Khwāja or Khoja, (Kazakh: Қожа, Uyghur: خوجا), a Persian word literally meaning 'master', was used in Central Asia as a title of the descendants of the famous Central Asian Naqshbandi Sufi teacher, Ahmad Kasani (1461–1542). The most powerful religious figure in the late Timurid era was the Naqshbandi Shaykh Khwaja Ahrar.[1] The khwajas often played, or aspired to play, ruling roles in the Turkic communities of Xinjiang.
Although Ahmad Kasani himself, known as Makhdūm-i`Azam ("Great Master") to his followers, never visited East Turkestan (today's Xinjiang), many of his descendants, known as Makhdūmzādas, and bearing the title of khwāja (khoja) played important parts in the region's politics during 17th through 19th century.
In Kazakhstan the highest nobility of Kazakh people traditionally consists of tore (direct descendants of Genghis Khan) and khwaja.
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Ahmad Kasani's second son, Muhammad Ishāq Walī (? - 1599) spent several years in East Turkestan. His followers were known as Qara Taghliqs, i.e. 'those of the Black Mountains'. The main city of influence of Qara Taghliks was Yarkand.
Another line of khojas descends from Muhammad Amīn (also known as Ishān-i Kalān), the eldest son of Ahmad Kasani. The first of them to come to East Turkestan from Central Asian was Muḥammad Amīn's son, Muhammad Yūsuf (? - 1652/53). This branch of Makhdūmzādas established themselves in Kashgar, and became known as Āfāqīs (after Khwaja Hidāyat Al-lāh, also known as Apak Khwaja (? - 1693/94), the son of Muḥammad Yūsuf), or Aq Taghliqs, i.e. the 'those of the White Mountains'. In 1759, descendants of Afaqi Khoja Burhān al-Dīn and Khwāja-i Jahān, were killed by the ruler of Badakhshan Mir Sultan Shāh, for their rebellion against Qianlong Emperor.