Ziyarat to the Sufi shrine from Aktau –
Tour itinerary: city of Aktau – Karagiye depression – town of Zhanaozen – Kyzylsai settlement – Kostam mazar – necropolis and Shopan-Ata underground mosque
A pilgrimage tour to the Shopan-Ata underground mosque is a sacred steppe ziyarat to the oldest cradle of Sufism on the Mangyshlak peninsula. According to tradition, the great master Khoja Ahmed Yasawi cast an arrow-staff from Turkistan to reveal to his disciples the path for spreading the faith, and this sacred sign found its sanctuary right here, by the chalk scarps of the Ustyurt plateau. In the sacred tradition of the Mangistau Region, an enduring principle prevails: "One asks Shopan-Ata for a blessing, and Beket-Ata for the fulfillment of prayers." The young Beket spent three nights in prayer beside the tomb of Shopan-Ata, and only after receiving this blessing (bata) did he depart to pursue knowledge in Bukhara. For this reason, the journey of every pilgrim traveling to the Beket-Ata underground mosque in the Oglandy tract begins with sincere homage paid at the threshold of his spiritual patron.
Carved into the limestone bedrock scarp, the sanctuary offers a sheltering refuge from the searing desert heat. A reverent twilight reigns within the spacious rectangular khanqah prayer hall measuring 7.1 × 5.1 meters, pierced only by a beam of sunlight slanting down from a circular ceiling opening. Reaching skyward through this aperture is a sacred pole (tug), wrapped in white pilgrim ribbons and topped with argali horns. In the recessed niches and burial vaults holding the remains of the saint and his daughter, visitors sense the natural cool of the white limestone, the fragrance of wild thyme, and centuries of prayerful stillness. In the stone courtyard before the entrance, leaves rustle on the sacred mulberry tree, traditionally held to have sprouted from the Sufi's walking staff, while from a rock-cut well pilgrims draw clear healing water believed to soothe inner afflictions.
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