiy // Toshkent. Ensiklopediya. - Toshkent: “Oʻzbekiston milliy ensiklopediyasi” Davlat ilmiy nashriyoti, 2009. - B. 467.
[2] Rajabov Q.K. Turkiston mintaqasida sovet rejimiga qarshi qurolli harakat (1918-1924-y.). Tarix fanlari doktori... dissertatsiyasi koʻlyozmasi. - Toshkent, 2005. - B. 238.
[3] Fargʻona viloyati davlat arxivi, 435-fond, 1-roʻyxat, 209-ish, 2-varaqning orqasi.
