The Legend of the Fallen Minaret During the Lifetime of Dukchi Ishan

Much about the appearance of Dukchi and his charisma is conveyed by the so-called legend of the fallen minaret, which was quite popular during the life of the ishan and later recounted in one of his biographies.

This concerns the collapsed minaret, built in 1890. A few years later, due to the increasing number of worshippers in the mosque and murids, there arose a need to reconstruct the mosque. The craftsmen decided to dismantle the old minaret made of raw brick and erect a new one from burnt brick. However, Dukchi Ishan ordered that only the old minaret be raised, adding a new upper part made of burnt brick. "Quite soon, the foundation of the minaret made of raw brick began to crack, and the minaret tilted. Again, some of the servants of the khanaka suggested dismantling it, but the majority of the murids declared that 'the minaret will stand like this until the Day of Judgment thanks to the karamat of the lord Ishan; he said that [the angel of death] Azrail would blow his trumpet while standing on top of this minaret.' Nevertheless, contrary to the karamat of the Ishan, the minaret, along with the mu'azzin who had climbed it, collapsed onto the school built at its foot. 23 students, a teacher, and the mu'azzin were killed, and another 15 children were injured." It should be noted that a significant portion of the murids continued to believe in the karamat of the Ishan even after this incident, and many parents of the deceased children considered it a fortunate omen that their children were "crushed by the minaret of hadrat Ishan."

Additionally, the commitment to the cult of poverty, renunciation of all worldly matters, refusal to cooperate with the authorities, and steadfast endurance of suffering and deprivation, as with the early Sufis, distinguished Dukchi Ishan from the official Muslim clergy. As for the uprising itself, the Anonymous Life of Dukchi Ishan - the leader of the Andijan uprising of 1898, Manafib-i Dukchi Ishan - indicates the ishan's critical attitude towards high-ranking religious and secular clans, which ultimately led to the negative
attitude of the official clergy towards him and the uprising he led. "Dukchi Ishan clearly distinguished 'their religion,' 'their understanding of sharia,' of which he evidently considered himself and all his 'flock' to be the bearers. This attitude is quite understandable, as it is known that religious ethics stem from the interests of various strata of society that formally profess one religion. The undisguised opposition and the positioning of himself against the 'higher' spiritual and secular aristocrats (in Dukchi Ishan's words, who had lost the 'true faith') deprived the uprising of the possible support of the majority of local administration officials, clans, and wealthy individuals.

Ishan from the village of Min-Tyube by the nickname "Dukchi"