Ancient monuments of history of Western Kazakhstan

Monuments of Kazakhstan

Shopan-Ata underground mosque

This underground mosque is located 60 km northeast of the village of Novyi-Uzen, on the northeastern edge of the Mangystau chain. It is situated at the foot of a promontory (Mount Shopan-Ata) dividing the sandy desert of Bostankum to the west from a saline depression to the east.
The cave is found at the bottom of a low limestone cliff, the top of which has been carved into a crater in order to collect water for ablutions. It is surrounded by a cemetery dating from the 10th to 19th centuries AD, from the Oguz to the Adai period, the latter constituting 70 percent of the funerary complex.
Shopan-Ata is one of the oldest in the Mangystau Region (X - XII centuries AD) and hosts the grave of the saint Shopan-Ata, who lived in the XII century.
The entrance opens onto the side of a rock face and the cave consists of four rectangular rooms connected to each other by corridors: an entrance hall, a prayer room (the mosque) and two funeral chambers containing the tomb of Shopan-Ata and that of his daughter. Two other doors situated to the left of the mosque's entrance give access to pilgrim dormitories.
Shopan in Kazakh and chaban in Russian mean "shepherd": Shopan-Ata is in fact the patron saint of shepherds. Legend says that he was a dervish, a disciple of Ahmed Yasawi. One day, Master Yasawi summoned his disciples to a yurt, told them to shoot an arrow through the round hole of the shangyrak (roof opening), and go and spread Sufism as shepherds in the place where their arrows landed. Shopan- ata's arrow reached the Mangyshlak Peninsula on the site of the actual mosque, in the land of a rich bai (landlord) named Bayan, to whom the saint subsequently proposed his service as a shepherd. Bayan agreed, saying that at the end of the year he would pay Shopan-Ata by the number of white sheep born during the season.
That year all the newborn sheep were white, but Bayan postponed his payment, saying that he would pay the following year according to the number of newborn black sheep. The following year, all the newborn sheep were black, and finally Bayan understood that he was facing an extraordinary man, offering Shopan-ata all his belongings.
The legend continues, saying that Shopan-Ata had two grandsons, Shakpak-Ata and Karaman-Ata, who are buried and revered in other underground mosques in the Mangyshlak region. It is also said that he was a hero in battle, dying on the battlefield, and that his powers were such that a visit to his tomb and the invocation of his name have magical healing properties. In 1764 his tomb was visited by the young Beket-ata (subsequently buried and revered as a saint 50km east of Shopan- Ata), who was inspired to go to Khiva to study Islam.

The guidebook across Kazakhstan. Authors Dagmar Schreiber and Jeremy Tredinnick.
Publishing house "Odyssey".2010. The information from this book is given by author Dagmar Schreiber.
E-mail Dagmar Schreiber - kasachstanreisen@aol.com