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The Suhrawardi Order: A Historic Overview

1) The Suhrawardi Sufi Order was established in the 12th century by Abu Najib Suhrawardi in Iraq. It had connections to Shi'ism through its early association with Ismaili teachings and metaphysical ideas. 2) Abu Hafs 'Umar, a nephew of Abu Najib, expanded the order and befriended the Ismaili Imam of the time, convincing the Imam to outwardly convert to Sunnism. However, both reformed the religious ideas of their communities in similar ways. 3) The order had ties to Shi'ism in its early years through adoption of esoteric ideas and association with Ismaili

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The Suhrawardi Order: A Historic Overview

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The Suhrawardi Order 25

CHAPTER

One
The Suhrawardi Order

A historic overview
After the conquest of the Buwayhids of Iraq and the takeover of Baghdad by the
Seljuqs under Toghrul Bey in 1055,1 there was general anarchy in the city, and
a staunch orthodox agenda was pursued. The conquest was followed by large-
scale rioting, and the main targets were the Buwayhid state’s institutions and
centres of Shi'a learning, which were systematically sacked and burnt down by
Seljuq troops, who were joined in by the local Sunni population. This included
the 80000 volume-strong library built up by the Twelver scholar Murtada al-
Radi.2 During these events prominent Shi'a scholars retired to less dangerous
areas, especially Najaf. After consolidating their conquest, one of the first tasks
the Seljuqs undertook was to set up institutions of higher learning, to undo the
scholarly damage done to the Sunni tradition in Buwayhid times. The famed
Seljuq minister Nizam al-Mulk was set around this task, and the institutions
which emerged as a result were promptly named Nizamiyyas after him.3
The foundations of the religious struggles of the next two centuries, between
a Sufi-cloak donning Nizari Isma'ilism, and a resurgent Sunnism under
Turkic rule, were laid in the late 1000s, and are personified by the ideological
struggles of three vibrant personalities. While Hasan bin Sabbah reinvigorated
Isma'ilism at Alamut, his childhood acquaintances 'Umar Khayyam and (in
anecdote) Nizam al-Mulk – who was also an ideological nemesis, played a vital

1 See Introduction, ‘The resurgence of Sunnism under the Ghaznawids.’

2 See ibid, ‘The Shi'a Century.’
3 Boyle 1991, p.71.

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available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107477636.004
26 Constructing Islam on the Indus

part in the creation of Seljuq state institutions in conquered areas. It is their

groundwork that gave the foreign Seljuqs religious and cultural legitimacy in
Iran and Iraq in the aftermath of the Shi'a-dominated tenth century.4
The most famous Nizamiyya was the one set up by Nizam al-Mulk in
Baghdad in 1065, under Toghrul’s successor and Malik Shah’s predecessor
Alp Arslan (ruled 1063-1072). However, it is unlikely that in the immediate
aftermath of the Buwayhids, whose rule saw the consolidation of the Twelver
community, scholarship like the Ikhwan al-Safa, and the free movement of
Isma'ili missionaries,5 that Shi'ism in Iraq would just disappear on the arrival
of the Seljuqs. In all likelihood much of it probably went underground for
survival, using the traditional Shi'a practice of taqiyya or dissimulation, and
subsequently started expressing itself in newer and more discreet ways.

Isma'ilism and the Suhrawardi Sufi Order

Although some scholars describe the beginnings of Sufism as the exchange of
metaphysical ideas and practices between monastic adherents of the Abrahamic
religions in eighth century Middle East, real Sufi thought and literature only
surfaced towards the end of the eleventh century, in post-Seljuq Iraq, or rather
in the tariqa age (1100 onwards). In this, tariqa Sufism also coincides with
post-Buwayhid Shi'ism, especially Nizari Isma'ilism, exercising dissimulation
in the face of active persecution by the Seljuqs. It would not be wrong to
suggest that some of the Shi'ism that had disappeared after the Seljuq takeover
simply adopted a convenient Sufi garb for survival. This is not to state that the
flowering of tariqa Sufism was exclusively connected to Shi'a Islam; just that
in the muddled religious environment of Seljuq Iran and Iraq, Shi'a thought
and scholarship were given refuge by Sufism which, in turn, expressed itself
as a voice opposing the traditional views of the Sunni 'Ulama. Opposition
usually took the shape of metaphysical treatises and theological discourses,

4 Although scholars doubt the legendary friendship between the three due to the thirty-
year age difference between Nizam al-Mulk, and Hasan bin Sabbah and 'Umar, such an
association is still asserted between the latter two. After Toghrul’s capture of Baghdad,
the functional capacity of the Seljuqs and the general consolidation of Sunni rule were
almost entirely dependent on Nizam al-Mulk. According to Daftary he was the virtual
de facto ruler of Seljuq dominions until his assassination in 1092, allegedly ordered by
Hasan from Alamut, after which Seljuq unity just fell apart: Daftary 2007, pp.197 &
209.
5 See Introduction, ‘The Shi'a Century.’

and as in the tenth century, one way of identifying elements of Shi'ism therein
is through the use of heterodox ideas and syncretic beliefs and associations.
The name ‘Suhrawardi’ is carried by three celebrated Islamic mystics who
lived near contemporaneously in the post-Seljuq era and hailed from a city
called Suhraward, located in the region of Iranian Azerbaijan. The Suhrawardi
Sufi Order was established by a certain Abu Najib Suhrawardi, who was born
in 1097 in Suhraward, west of Sultaniyya, in the province of al-Jibal in Iran.
He died in 1168, and according to most historians, his life as a Sufi revolved
around his association with Shaykh Ahmad al-Ghazali, the brother of the
famed Abu Hamid al-Ghazali who taught at the Nizamiyya at Baghdad.6 Abu
Najib started his own khanqah or lodge on the banks of the Tigris as soon as
he reached spiritual proficiency. Due to his close association with al-Ghazali’s
brother, it is difficult to link to him a Shi'a connection.
A generation after Abu Najib, the name Suhrawardi is associated with two
personalities, one of whom played the central role in defining the future course
for this order. This was Abu Najib’s nephew, Abu Hafs 'Umar, born in January
1145 (d.1234) in Baghdad. He was taught by the different Sufi masters of the
time, and after a systematic study of tasawwuf or Sufi doctrine, he was initiated
into the Suhrawardi Order by his uncle Abu Najib.7 He went on to succeed
his uncle and headed the Suhrawardi khanqah in Iraq, enjoying patronage
and favour at the re-invigorated 'Abbasid court. Abu Hafs’s personal Sufi
associations are more traceable in history to 'Abdul Qadir Gilani, as opposed
to Ahmad al-Ghazali, who is said to have stated about Abu Hafs, ‘You are the
last of the famous ones from Iraq.’8 His association with his uncle Abu Najib
does not suggest an inherent Sunnism on his part.
Abu Hafs heralded a change in the Suhrawardi Order’s connections to
Shi'ism, by befriending the Isma'ili Imam of the time, and is credited with
the latter’s (outward) conversion to Sunnism.9 Al-Huda states that the lack

6 Al-Huda 2003, p.13. The famous al-Ghazali was a known orthodox Sunni, and was
appointed as the head of the Nizamiyya of Baghdad in 1091 by Nizam al-Mulk himself.
7 Ibid, p.14.
8 Sindhi 2000, p.344.
9 Al-Huda 2003, p.36. The Isma'ili Imam Hasan III ‘converted’ to Sunnism in 1211,
and started observing orthodox Islamic practices. This decision was made to limit the
isolation of the feuding and impoverished Isma'ili community from the outside world
in the latter half of the Alamut period, and is seen an act of dissimulation: Daftary
2007, pp.375-378.

of actual evidence on Hasan III’s conversion to Sunnism due to Abu Hafs’s

personal involvement is conversely complemented by the metaphysical and
theological reforms made by both of them in the religious ideas of their
respective communities, i.e. the Suhrawardi Order and Nizari Isma'ilism,
which resemble each other. A generation later, the Twelver Shi'a scholar cum
Isma'ili heresiographer Nasir al-din Tusi (b.1201-1274), who wrote the Isma'ili
doctrine for the periods of occultation at Alamut, explained the conversion
of Hasan III to Sunnism as a necessary act of taqiyya or dissimulation, made
obligatory by the new satr or era of concealment which had then begun.10
Interestingly, in Lewisohn and Shackle’s book on Farid al-din 'Attar,
Hermann Landolt asserts an ‘unconscious Isma'ilism’ on the part of Abu Hafs.11
In light of the general situation in Iraq at this time, and Abu Hafs’s close
connection to a visibly ‘reformed’ Hasan III, it will not be wrong to conclude
that Abu Hafs’s Isma'ili tendencies were more than unconscious. But his
Isma'ili influences could have been limited to metaphysical ideas and concepts,
as opposed to his actually having subscribed to Isma'ili Imamology; the two
are entirely different things. Nevertheless, it is important to note that such a
connection did exist, as it explains a future course taken by the Suhrawardi Sufi
Order in the middle Indus region, one which will be explored later in the chapter.
The last mystic bearing the Suhrawardi name was Yahya bin Habash
Suhrawardi, who was responsible for the development of a multi-faith
transcendental philosophy, which includes elements of Zoroastrianism.
Amongst those who used the name Suhrawardi, he is the one personality
who exhibits the religious syncretism of the era the most, but his formal
association to the already established Suhrawardi Order in Iraq remains to be
ascertained. His most noted biographer states his year of birth as being 1171, in
the village of Zanjan around the vicinity of Suhraward.12 He received the title
Shaykh al-Ishraq, or Master of Illumination, by his followers, for his treatise on
spiritual illumination. The text later became a core document for Iranian Sufi
masters. Yahya bin Habash wrote several works on the metaphysics of spiritual

10 Daftary 2007, pp.36-37. Since medieval Isma'ilism depended on fixed astrological

cycles and sub-cycles for marking changes in religious demeanor, this is a plausible
reason for the conversion. Daftary also write of a period of ‘dissimulative Sunnism’ and
a subsequent revival of (heterodox) Isma'ilism at Alamut: Daftary 2007, pp.378-379.
11 Lewisohn and Shackle 2006, p.11.
12 Razavi 1997, p.2. His real date of birth is probably earlier, as he was forty years old
when he died in the 1190s.

illumination by combining Greek, Zoroastrian and Muslim thought. Some

have argued that he might have been influenced by Shaivism too.
Most scholars of Sufism would refute any connections between Yahya, his
Zoroastrianism-inspired philosophy, and the Suhrawardi Suf i Order in Iraq.
But the metaphysical connections that are to be found just a few decades later
between the latter and Nizari Isma'ilism in Uch and Multan, through the
multi-faith system of the Satpanth, calls for greater research. In the case of
Multan and Uch, the Suhrawardi-Isma'ili connection was hinged on Nawruz
or the Persian New Year, which worked as the pivot for the religious syncretism
contained inside the order’s hidden doctrines. If a Nawruz connection were
also to be discovered within the Zoroastrian elements of Yahya’s illumination
philosophy, a clear link between him and the Suhrawardi Order itself could
be established.
Not much is known about Yahya’s short life except that he initially taught at
the court of a local Seljuq Sultan in Anatolia. He later moved to Aleppo, where
he was given patronage and favour by Prince Zahir, the son of Salah al-din
Ayyubi. This favour was short-lived and he was executed against Prince Zahir’s
wishes in 1191, on the orders of his father Salah al-din, after allegations of his
holding heretical ideas,13 and perhaps for his Shi'ism. Landolt comments on
Yahya’s metaphysical Isma'ilism as being more pronounced through his Ishraq
or Illumination doctrine than that of Abu Hafs, and connects it directly to
an Isma'ili text written a few years after his execution.14 In addition, Hossein
Nasr has stated that, ‘The causes for (Yahya) Suhrawardi’s death cannot
be truly discovered until the situation of the region historically, religiously,
philosophically and socially is thoroughly investigated.’15 Yahya’s murder
took place in the post-Seljuq era when the Fatimids had just been conquered
by Salah al-din, and the Sunni jurists of the time were in no mood to allow
a young philosopher, with suspected Shi'a leanings, to corrupt Salah al-din’s
son.16 The title of Shihab al-din or the ‘comet of religion’ is shared by both Abu
Hafs and Yahya, and adds to the confusion surrounding their personalities
in Sufi anecdote.
The main focus of this chapter is the establishment of the Suhrawardi Sufi
Order in Multan in the southern Punjab region, under delegation from Abu

13 Ibid.
14 Lewisohn and Shackle 2006, p.5.
15 Razavi 1997, p.2.
16 Ibid., p.3.

Hafs. Here, under its local proponents, the order took on its own dynamic
and flourished, while the main branch in Iraq declined after the Mongol
onslaught. In the relaxed multi-religious environment of the Indus Valley,
centred on Multan with its own history of Fatimid era syncretism, the order
became more heterodox than it was in post-Seljuq Iraq, and diversified its
religious doctrines further.

The Suhrawardi Order in Multan: An overview of religious and

political conditions
The Suhrawardi Order was established in Multan by Baha al-din Zakiriyya.
The Indian Sufi commentary Siyar al-'Arifin narrates his birth as being on 3
June 1171 at Multan. He was born to a rich Arab family, originally settled in
Khwarazm (Transoxiana), which had migrated to Multan in the time of his
grandfather, in the Seljuq era. Ahmad Nabi Khan, relying on two primary
sources, cites his reaching early proficiency in the traditional Islamic sciences,
after which he went abroad to study at the centres of learning in the Islamic
world. At the age of seventeen, he reached Baghdad and became a disciple of
Abu Hafs. Within just a few days of training Abu Hafs appointed Zakiriyya
as his khalifa or deputy, and sent him back to Multan to set up a Suhrawardi
khanqah there.17 Upon protests by his Iraqi disciples on why an Indian had been
shown such a great favour so quickly, Abu Hafs replied that ‘he was like dry
wood waiting to catch fire when he reached me, while you are still wet twigs’.18
Zakiriyya established his khanqah in Multan upon his return, which soon
grew into a lavish compound famed for its material wealth and religious
prestige. The Sufi text Akhbar al-Akhyar states that the saint worked from this
site for more than half a century, where separate lodging was provided for all
disciples, guests and visitors.19
The persistence of Isma'ilism in Multan, and Zakiriyya’s connection to it,
are deducible from the local political situation at the time. As we have noted,
the Ghorid Mu'izz al-din Sam, who had created a huge empire for his regent
brother Ghiyath al-din Muhammad in northern India from the territories of
the Ghaznawids, and which he subsequently inherited on the latter’s death in
1202, 20 had his own conflict with Isma'ilism. First, Ghiyath al-din attacked

17 Khan 1983, p.190: Tarikh-e-Farishta vol. 2, p.760.

18 Ibid.: Siyar al-'Arifin, pp.103-104.
19 Ibid., p.190: Akhbar al-Akhyar, p.26.
20 See Introduction, ‘The resurgence of Sunnism under the Ghaznawids.’

and devastated the Alamut connected Isma'ili fortresses of Quhistan (eastern

Iran), after which Mu'izz al-din made further raids into the area himself.21
Then in 1175, Mu'izz al-din is reported to have massacred Isma'ilis in Multan.
While returning to Ghazna, he appointed a new governor for the region,
'Ali Karmakh, who was based in nearby Uch rather than in Multan itself.
Karmakh continued the Ghorid policy of subduing Isma'ilism.22 The choice
of basing the new governor in Uch seems odd, unless the situation in Multan,
the biggest city in the region, was unsettled. Another reason may have been
the fear of assassination attempts from proximity to the Multani Isma'ili
population.23 One must remember that Mu'izz al-din Sam died of injuries
from an assassination attempt at the hands of a lone Isma'ili da'i in Jhelum,
near present day Islamabad, in March 1206.24 It is probable that Mu'izz al-
din’s assassination was the result of the Ghorid persecution of Isma'ilis in
Quhistan and Multan.

The role of Baha al-din Zakiriyya in politics

According to Zakiriyya’s biography, he returned to Multan from Iraq in the
1180s, around when 'Ali Karmakh was pursuing his Ghorid agenda as governor
in Uch, from where he also ruled over Multan (city). The power vacuum in
Multan suggests that it was easy for local favourites to become overlords, as
eventually happened in Zakiriyya’s case. Historical sources do not mention
'Ali Karmakh’s relationship with Zakiriyya, only that Karmakh was based in
Uch. In fact in this period, not much is known about local Multani politics,
except for the anti-Isma'ili incursions made by Mu'izz al-din Sam.
Following in the footsteps of his mentor Abu Hafs, Zakiriyya rose quickly
and enjoyed the favour and loyalty of the local Multani elites who, judging from
the political situation, must also have included some pre-Ghaznawid Isma'ilis
practicing dissimulation. In time, Zakiriyya commanded a near absolute say
in the decision making process in Multan. It seems that this was due to the

21 Daftary 2007, p.374.

22 Khan 1983, p.47; Farishta, vol. 1, p.56.
23 As we have seen in the last chapter, in the time of Mahmud’s successor Mas'ud, Multan
still had a large Isma'ili population, even after Mahmud’s many massacres and mass
expulsions. They had used the Seljuq invasions to revolt, and consequently had the
Friday sermon read in the name of the Fatimid Caliph: Bosworth 1977, pp.14, 30-31.
It is most likely that this community lived on in Multan.
24 Khan 1983, p.51.

influence amongst Muslims of his spiritual mentor Abu Hafs, in addition to

his own landed Multani background. When 'Ali Karmakh died (sometime
in the 1190s) Mu'izz al-din appointed a certain Nasir al-din Qabacha as his
replacement in Uch, 25 who became enamoured with Zakiriyya.
A thorough examination of Zakiriyya’s role in politics, his relationships
with temporal rulers, and the Isma'ili personality of Pir Shams, are central to
understanding his own Isma'ili connections. There are few signs to show that
any members of the Suhrawardi Order in Multan associated Zakiriyya ever
lived in poverty, or advocated such a way of life. This openly contrasts with the
good relations that they maintained with ascetics and wandering dervishes, who
possessed nothing except the clothes on their bodies. The Multani Suhrawardi
material well-being seems to have been derived from their own organisational
capacity, and their ability to generate revenue in times of war and political
strife, rather than from royal grants. Indeed, in the case of the Multan region
(previously a separate province until the British era), the order seems to have
been much richer than the local rulers themselves. These facts raise questions
about the true nature of their funding and associated activities.

Zakiriyya, the post Mu'izz al-din Ghorid principalities,

and Isma'ili activity
After Mu'izz’s murder in 1206, his vast kingdom was divided between his
trusted slaves who had been ruling as governors in their respective principalities,
each of whom became independent. Khurasan and Ghazna went to Taj al-
din Ilduz, Delhi and northern India east of the Punjab went to Qutb al-din
Aybak, who was succeeded by his son-in-law Iltutmish in 1211 at Delhi, after
a brief one-year rule by his son. Uch went to Nasir al-din Qabacha, its resident
governor (who was initially only semi-independent under Aybak – ruling from
Delhi).26 In 1210 with Aybak’s death, Qabacha declared himself Sultan in Uch

25 Sources like Farishta mention 'Ali Karmakh yet do not give a date for his death, but
the research for this book suggests that it was in the mid to late 1190s.
26 Farishta states that Qabacha had served with Mu'izz al-din for many years under various
important posts and had excellent qualities: Farishta 1981, vol. 2, p.161 ff. This may be
an example of Farishta glorifying the imperial Muslim past of India, the purpose for
which his history was written. The incoming Qabacha would still be playing second
fiddle to Mu'izz al-din’s older trusted slave governors in India, hence his need for local
alliances, such as the one with Zakiriyya.

and further extended his rule into Multan.27 This statement is derived from
Juzjani, 28 and suggests that until 1210 Multan was in fact still not directly
ruled from Uch; and raises the question of who was actually ruling Multan?
Considering Mu'izz’s anti-Isma'ili campaigns in that city, Multan could have
enjoyed some degree of freedom and self-rule, with a peace treaty and taxes
paid to the Ghorid governor in Uch, as was the usual case in those days. In such
a scenario, there would have existed a de facto decision-making mechanism
and a ruler, which could have been either the old Multani elite or Zakiriyya.
The above is suggested because as ruler of Uch, Nasir al-din Qabacha,
who was also Zakiriyya’s devotee, could not have arranged for his takeover of
Multan in 1210 from his base in Uch, without the Suhrawardi shaykh’s tacit
support. When Qabacha inherited Uch on Mu'izz’s death in 1206, he f irst came
to Multan to meet Zakiriyya, presumably seeking legitimacy for his rule, and
left as his devotee.29 In post-Mu'izz al-din Multan, Zakiriyya seems to have
been the only agency of spiritual and political certitude in an era of continuous
fratricide among Turkic governor-kings. Zakiriyya’s relationship with Qabacha
must be traced in retrospect, to Qabacha’s f irst office as governor of Uch, from
where he would have come across the younger Zakiriyya. This was also the time
when Isma'ilism made a remarkable comeback in the Uch and Multan region
in the person of Pir Shams. A very interesting political situation develops here,
with an upsurge in Isma'ilism under Shams, a semi-independent Multan under
Zakiriyya and/or its local elite, which was later taken over by the newcomer
Qabacha from Uch, who paid homage to Zakiriyya on acquiring his new
inheritance, after the assassination of Mu'izz al-din Sam.
In terms of overt Isma'ili activity in the region, Pir Shams had never
espoused any dissimulation about either his Isma'ilism or his missionary work.
His initial visit to Uch, the reported working of a miracle there in the late 1190s,
and the expansion of his da'wa or religious mission from Uch to Multan in the
early 1200s, could not have happened without the knowledge of, a) Mu'izz

27 Khan 1983, p.51.

28 As mentioned in the Introduction, the Tabaqat-i Nasiri is a detailed history of Muslim
India by Juzjani, who first came to India in 1227 and became a historian at the court
of Iltutmish, after Mu'izz al-din’s empire had broken up. His father Siraj al-din was a
jurist in Mu'izz’s army in India, and originally hailed from Ghazna. He lived through
the reign of four Delhi sultans after Iltutmish, and completed his history in 1260, the
most detailed biography of that era.
29 Sindhi 2000, p.362.

al-din, b) his governor 'Ali Karmakh, and c) at a slightly later stage, Qabacha.
In the case of Qabacha, this would be both in his initial capacity as governor
of Uch, and then its ruler. One wonders how Shams’s missionary work took
place under the rule of the anti-Isma'ili Ghorids, unless it was tolerated to some
extent by the local administration. This is a theme that will be explored later.

Nasir al-din Qabacha

During Qabacha’s rule as self-proclaimed Sultan from 1210 to 1228, a few
incidents of political significance occurred, which have been recorded in
primary sources. Some of these cannot be dated exactly, but Zakiriyya f igures
in them prominently. These incidents took place after Qabacha had taken over
Multan. Uch was Qabacha’s bastion, which always served as his power base,
and one which was only lost to him at the end of his rule, just a month before
his boat capsized in the final battle against the Delhi Sultan Iltutmish, on 30
May 1228.30 There was discord between Iltutmish and Qabacha since the latter
declared himself sultan at Uch, after Aybak’s death in 1210, seceding from the
imperial seat at Delhi.31 Historical evidence suggests that subsequent to his
takeover of Multan, Qabacha expanded his territory further, and eventually
controlled an area as far off as Lahore. Iltutmish took Lahore back from him
in a battle in 1217.32 An undated settlement between Qabacha and Iltutmish
was arranged by Zakiriyya. Iltutmish greatly respected Zakiriyya in spite of
his connections to Qabacha.33 The settlement was most probably associated
with the Lahore issue of 1217.
According to historians, Zakiriyya had initially written an open letter to
Iltutmish inviting him to march on Multan against his devotee Qabacha.34
This communication may also have given Iltutmish the green light for the
future invasion of Lahore. The letter was intercepted by Qabacha’s agents,
to which the Shaykh openly owned up, saying that he had written it under
divine guidance and Qabacha was free to act in any way he wanted.35 Qabacha

30 Uch was captured by Iltutmish on 5 May 1228: Khan 1983, p.53: Juzjani, vol. 1, p.419.
31 The reason for the feud was that Iltutmish was Aybak’s son-in-law and successor. It
ensued when Qabacha assumed (direct) control of imperial territory: Khan 1983, p.51:
Juzjani, vol. 1, pp.418-419.
32 Khan 1983, p.53: Juzjani, vol. 1, p.419.
33 Sindhi 2000, p.362b.
34 Al-Huda 2004, p.118.
35 Ibid.

pardoned Zakiriyya; such was his spiritual clout.36 It is apparent from the
evidence here that Multan, at least under Zakiriyya, somehow maintained its
independence from outside rule, even after its takeover. Multan was finally
taken by Iltutmish in 1227, after which he appointed Zakiriyya as the Shaykh
al-Islam, or the highest religious authority, of his empire.37
This was obviously a turning point in Zakiriyya’s life, and in the fortunes of
the Suhrawardi Order in Multan. Now that he had direct support from Delhi,
Zakiriyya’s order enjoyed a kind of diplomatic immunity throughout Muslim
India, so to speak. Yet it is the years between the 1180s and 1227, before he
became Shaykh al-Islam, which are the most interesting in Zakiriyya’s life.
These years hold the key to his connections to Isma'ilism, as the period saw
large-scale missionary activity by Pir Shams in the area, and will be explored
in the next chapter.
The examination of power relations here demonstrates how different groups
coexisted, and how an Isma'ili da'i like Shams could operate freely in a Ghorid
province, successfully making this small region his power base. Shams’s mission
must have acquired some kind of tacit support, and this support was most
probably Zakiriyya, and not the Ghorid administration. As we have seen,
Zakiriyya’s clout with the rulers even before he became Shaykh al-Islam was
so great that he successfully played off Qabacha in Uch against Iltutmish at
Delhi, while commanding the respect of both. Considering Abu Hafs's support
for Isma'ilism through Hasan III in Iraq, it is tenable that a similar pattern
emerged in Multan between Shams and Zakiriyya.

The Mongols
Other factors that contributed to weak government, and perhaps to this on-
going Isma'ili activity in Multan, were the conflicts on the region’s borders.
In addition to Iltutmish, Nasir al-din Qabacha was f ighting to expel a foreign
prince and his army from Uch. This was Jalal al-din Minkburni, the son of
the last Khwarazm Shah.38 Jalal al-din had come to the region with his army

36 According to Sindhi, Zakiriyya wrote the letter because of Qabacha’s general cruelty.
Zakiriyya owned up to the letter citing cruel behaviour towards the populace as the
reason, for which Qabacha actually apologised. He later bade farewell to the Shaykh
very respectfully with gifts: Sindhi 2000, p.362.
37 Al-Huda 2004, p.119: Siyar al-'Arifin, p.175.
38 See Introduction, ‘The resurgence of Sunnism under the Ghaznawids.’ The Khwarazm
Empire had taken over from the last Seljuq Sultan (Sanjar) in Iran and Central Asia,

in 1221, after the Battle of the Indus, and his defeat there at the hands of
Chengiz Khan.39 He had hoped to seek refuge in Delhi, which was denied
to him for fear of triggering a Mongol invasion into India. He was finally
forced to leave in 1226.40 Jalal al-din had entered India being followed by
Mongol troops, and was actually pursued by Chengiz Khan himself as far as
the Indus. Because of Minkburni, Qabacha also had to f ight off the Mongols
who had followed him in pursuit. To cope with the dire situation of war on
many fronts, Qabacha continuously asked Zakiriyya for material and spiritual
help, especially against the Mongols.41

Zakiriyya’s wealth and prestige

According to Athar Abbas Rizvi, it appears that Zakiriyya was very rich even
before he was appointed Shaykh al-Islam to the Delhi Sultanate. On one
occasion, the governor of the province of Multan needed grain during a famine;
he was given a full storehouse by Zakiriyya. A pot of silver coins, which had
been found amongst the grain, was returned to the Shaykh by the governor,
who said he had only asked for grain, not money. The Shaykh replied that he
merely wished to give the governor money as well.42
Although undated, the above incident obviously refers to either ‘the governor’
'Ali Karmakh, or to Qabacha. But as the latter declared himself sultan only
in 1210, the reference here is most likely to ‘the governor’ Qabacha, due to his
closer association with Zakiriyya, sometime between the late 1190s and 1210.
The event is further proof of Zakiriyya’s power in the earlier period, at the time
when Shams’s da'wa was being established in the region. After the annexation
of Multan and Sind by Iltutmish, the relations between the Zakiriyya and the
Delhi Sultan became cordial. In 1247, when the Mongols besieged the walled
city of Multan, the Shaykh (personally) offered 100000 dinars to the invaders
and persuaded them to raise the siege, negotiating peace through a Muslim
dignitary in the Mongol army.43

and endured until it was destroyed by the Mongols in 1220. The conquest was triggered
by the killing of Chengiz Khan’s ambassadors by the last Khwarazm Shah 'Ala al-din.
His son Jalal al-din consequently crossed the Indus with his followers to take refuge.
39 Daftary 2007, p.386.
40 Khan 1983, p.52.
41 Ibid: Fawaid al-Fawad, p.185.
42 Rizvi 1986, vol. 1, p.192: Tarikh Namah-i Harat, pp.236-237.
43 Ibid.

Statements about Zakiriyya’s wealth are also to be found in other Suf i

commentaries. Siyar al-'Arifin describes the Shaykh as having, amongst other
institutions, his own granaries next to his extensive khanqah, and leaving
700000 pieces of silver as inheritance for each of his seven sons.44 These
incidents suggest that Zakiriyya played a bigger f inancial and institutional
role in Multan than the state itself. The Mongol affair of 1247 shows that
Zakiriyya’s power in Multan overshadowed that of the central government
even after the province was absorbed into the Delhi Sultanate. Zakiriyya’s
patronage included the establishment of new Suhrawardi khanqahs in the
region, and the construction of his lavish shrine (before his death), from his
own finances.45

Plausible sources of wealth

The general conditions in the middle Indus region show a weak and crippled
country under constant threat from external aggression and internal strife, with
its province of Multan being effectively governed by a Sufi shaykh in the person
of Zakiriyya, who also partly managed its foreign policy. It must be iterated that
since these events took place after the breakup of the Ghorid Empire, followed
by the Mongol invasions within just a few decades, the central government too
must have been very destitute. Hence, with no royal grants, the question of the
source of Zakiriyya’s immense wealth begs to be asked. One explanation can
be Multan’s position as the hub and market for the massive agrarian produce
of this region, and its old landed and mercantile elite, who managed the cash
flow,46 and supported Zakiriyya. Among them, in addition to Hindus, there
may have been rich Isma'ilis living under dissimulation who had survived the
Ghaznawid era, and who paid a religious tithe to Zakiriyya, as other citizens
did.47 Khums is a tax amounting to twenty percent of a believer’s income that

44 Khan 1983, p.190: Siyar al-'Arifin, pp.151 & 164.

45 Ibid, p.190.
46 After Mahmud’s first invasion in 1006, Isma'ili Multan remained semi-independent
before its conquest by paying a capitulation fee which some sources have reported to
be a staggering twenty million dirhams, while others cite a still inflated, yet realistic,
twenty thousand dirham sum: Maclean 1989, p.139.
47 Khums presents from Multan are mentioned as being sent to Egypt in the Fatimid
era by the Arab historian al-Maqdasi who visited Multan in 986. An earlier historian
Mas'udi, who visited in 915, also wrote (in 943) about Multan’s wealth. He commented
on Multan’s multistoried houses made of sandalwood, with visible fertility, luxury and
opulence, and its coinage being fashioned on Fatimid coinage: Hollister 1954, pp.340-

has to be (traditionally) paid out as tithes by adherents according to the (Twelver

and Isma'ili) Ja'fari School of jurisprudence. Perhaps something similar paid
to the Suhrawardi Order could in part explain Zakiriyya’s wealth. In a strictly
Sunni environment a similar religious tax, or simply zakat monies, are collected
directly by the state in the name of the caliph or king; here these would have
been paid to the local governor. In addition, Zakiriyya’s wealth could also have
been partially derived from his family’s land holdings.

Zakiriyya’s death and legacy

After living for almost one hundred years, Zakiriyya died on 21 December
1262 and was buried in the tomb he had built for himself.48 For more than half
a century he had been the most eminent Sufi of the region, enjoying special
fame in Khurasan and Transoxiana, besides the Indus region. He was renowned
for his piety and, above all, for his successful negotiations with the Mongols,
and is credited with having saved the country from the fate of neighbouring
regions at their hands. Although his tomb still exists, the khanqah does not.
Ahmad Nabi Khan suggests that the khanqah must have been situated inside
the Multan citadel, close to where the tomb itself is located, as he had found
a few surviving cells north of the tomb.49 This is a plausible argument, but if
the description of the khanqah’s scale with its attached granaries is anything
to go by, it would not have fallen out of use so easily, especially owing the
order’s status in the city.
Zakiriyya’s material and spiritual status was passed on to his successors,
some of whom enjoyed an even stronger position in local politics, something
which also caused great antagonism with the authorities. Even two centuries
later, an example of the continued prominence of the family in Multan can
be found in an incident dated to 1443, after Timur’s invasion had devastated
northern India. Tired of continuing lawlessness and weak governance from
the centre, the people of Multan (province) declared it autonomous again, and
elected a great-grandson of Zakiriyya, called Shaykh Yusuf, as their ruler. A
court history states that Shaykh Yusuf had the khutba after the Friday prayer
read in his own name from the pulpits at Multan, Uch and other towns in the

342. The second historian’s statement also suggests an earlier Fatimid connection to
Multan than is generally acknowledged (i.e. after 965). It is improbable that Multan’s
wealth would have diminished in Zakiriyya’s time.
48 Khan, 1983, p. 190.
49 Ibid, p.245n.

province, and exercised his rule from the khanqah and (Zakiriyya’s) shrine,
implying that he ruled from those institutions.50 The often cited primary
text Tarikh-e-Farishta states that Shaykh Yusuf managed the affairs of state
so efficiently in Multan and Uch that within a short time the area invited the
attention of neighbouring overlords, one of whom attacked and annexed it,
forcing the Shaykh to flee to Delhi.51

Shaykh Sadr al-din 'Arif

Zakiriyya appointed his son Sadr al-din as his successor. He was known as 'Arif
or the Gnostic, and of his six brothers he inherited the largest share of his father’s
property. Rizvi, relying on the Sufi commentary Siyar al-'Arifin, says that 'Arif
immediately gave the entire amount to the poor, believing that unlike his father
he would not be able to spend it judiciously.52 The relations of the Suhrawardi
Order with the imperial authorities in Delhi, of which Multan was a part after
Iltutmish’s takeover in 1227, seem to have taken a sour turn with Sadr al-din
'Arif ’s succession. This would have been an extraordinary situation, because
after all the Suhrawardi Order was the order officially favoured by the state.
One obvious reason was Zakiriyya’s patronising attitude towards state authority,
which in his own lifetime was neutralised by the respect that he commanded,
but which nevertheless must have earned him and his family many enemies.
Once Zakiriyya’s powerful personality had been replaced by the ascetic-minded
'Arif, these old enemies would have manifested their sentiments more openly.
Not much in detail is known of the political antagonism and intrigues
plaguing 'Arif ’s life. He continued his father’s religious policies and rode
on the goodwill and popular support of the people. The malfuzat or Sufi
biography for 'Arif has not survived, but excerpts from it are found in other
Sufi commentaries like Akhbar al-Akhyar. They are also present in Siyar al-
'Arifin. These excerpts express his opposition to state policies, and show that
he believed that state officials were negligent and corrupt, spending too much
of the treasury’s wealth on themselves and their indulgences.53
Relying on Siyar al-'Arifin, the Suhrawardi chronicler Qamar al-Huda says
that 'Arif was opposed to traditional Suhrawardi ideals on relations with the
state, wealth accumulation and institutional management. On one occasion

50 Al-Huda 2003, p.130: Tabaqat-e Akbari, vol. 3, p.788-789.

51 Khan 1983, p.71: Tarikh-e-Farishta vol. 2, p.325.
52 Rizvi 1986, vol. 1, p. 202: Siyar al-'Arifin, pp.128-129.
53 Al-Huda 2003, p.122.

he opposed the state directly, by going against a decision of the governor of

Multan, Prince Muhammad, who was also the son of the emperor at Delhi.
The discord this event caused becomes clear in a report in which one Shaykh
Qidwah, a son of Zakiriyya and 'Arif ’s brother, was invited to a high-level
gathering for an eminent foreign Sufi. However, 'Arif himself was not invited
or present, although he was at the time the chief Suhrawardi shaykh and the
Shaykh al-Islam of the empire.54

Sadr al-din 'Arif ’s conflict with state authorities

Sadr al-din 'Arif ’s running conflict with the governor of Multan, Prince
Muhammad, the son of emperor Balban (ruled 1266-1287), became
progressively exacerbated. At some point the discord also involved the Prince’s
wife. Qamar al-Huda and Rizvi both relate the incident but al-Huda’s
narration carries no supporting references.55 Relying on Siyar al-'Arifin and a
more obscure Sufi manuscript, Rizvi relates the details of the prince having
divorced his wife in a drunken rage, only to realise that he wanted to remarry
her. However, according to the Islamic shari'a he could not do so, unless she
remarried and divorced another man first. The prince used his position to
coerce Shaykh 'Arif, the Shaykh al-Islam, to agree to marry her and then
divorce her after a short period, so that he could remarry her. But the day
after the marriage, 'Arif refused to divorce her on the grounds that she did
not want a divorce. The prince toyed with the idea of killing 'Arif, but was
killed himself in a Mongol raid on the city.56 However, al-Huda states that it
was actually the Shaykh who was killed by a lone Mongol assassin, and does
not mention the death of the prince.57 Rizvi seems to have the more coherent
argument. The Shaykh may have died later under mysterious circumstances
in a revenge killing, as no sources mention the real cause or exact date of his
death. Qamar al-Huda thinks that he died in 1285.58
Not much else has been written about the beginning or the real reason for
the feud between the prince and 'Arif, but it seems to have heralded a growing
rift between the order and the state. It is probable that religious undertones
and political issues played a part in the rift, as the Sultanate consolidated

54 Ibid, p.124.
55 Ibid, p.123; also see Rizvi 1986, vol. 1, p.203.
56 Rizvi 1986, vol.1, p.203 ff: Siyar al-'Arifin, p.135-136.
57 Al-Huda 2003, p.124.
58 Ibid, pp.124 & 141: Tarikh Namah-i Harat 1944, pp.157-158.

its position in Delhi. This rift may have been accentuated by the fact that
Sadr al-din 'Arif accelerated the practice of initiating heterodox qalandars or
wandering mystics into the order, at a time when orthodoxy was taking firm
root in Delhi. Zakiriyya did not initiate qalandars quite so frequently, but it
was a process that he had started himself, contrary to what is attributed to him
of orthodoxy in tradition and scholarship.
One qalandar initiate of Sadr al-din 'Arif was Amir Husayni, who later
migrated to Herat and became very famous.59 He has left behind many works
of poetry and literature related to the Suhrawardi Order. Another example was
Salah al-din Dervish, who was just fourteen years old on his initiation, and in
his latter days was a contemporary of Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq (ruled
1325-1351). He had migrated to Delhi from Multan, opposing the Sultan
for his stringent views on religion, and was openly contemptuous of political
authority.60 Dervish did this long after the death of his mentor 'Arif and in
the time of his successor Shah Rukn-e-'Alam, who was also in conflict with
the same Muhammad bin Tughluq.
Another one of 'Arif ’s famous qalandar initiates was a certain Ahmad
Ma'shuq (the Lover). Rizvi describes him as being an alcoholic who had
accompanied his father on a business trip to Multan. On the trip, Ma'shuq
became acquainted with 'Arif at a local shop where he was conducting business.
'Arif later invited him to his house. Ma'shuq became the Shaykh’s disciple,
gave up drinking, sold all his property and distributed the money to qalandars,
while completely withdrawing from the world himself. In the latter part of his
life, Ma'shuq also gave up obligatory prayers.61
The Suhrawardi Order was the official Sufi order of the Delhi Sultanate
at the time, and its shaykh, the Shaykh al-Islam, was the highest religious
authority in the land. An initiation into the order would automatically provide
safety from persecution on religious grounds, from the lower levels of the state
apparatus. It must also be noted that the guise of dervishes and qalandars
was often used as a cover by Isma'ili missionaries, and by Isma'ili assassins.62
Sadr al-din 'Arif ’s many qalandar initiates would certainly have caused great
resentment in official circles, especially amongst the orthodox 'Ulama.

59 Rizvi 1986, vol. 1, pp.206-208.

60 Ibid: Siyar al-'Arifin, pp.66-67.
61 Ibid, p. 210: Siyar al-'Arifin, pp. 129-31.
62 Nizam al-Mulk’s assassin is said to have approached him disguised as a dervish, which
is the main reason his death is regarded as having been ordered by Hasan bin Sabbah,
see Daftary 2007, p.319.

Zakiriyya’s religious affiliations with heterodox Islam

In his lifetime Zakiriyya too had initiated a few qalandars into his order,
contrary to what is popularised about his being a staunch proponent of Sunni
orthodoxy. The question that immediately comes to mind is why were two
successive Suhrawardi shaykhs in Multan, who were also the Shaykh al-Islams
of their time, initiating people well known to be the religious opponents
of their patrons, the Sunni Imperial Sultanate in Delhi. In doing so, they
were only jeopardising their own position, unless there were other reasons.
However, unlike his world-rejecting son 'Arif, Zakiriyya chose not to be openly
surrounded by qalandars, even if he did religiously empathise with them.
Zakiriyya also initiated other individuals, from less orthodox Suf i orders, into
his order. The practice was continued by his descendants as well, especially by
Shah Rukn-e-'Alam, in whose time it became the norm for such Sufis to be
initiated into a number of orders.

The origins and religious characteristics of the medieval qalandars

To understand the impact of the Suhrawardi connection to the qalandars, and
what this means in terms of connections to Shi'ism, a short investigation into
what defines a medieval qalandar must be made. In the tenth century, when the
different Shi'a states ruled the Middle East, small parties of mystics holding
extreme Shi'a beliefs, usually numbering from three to five, started travelling
from Syria to India and back. They came to be known as the qalandars. One of
the first uses of the word qalandar is in the poetry of the tenth century Persian
poet Baba Taher,63 who some allege was a qalandar himself. The qalandars
did not have a specific form or central organisation then, but their greatest
hallmark was that they did not adhere to the Islamic shari'a. They travelled
with a traditional Shi'a standard known as the 'alam, which led their party.
The 'alam is attributed to Husayn’s martyr-brother al-'Abbas (at Kerbala).
It is reported that sometime in the latter half of the 1000s, the eminent
Sufi Khwaja 'Abdullah Ansari of Herat (1006–1088), met such a travelling
qalandar on the outskirts of Herat, and spent many days with him. It is stated
in oral tradition that he was deeply touched with the asceticism, simplicity and
world rejection of the qalandar, and wished to join him. The qalandar told
him that his path was a most difficult one and invited the scorn of the whole
world. It would be better if the Khwaja followed his own path, because with

63 De Bruijn 1997, p.73.

it he could do more good in the ‘real world.’ Subsequently al-Ansari returned

to Herat, and as a gesture of his experience wrote the famous master-piece
of short Persian prose, the Qalandar Namah, which is also the first Islamic
text that deals solely with qalandars. The subject of the Qalandar Namah is a
qalandar who suddenly appears in an Islamic theological school, and convinces
the students to leave their orthodox education and seek real spirituality.64
The first time the qalandar phenomenon was given real shape and
organisation was in 1219 in Damascus, by an ethnic Persian called Shaykh
Jamal al-din Sawi. Damascus, where Sawi had set up his khanqah, was then
ruled by the Ayyubids. Sawi had numerous disciples in the city, many of them
being immigrant Iranians, but in 1223 he was eventually forced to leave for
Egypt under Ayyubid pressure. However, his disciples stayed on and made
their headquarters in Bab al-Saghir.65 This is a cemetery in old Damascus where
many martyrs of Kerbala are buried, and is a site holy to Shi'a Muslims. The
act suggests that the qalandars had retained their (extreme) Shi'a beliefs after
their re-organisation under Sawi. It must be pointed out that most Islamic
denominations, especially Sunni ones, frown on the rejection of the shari'a, and
that heterodoxy of this sort, as we saw from evidence from the tenth century in
the Introduction, is the realm of medieval Shi'ism. Moreover, the one group in
Islam which has consistently rejected the shari'a for long periods is the Nizari
Isma'ili tradition in Iran, in the post-Fatimid era. There have, however, also
been brief periods of shari'a rejection in the Fatimid era, and by the Qaramtis
in the tenth century, when the earliest qalandars appeared.
We must consider the impact of Zakiriyya’s qalandar associations on his
own religious ideas. One prominent qalandar initiated by Zakiriyya was Fakhr
al-din 'Iraqi, who eventually became Zakiriyya’s son-in-law. Rizvi relates
that he was the main reason for Zakiriyya’s fame abroad. He was born in
Iran, as Fakhr al-din Ibrahim, 'Iraqi being his nom de plume. He had his own
khanqah in Hamadan (Iran). Once a party of travelling qalandars stayed at
his khanqah. It included a boy with whom 'Iraqi became so infatuated that
he left his lodge. 'Iraqi followed the party back through Khurasan and on to
Multan. At Multan the party of qalandars stayed at Zakiriyya’s khanqah. But
on their leaving Multan, 'Iraqi got separated from the rest of the party because
of a storm, and was forced to return to Zakiriyya’s lodge. There, the force of
Zakiriyya’s personality made 'Iraqi forget the boy he was pursuing. Instead he

64 Ibid.
65 Humphreys 1977, p.209.

started living in a cell that Zakiriyya assigned to him. Zakiriyya eventually

married his daughter to 'Iraqi and before dying appointed him as his khalifa
or spiritual deputy.66
'Iraqi became very famous because of the poetry he wrote in the twenty five
years he stayed in Multan. After Zakiriyya’s death he moved f irst to Egypt,
then through the Levant to Anatolia, where he is associated with Rumi. He
died in 1289 and is buried in Damascus near Ibn 'Arabi’s grave.67 Rizvi does
not cite antagonism with the authorities as 'Iraqi’s reason for leaving Multan
after Zakiriyya’s death (d.1262), but states that he was forced to leave Multan
within a year, where he had been residing since 1239, on account of local
jealousy.68 However local oral traditions, some even from parts of Afghanistan,
state that 'Iraqi left Multan due to the hatred of the local ruler. Depending on
why Iraqi really let this ruler could have been Prince Muhammad, who also
had a running feud with Zakiriyya’s son Sadr al-din 'Arif. 'Iraqi had a copy
of his new work the Lama'at or ‘Flashes’ sent to 'Arif before his death, which
was inspired by Ibn 'Arabi.69
'Iraqi’s life, and events in general related to close contacts between the
Suhrawardi Order and qalandars, contradict Rizvi’s erstwhile statements about
Zakiriyya being unwelcoming to qalandars,70 which is also a view propagated
about the Shaykh in later court-centric histories.71 After all, 'Iraqi’s own group
of qalandars stayed at Zakiriyya’s khanqah, where the two made each other’s
acquaintance. According to reports, Zakiriyya’s famous qalandar son-in-law
('Iraqi) never gave up his heterodox wandering lifestyle.72 Rizvi’s statements
are based on primary sources, which raises the question of faulty reportage,
like in the case of so many primary texts from this context. These texts are
attributed to latter-day authors and their patrons, who wished to popularise
Zakiriyya in a particular light.73 In fact, most of the later commentaries are

66 Rizvi 1986, vol.1, p.204: Siyar al-'Arifin, p.115.

67 Ibid, p.205; also see Siyar al-'Arifin, pp.107-109.
68 Ibid, pp. 204-205 & 306.
69 Ibid.
70 Ibid, pp.191& p.193, Rizvi’s reports derive from later texts like Siyar al-'Arifin (see p.
151), and Tarikh Namah-i Harat (see p.56).
71 See Rizvi 1986, vol.1, pp.303-306, where Rizvi states that Zakiriyya disliked qalandars
intensely and never encouraged their visits.
72 Ibid, p.306.
73 Most such works were written long after the said Sufi had died, like the example of
Tadhkira Awliya-i Siwistan given in the Introduction (in regards to Shahbaz Qalandar);
both Siyar al-'Arifin and Tarikh Namah-i Harat used by Rizvi are latter-day works.

works by Sufi chroniclers from the Chishti Order, commissioned during the
late Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal eras, long after the Suhrawardi Order
had fallen from grace. No original malfuzat or commentary has survived from
the early Multani Suhrawardi period for cross-referencing on this issue.

Shahbaz Qalandar and Shi'ism

Zakiriyya’s most renowned qalandar association is by far Lal Shahbaz Qalandar
(d.1274), whose shrine in Pakistan today serves as the country’s biggest centre
for Shi'ism and for non-shari'a 'Alid Sufism. Shahbaz was made a shaykh of
the Suhrawardi Order by Zakiriyya, but his initiation probably had more to
do with providing protection, than spiritual reasons. Available evidence shows
that in reality Shahbaz Qalandar belonged to the Qalandariyya Suf i Order
more than anything, which was organised from the qalandar phenomenon by
Jamal al-din Sawi in 1219 in Damascus. Following the shari'a as propagated
within the Delhi Sultanate held no interest for Shahbaz. He was a native
of Marwand in Iranian Azerbaijan, also known as Marand in Iran today;
however some argue for a different (historical) city of the same name, located
instead in Khurasan, something for which there is no proof. Shahbaz lived for
most of his early life with his spiritual mentor, Ibrahim Mujjarad (celibate),
in a khanqah in Kerbala. This was most probably a Qalandariyya khanqah,
an environment similar to that inhabited by Sawi’s disciples in Bab al-Saghir
(Damascus); both being Shi'a graveyards. Shahbaz migrated to India during
the time of the Mongol invasions. On his arrival in Multan, Zakiriyya received
Shahbaz very warmly, made him his khalifa, and immediately dispatched him
to Sehwan in Sind to start a khanqah, without imparting any training to him.
Moreover, his title ‘Shahbaz’ or falcon was allegedly given to him by Zakiriyya,
which is how he is remembered. Rizvi comments briefly on this initiation,
albeit basing it on an obscure Sufi manuscript.74
In popular belief Shahbaz was born and raised as 'Uthman Marwandi,
'Uthman being mostly a Sunni name. This is contested however, by the
initiated dervishes of the Qalandariyya tariqat left behind by him in Sehwan,
on which this author has worked extensively. They, like so many others who
are today Shi'a custodians or devotees of Sufi shrines traditionally believed to
be Sunni, argue that the name 'Uthman was used by Shahbaz for protection
in a hostile orthodox environment, and that his real name in the tariqat was

74 Rizvi 1986, vol. 1, p.306: Ma'arij al-Wilayat, f. 542b.

‘Shah Husayn.’75 Shahbaz’s ascetic and spiritual practices, or at least those

which survive in Sehwan today, certainly have nothing to do with what is
expected of orthodox Sufism, or even the Suhrawardi Sufi Order. They are
best embodied in the form of a sama' or Sufi dance popularly known as the
dhammal, or rather dam-hal, which is the symbolic re-enactment of the walk
Husayn’s son Zayn al-'Abidin endured from Kerbala to Damascus under his
captors.76 The symbolism of the dhammal in Sehwan is purely Shi'a in nature.
The usual Chishti Sufi sources referenced for the era rarely mention
Shahbaz at all. This could be because his religious legacy was completely
unacceptable to the patrons of the chroniclers, even though he was according
to some sources Zakiriyya’s khalifa in lower Sind. The connection between
Shahbaz and Zakiriyya is of primary importance here, since Shahbaz is
universally acknowledged to have been some kind of a Shi'a. He promoted
heterodox doctrines, penance and esoteric practices beyond the ordinary. In
the genealogical family tree of the descendants of the Isma'ili missionary
Pir Shams, known as the Shamsi Sayyids, Shahbaz Qalandar is recorded as
Shams’s younger cousin, which gives Shahbaz’s family background an extra
Shi'a flavour.
In addition, a book by 'Ubaydullah Dasti, Sawanikh-e-Shahbaz (1974),
reproduced a copy of Zakiriyya’s original letter of appointment to Shahbaz
Qalandar. It strengthens this outwardly paradoxical association further.77 In
principle, Shahbaz’s initiation into the Suhrawardi Order was in line with
the religious policy followed by both Zakiriyya and his son 'Arif, of initiating
non-shari'a or unorthodox elements into their circles. This pattern of initiation
of heterodox elements into the Suhrawardi order in Multan was not limited
just to qalandars.
A close look at the map of the Suhrawardi Order, stemming from Iraq into
the sub-continent, contained in Qamar al-Huda’s book, Striving for Divine
Union (2003), shows that the Multan branch of the Suhrawardi Order had

75 See Hasan Ali Khan, ‘Dhammal: From 'Ashura to 'urs, a medieval motif of the
Qalandariyya in contemporary Pakistan,’ in Humkhayal, vol. 3, (2013), p.20ff.
76 See Ibid for details. There is noticible structural similarity between the dam-hal in
Sehwan, and certain rituals of the Alevi community of Turkey – who have their own
‘dem’ ceremony; and the Ahl-e Haq of Iran. Importantly, all three groups revere the
Twelve Imans in a non-shari'a format, akin to Nizari Ismailism, and in this are the
non-shari'a face of Twelver Shi'ism.
77 See Dasti 1974, pp.8-9. The book was published by the Awqaf Department, and the
original letter was (at the time) allegedly preserved in a national archive.

connections to Shi'ism through many of its members, at least one of whom

was a Twelver Shi'a.78 Sayyid 'Ali Hamadani, connected to Jalal al-din II
(Jahangasht) of Uch, was a Twelver and was successful in proselytising this
faith in Kashmir.
The discussion until now contains enough evidence to show that the
Suhrawardi Order in the Multan region afforded protection to people with
heterodox (and mostly) Shi'a beliefs, and on occasion to adherents of the
Twelver branch of Shi'ism. However, the Suhrawardi Order’s main religious
connections were to Nizari Isma'ilism, in a long drawn out process which began
with Abu Hafs in Iraq, and moved into the heterodox non-shari'a realm of
Zakiriyya’s qalandars, who albeit Twelever in their Imamology, probably also
had Nizari Isma'ili overtones to their ascetic practices. The analysis sheds light
on this factor as being the most probable reason behind the conflict that arose
between the Suhrawardi Order in Multan and the state, which was staunchly
Sunni. However, until further research is conducted, these events cannot
have a bearing on the Delhi branch of the Suhrawardi Order, which being at
the centre stage of the Sultanate, may have been more tightly regulated. The
facts do however raise the question of whether the early Suhrawardi shaykhs
in Multan had their own reasons to be hiding their ‘real beliefs,’ since they
seem to have been the odd ones out, who were neither Shi'a nor qalandars, yet
supported both denominations.

Zakiriyya’s theological connection to the Ja'fari fiqh

Due to the loss of all the malfuzat literature related to Zakiriyya, no further
details on his religious connections are available. However, one prayer manual
for his khanqah has survived, and has been recently re-edited and published by
the Pakistan and Iran Centre for Research on the Persian language. Although
it does not deal with metaphysics, which would have yielded greater clues to
his hidden religiosity, the text reveals unexpected prayer prescriptions by a Sufi
master who was allegedly an orthodox Sunni. When coupled with his qalandar
and Isma'ili connections (next chapter), the prayer manual gives Zakiriyya’s
persona a cryptic Shi'a colouring.
Firstly, in the manual, there is not a single salutation to the companions
of the Prophet, which is standard practice in Sunni Islam, as it awards the
companions a high status along with the Family of the Prophet. All the

78 See al-Huda 2003, p.117.

prescribed salutations are exclusively for the Family of the Prophet, in traditional
Shi'a format, and there are certain extended versions that this author has not
encountered before.79 Moreover, the Durud Ibrahimi or Salutation to Abraham’s
descendants (and then to the Prophet’s descendants), used by Twelvers, and by
Isma'ilis to this day for the Aga Khan, is also mentioned a number of times.80
Secondly, the section on Muharram contains the prescription (by Zakiriyya) of
one hundred rak'at or units in prayer for the night of 10 Muharram, or 'Ashura.
A similar hundred-unit prayer is prescribed for the night of 'Ashura by the
Ja'fari School of jurisprudence, traditionally used by Isma'ilis and Twelvers,
and is present in all standard Twelver prayer manuals today.81 In the modern
era, such obligatory and supererogatory prayers were observed by the Nizari
Isma'ili community, until 1904, when the third Aga Khan Sultan Muhammad
abolished their necessary observance.

Shah Rukn-e-'Alam
Sadr al-din 'Arif ’s son Rukn al-din Abul Fath was born on Friday 26 November
1251,82 and went on to succeed him as Shah Rukn-e 'Alam. He was a favourite
of his grandfather Zakiriyya, who groomed him to be the future head of
Suhrawardi Order from childhood, much to the disapproval of his father
Sadr al-din 'Arif. He used to don his grandfather’s turban symbolically from
the age of four. He was brought up and educated in his youth by Zakiriyya,
who looked after his upbringing until his own death.83 Eminent Suhrawardi
scholars and luminaries of the time were then appointed to educate and train
Rukn-e-'Alam, a process which took place in Zakiriyya’s khanqah in Multan.
Ahmad Nabi Khan, relying on Tarikh-e-Farishta, (wrongly) describes
Rukn-e-'Alam’s date of succession as being 1309 at the age of sixty, after the
death of his father Sadr al-din 'Arif.84 In the timeline of this book this seems

79 See Zakiriyya 1978, pp. 53 & 59.

80 Ibid, p 40.
81 Qummi 1872, p.481.
82 Khan 1983, p.215: Tarikh-e-Farishta vol.1, p.775. Although correct here, the dates
quoted by Ahmad Nabi Khan at times do not coincide with other sources, while Farishta
is also occasionally unreliable in terms of dates. Farishta puts Pir Shams’s arrival date
in Multan a century later than it is mentioned in Isma'ili literature: Hollister 1953,
p.353.
83 Rizvi 1986, vol. 1, p.211: Siyar al-'Arifin, pp.141-142.
84 Khan 1983, p.215: Tarikh-e-Farishta vol.1, p.775.

rather late, and does not account for the twenty four odd years between the
generally reported death of his father and his suggested date of succession by
Khan.85 Qamar al-Huda states that 'Arif ’s death and (hence) Rukn-e-'Alam’s
coronation took place in 1285.86 One factor to consider here is the antagonism
that existed between Rukn-e-'Alam’s father and Prince Muhammad, the son
of emperor Balban. In addition, Balban was succeeded by two rulers for very
short periods, between 1287 and 1290, both of whom were incompetent and
had weak governments. The weakness in Delhi suggests an automatically
stronger Suhrawardi Order in Multan, enough for Rukn-e-'Alam to reassert
the position of the order after the Prince Muhammad affair. It is most likely
that Rukn-e-'Alam did become his father’s spiritual successor to lead the
Suhrawardi Order in 1285 as al-Huda states, but without an imperial mandate,
due to his father’s problems with the state.
In 1290 a new dynasty, the Khaljis, took over from the Slave dynasty in
Delhi,87 and it is here that Rukn-e-'Alam’s first connections to the imperial
seat of power are reported. Rukn-e-'Alam was appointed Shaykh al-Islam by
'Ala al-din Khalji, who ascended the throne in 1292. He remained Shaykh
al-Islam throughout the Khalji and Tughluq periods.88 It would be safe to
conclude that between the death of his father in 1285 and the coming to power
of 'Ala al-din Khalji in 1292, Rukn-e-'Alam was indeed the chief Suhrawardi
shaykh, administering Multan in the same way Zakiriyya had done before
Nasir al-din Qabacha’s governorship-as its de facto ruler in the absence of
clear authority. Subsequently however, it is reported that Rukn-e-'Alam also
accepted the largest ever land grant given by the Sultanate to a Sufi order.
After being the Khalji Shaykh al-Islam for many years, he used his political
clout to intercede with the incoming Tughluqs in 1320, to save the lives of
Khalji family members.89

85 Khan probably makes his statement based on a faulty date of death for Sadr al-din 'Arif
by his primary source Farishta.
86 Al-Huda 2003, p.123.
87 Five dynasties rose and fell in Delhi during the Sultanate era after Mu'izz al-din Sam’s
assassination in 1206. The first was the Slave dynasty (1206-90) of Sam’s ex-slave
governors and their successors. This was followed by the Khalji dynasty (1290-1320),
the Tughluq dynasty (1320-1413), the Sayyid dynasty (1414-51), and the Lodhi dynasty
(1451-1526).
88 Khan 1986, p.215: Tarikh-e-Farishta vol.1, p.775.
89 Al-Huda 2003, p.124: Tarikh-e-Firuz Shahi, p.249. This is reported from a post-Khalji
source, and it is not specified if the land grant was made by the Khaljis; but as Rukn-e-
'Alam had interceded on their behalf with the Tughluqs, it was probably a Khalji grant.

It is not clear if Rukn-e-'Alam continued his predecessor’s policy of

maintaining close connections with heterodoxy during the time he was held
in favour at Delhi. But he is known to have institutionalised the Suhrawardi
khanqah in Multan more than ever before, and in accepting the land grant he
made it economically subservient to the Sultanate. It would appear that due
to his father’s asceticism, the Suhrawardi Order’s funds may have run out. He
subsequently visited Delhi four times. Rukn-e-'Alam’s economic ties to Delhi
compromised his authority in the long run, and were in stark contrast to the
open independence exercised by his grandfather in all affairs. He visited 'Ala
al-din Khalji twice in Delhi in person.90 He also visited 'Ala al-din’s successor
Mubarak Shah (ruled 1316-1320). On this, his third visit, Mubarak tried to
persuade him to open a Suhrawardi khanqah in Delhi to counter the influence
of the renowned Chishti shaykh Nizam al-din Awliya, which he refused.91
Shah Rukn-e-'Alam enjoyed good relations with the first Tughluq Sultan
Ghiyath al-din (ruled 1320-1325), with whom he had negotiated to save the
lives of Khalji family members. Ghiyath al-din, also known as Ghazi Malik,
was a Khalji governor in a principality near Multan before becoming sultan,92
when Rukn-e-'Alam was serving as Shaykh al-Islam for the Khaljis. Hence it
would not be wrong to assume that the two knew of each other. Rukn-e-'Alam
and Ghiyath al-din are finally reported to have met on the former’s fourth
visit to Delhi, when Ghiyath al-din had become sultan. During the visit, when
Rukn-e-'Alam spent a few years in the city, the famous saint Nizam al-din
Awliya (1238-1325) died.93 Rukn-e-'Alam’s stay was extended because of
Nizam al-din’s death, and presumably involved him with state functionaries
more than ever before.

Rukn-e-'Alam’s conflict with local authorities

Not much is known about Rukn-e-'Alam’s heterodox associations except that
he is shown to have initiated a certain Shah Yusuf Ghirdez (probably Gardez)
into the order at Multan.94 There is a high chance of this person being the

90 It is reported that on each of his visits 'Ala al-din paid Rukn-e-'Alam 20000 tankas on
arrival, and 500000 on his departure: Rizvi 1986, vol.1, p.211: Siyar al-'Arifin, pp.141-
142.
91 Ibid.
92 Khan 1983, p.215: Tughluq Namah, p.63.
93 Rizvi 1986, vol.1, p.212: Siyar al-Awliya, pp.141-142.
94 Al-Huda 2003, p.116.

descendant of an earlier Twelver Shi'a ascetic who bore a similar name, Yusuf
Shah Gardez (b.1026-1152), about whom Toynbee has written in his book
Between Oxus and Jumna.95 Shah Yusuf Ghirdez also succeeded Rukn-e-'Alam’s
nephew Hud to become the last Suhrawardi shaykh in Multan, after the latter’s
short term as shaykh.96 The Gardezi family of Multan has historically been
Twelver Shi'a, and has never practised dissimulation about its beliefs.
The death of Nizam al-din Awliya in 1325 coincided with the coronation
of Ghiyath al-din’s successor Muhammad Tughluq, during Rukn-e-'Alam’s
two-year stay in Delhi. There are no comprehensive reports of what happened
in terms of power relations in Delhi at this point, but Rukn-e-'Alam’s good
relationship with Ghiyath al-din was replaced by a problematic one with
Muhammad Tughluq. It is reported that Rukn-e-'Alam accepted a grand
donation of one hundred villages from Muhammad Tughluq.97 However,
this cannot qualify as ‘the largest land grant the order ever accepted from
the state,’ and the confrontational nature of the relationship between the
two men suggests that the report is either faulty, or the grant’s real nature/
purpose is miscommunicated. From the time of his coronation, Muhammad
Tughluq’s problems with Rukn-e-'Alam and the Suhrawardi Order were set
to continue beyond Multan, into the order’s Uch period. Certain sources from
the Tughluqid era portray their relationship as being cordial, but this seems to
be in line with the general practice of writing cosmetic histories.98

The Multan revolt

Relations between the order and Muhammad Tughluq appear to have especially
deteriorated after a revolt in 1328 by Multan’s governor Aiba Kishlu Khan. It
is reported that after the Sultan had crushed the revolt, he ordered a general
massacre of the inhabitants, who were suspected to be rebel sympathisers,
and (had) flayed alive the qadi or chief judge. Rukn-e-'Alam retreated into
meditation for 7 days in protest, remerging afterwards to save more lives, and

95 Toynbee 1961, p.15.

96 Al-Huda 2003, p.128: Tarikh-e-Firuz Shahi, pp. 96-98.
97 Ibid, p.125.
98 There is mention of an incident when Muhammad marched on Multan during a
rebellion, and Rukn-e-'Alam is supposed to have blessed him for it. A second source
states that the Sultan gave up the same attack on the Shaykh’s request, when neither
incident really took place: Rizvi 1986, vol.1, p.213: Futuh al-Salatin, p.443.

asked for a city-wide amnesty.99 According to al-Huda, Multan was full of

seditious groups under the Tughluqs. The nature of this revolt is not clear,
but it is said that the inhabitants had turned to Rukn-e-'Alam for help and
assistance.100 These reports are, however, from Barani’s Tarikh-e-Firuz Shahi,
written for the Tughluqid court, which would have suppressed any religious or
sectarian reasons for the revolt, especially if connected to the Shaykh al-Islam
of the empire or his order.101 During the rebellion, Rukn-e-'Alam’s brother
was forced to impersonate the Sultan and was subsequently killed,102 which
suggests a link between members of Rukn-e-'Alam’s family and the uprising.
It is possible that the old Isma'ili presence in Multan participated in the
rebellion. There are no clear references to Isma'ilism, or to Shi'ism in general
for this period; but credence is lent to their presence because of Muhammad
Tughluq’s religious bigotry. He later died in 1351 during an expedition in
lower Sind, while suppressing a similar rebellion by the local population of
Thatta, which according to reports ‘had joined certain escaped rebels.’103 The
Sind revolt is believed to have involved Isma'ilis, but due to a lack of detail on
Muhammad Tughluq’s military campaigns, no evidence is available for it. All
references to Muhammad Tughluq’s rule come from a court history written
in the time of his successor Firuz Shah (ruled 1351-1388), who patronised
such works.
In the aftermath of the Multan rebellion, the Sultan made the Suhrawardi
Order completely subservient to his will in all its affairs, a process he had
started a few years earlier on his coronation (in 1325), when Rukn-e-'Alam
was present in Delhi. It is not clear if the suppression of the order was due to
its involvement in the rebellion, considering that Rukn-e-'Alam’s brother was
made to impersonate the Sultan during the fighting, or if the rebellion just
became a means to this end.

Muhammad Tughluq’s control over the Suhrawardi Order

Muhammad Tughluq’s desire to control the Suhrawardi Order could well have
had something to do with the order’s religious connections, and the multitude

99 Al-Huda 2003, p.126: Tarikh-e-Firuz Shahi, p.470.

100 Ibid.
101 In the previous paragraph, we have already seen the same book speak of the grand

donation of a hundred villages to Rukn-e-'Alam.

102 Al-Huda 2003, p.126, from Ibn Battuta’s Rihlah, vol. 2, see p.157.
103 Holt, Lambton, and Lewis 1977, p.18.

of ideas taking refuge under its umbrella, since the time of Zakiriyya and
Sadr al-din 'Arif. Some of these connections were probably also involved
in the rebellion. One can infer this from the fact that after the rebellion,
it became obligatory for every visitor to obtain permission from the wali or
governor of Multan before putting up in the Suhrawardi khanqah in the city.
The Tughluqid control of the khanqah forbade any traveller to stay there
unless permission was granted from the Sultan (or his governor).104 These
restrictions show great suspicion on the part of imperial authorities in regard
to the khanqah’s visitors. The new rules in principle barred anyone considered
undesirable by the authorities from entering the khanqah premises, and
virtually amounted to house arrest for Rukn-e-'Alam. Rizvi states that many
works were attributed to Rukn-e-'Alam, including a malfuzat, but that none
have survived; hence one cannot assess the Suhrawardi view of these events.
The only aspect of the Multan khanqah that remained immune from official
control was the succession of the new shaykh, while all the other functions were
regulated by the Sultan (through his new governor). 105 This last remaining
institutional freedom, the office of succession, was also lost to the order when
Rukn-e-'Alam died. As Rukn-e-'Alam had no children, Muhammad Tughluq
intervened directly between the contenders to appoint his nephew Hud as
the next shaykh. He later had Hud arrested and executed on a trumped-up
charge of wealth acquisition and sedition, based on a complaint made by the
governor of Multan.106
And thus Muhammad Tughluq’s concerted effort to acquire absolute control
of the Suhrawardi khanqah in Multan and turn it into a state institution
climaxed, with every facet of the lodge’s existence coming under his direct
control. Multan’s location at the crossroads of greater Khurasan (of which
northern Afghanistan was a part), and India, coupled with the Suhrawardi
Order’s connections to heterodox and anti-state elements, must have become
an administrative nightmare for the imperial authorities, especially after
the Multan revolt. After the execution of Shaykh Hud, to demonstrate his
detachment from the Suhrawardi Order, Muhammad Tughluq publicly
started taking a greater interest in the Chishtis. He attended the annual death
anniversary of the Chishti saint Mu'in al-din in Ajmer over twelve times in
his last years.107

104 Al-Huda 2003, p.126.

105 Ibid.
106 Ibid, p.128, also see Rizvi 1986, vol.1, p. 214: Ibn Battuta, Rihlah, vol. 2, p.145.
107 Al-Huda 2003, p.127: Futuh al-Salatin, p. 460.

The demise of the Suhrawardi Order in Multan under the Tughluqs

The Suhrawardi Order remained without official leadership after Hud, as
a succeeding shaykh is not mentioned conclusively. However, the khanqah
continued to function under state supervision, until Muhammad Tughluq’s
successor Firuz Shah (1351-1388) finally appointed Yusuf Ghirdez (Gardez)
as the Shaykh al-Islam.108 This is the same Yusuf (Gardez) who had been
initiated by Rukn-e-'Alam. The delayed and obscure appointment was perhaps
the final attempt to undermine the order. Tension is reported to have developed
between Yusuf and Firuz Shah, especially on the Chishti issue.109 Firuz
Shah, on a follow-up campaign against rebels in Sind who had not been fully
suppressed by Muhammad Tughluq, visited all the local Chishti khanqahs in
Multan while returning to Delhi, but did not visit even one Suhrawardi lodge.
Yusuf Ghirdez was very offended and complained to the Sultan, requesting
him to at least visit Zakiriyya’s shrine as a mark of respect, which the Sultan
did not do.110 This refusal to honour Yusuf, the Shaykh al-Islam whom Firuz
Shah had appointed himself, and the shrine of Zakiriyya, who was regarded
as the greatest Sufi of that era, proved to be the final nail in the coffin of the
Suhrawardi Order in Multan.
Firuz Shah Tughluq was instrumental in shifting the axis of favour away
from the Suhrawardi Order entirely, towards the Chishtis. In his autobiography,
he writes about rebellions in his era, as narrated to his scribes. He states, ‘(In
my reign) A sect of Rawafid (Shi'a) tried to mislead the people, so I burnt
their books and severely punished their leaders. Just a little later on, another
sect of heretics endeared the citizens. I killed their leaders mercilessly, and
imprisoned the survivors, and hence the people were rid once and for all of
this abominable evil.111
The sectarian aspect of the civil conf lict in the Sultanate during the
Tughluqid era becomes clearer from this quotation. The only places in the
empire in the mid-Sultanate era which had large Shi'a and Isma'ili populations
were the regions of Multan and Sind. In addition to Multan, it was in Sind
that both Firuz Shah and Muhammad Tughluq suppressed rebellions. It is
important to understand that the situation with seditious groups, previously
mentioned with respect to Multan, and the rebellion in which Rukn-e-'Alam

108 Ibid: Tarikh-e- Firuz Shahi, pp. 96-98.

109 Ibid.
110 Ibid.
111 Firuz Shah Sultan of Delhi 1954, vol.3, p. 377-378.

protested while the inhabitants were being massacred by Muhammad Tughluq,

were probably in part of a sectarian nature. Unfortunately, there is no text like
Firuz Shah’s Futuhat-i-Firuz Shahi available for the reign of Muhammad
Tughluq, which would have yielded greater insights into the role played
by Multan’s Suhrawardi shaykhs in supporting heterodox groups opposing
Tughluqid rule. However, the coincidence between sectarianism, multiple
rebellions and Muhammad Tughluq’s personal antagonism towards Rukn-e-
'Alam, does raise a few questions. It is possible that the loss of the malfuzat
and other works reported for the first three Suhrawardi shaykhs in Multan is
related to the burning of books mentioned by Firuz Shah. A fact in favour of
this argument is the survival of much of the court produced literature from
the same era.
The scheme to bring to heel a well-entrenched religious organisation with
heterodox, and at times clearly sectarian connections, was very carefully
executed by the Tughluqs over a couple of generations. Before that, the earlier
Turkic dynasties of the Sultanate era, in the first hundred years after Mu'izz
al-din Sam’s death, were not established enough to challenge Zakiriyya’s
international network. In contrast, by the mid-Sultanate era, the Chishti
Order at Ajmer became the obvious choice for imperial patronage, as it was
less secretive, and was not financially vibrant enough to challenge the state;
most of its adherents lived in absolute poverty. It was also more orthodox in
its religiosity, something which suited the image of the good king facilitating
conservative Islam. After Firuz Shah, the Suhrawardi Order at Multan simply
slid into oblivion.

Conclusion
This chapter illustrates the larger religious scenario in the Middle East and
South-western Asia, at the beginning of which the Suhrawardi Order in Iraq
had established connections with a ‘reformed’ Isma'ilism in the person of
Hasan III. It also demonstrates a tendency amongst certain Shi'a groups to use
Sufism for dissimulation, especially in regions like Iraq, which were previously
ruled by Shi'a denominations in the tenth century. Here, Isma'ilism took the
lead by using the appearance of the common Sufi, or the wandering dervish/
qalandar, as a disguise for its missionaries and assassins. As seen, even some
Sufi literature, like that of 'Attar and Abu Hafs himself, gave Shi'a metaphysical
ideas a hidden voice when they could not be heard otherwise.
Daftary states that the Sufi exterior adopted by the Nizari Isma'ilis would
not have been possible if these two esoteric traditions in Islam did not have

a common ground, but this is something that has been brought forward only
recently and needs to be researched further.112 It is also visible from the analysis
in the Introduction and this chapter, that in the period covered by this book,
Twelver Shi'ism and Isma'ilism were not opposed to each other. However, in
this relationship Isma'ilism was certainly the more proactive religious partner.
It is what Daftary describes as tariqa or literally ‘order’ Shi'ism, or what in this
book is called the ‘tariqa stage of Sufism.’ This is in reference to its propagation
by certain Sufi orders, where the agenda was not to propagate a certain Shi'a
sect, but rather the ‘Shi'itization of (a dominant) Sunnism.’ These Sufi orders
remained outwardly Sunni for quite some time after their founding, following
one of the four Sunni theological schools, but being especially devoted to the
first Shi'a Imam 'Ali and acknowledging his high spiritual stature.113 According
to Daftary, this Shi'a-Sufi relationship, initially spearheaded by Isma'ilism,
was to be the primary cause for the resurgence of Shi'ism in its Twelver form
under the Safavids in Iran, in the post-Mongol era.114 Another reason for the
popularity of this Sufi-Shi'a garb was the destruction of the post-Seljuq Sunni
elites of the Khwarazm Empire in Iran by the Mongols.
In Multan, the Suhrawardi Order under Zakiriyya and his descendants
continued Abu Hafs’s policy of maintaining close connections with heterodox
elements which had links to Shi'ism. In addition to the few Twelvers who were
initiated, the biggest such group were the many qalandars who joined the order
under Zakiriyya and his son 'Arif. Although they revere the Twelve Imams,
their rejection of the shari'a and extreme veneration for the Prophet’s family
are characteristics which make the religiosity of the qalandars synonymous
with early Isma'ili asceticism. In the middle Indus region, this commonality
is strengthened by the blood relationship between Pir Shams and Shahbaz
Qalandar. Obviously, the syncretic religious environment of the Indus region
and weak central government (in Delhi) gave Zakiriyya the freedom to go a
step ahead of his Iraqi mentor Abu Hafs, in forming, fostering, and maintaining
heterodox relations. However, since the Indus region escaped the devastation
of a full-blown Mongol invasion unlike the Middle East, the local Turkic
elites here matured quickly to become imperial dynasties, and successfully

112 Daftary 2007, pp.419-420.

113 Ibid, pp.426-427. The basis of the metaphysical difference between Shi'ism and
Sunnism is the superiority of 'Ali over the first three Sunni caliphs, which is explained
through a concept called ('Alis) vice-regency; in principle this concept is also followed
by all early Sufi orders.
114 Ibid.

suppressed all heterodoxy, including the qalandar-friendly Suhrawardi Order.

This is evident from Muhammad Tughluq’s military campaigns and Firuz
Shah’s autobiography.
It must be asserted that during the Sultanate era, the Shaykh al-Islam
was an office higher than the Sadr al-Sudur or the chief director of religious
affairs, who was responsible for overseeing that all laws in the empire were in
agreement with the shari'a.115 This made the Suhrawardi shaykhs who carried
the title the highest religious authorities in the empire. When the Suhrawardi
shaykh was the Shaykh al-Islam of the empire, in principle his initiates enjoyed
protection from state persecution. Based in the provincial capital Multan,
away from Delhi’s prying eyes, the Shaykh al-Islam could easily use his clout
to protect the people he favoured. This is the reason why these shaykhs had a
free hand in initiating Shi'a elements. Firuz Shah’s autobiography citing his
eagerness to persecute heretical elements would naturally also include those
who protected them. Hence, the Tughluqs came down hard on Rukn-e-'Alam
and his Suhrawardi successors. The Shi'a-qalandar connection was probably
the major cause behind the fluctuating relationship between the Suhrawardi
Order and the state, culminating in its destruction at the hands of the Tughluq
dynasty.

115 al-Huda 2003, p. 194n.b

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The Suhrawardi Order: A Historic Overview

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The Suhrawardi Order: A Historic Overview

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The Suhrawardi Order 25

1 See Introduction, ‘The resurgence of Sunnism under the Ghaznawids.’

part in the creation of Seljuq state institutions in conquered areas. It is their

Isma'ilism and the Suhrawardi Sufi Order

of actual evidence on Hasan III’s conversion to Sunnism due to Abu Hafs’s

10 Daftary 2007, pp.36-37. Since medieval Isma'ilism depended on fixed astrological

illumination by combining Greek, Zoroastrian and Muslim thought. Some

The Suhrawardi Order in Multan: An overview of religious and

17 Khan 1983, p.190: Tarikh-e-Farishta vol. 2, p.760.

and devastated the Alamut connected Isma'ili fortresses of Quhistan (eastern

The role of Baha al-din Zakiriyya in politics

21 Daftary 2007, p.374.

influence amongst Muslims of his spiritual mentor Abu Hafs, in addition to

Zakiriyya, the post Mu'izz al-din Ghorid principalities,

27 Khan 1983, p.51.

Nasir al-din Qabacha

Zakiriyya’s wealth and prestige

Statements about Zakiriyya’s wealth are also to be found in other Suf i

Plausible sources of wealth

44 Khan 1983, p.190: Siyar al-'Arifin, pp.151 & 164.

has to be (traditionally) paid out as tithes by adherents according to the (Twelver

Zakiriyya’s death and legacy

Shaykh Sadr al-din 'Arif

50 Al-Huda 2003, p.130: Tabaqat-e Akbari, vol. 3, p.788-789.

he opposed the state directly, by going against a decision of the governor of

Sadr al-din 'Arif ’s conflict with state authorities

59 Rizvi 1986, vol. 1, pp.206-208.

Zakiriyya’s religious affiliations with heterodox Islam

The origins and religious characteristics of the medieval qalandars

63 De Bruijn 1997, p.73.

it he could do more good in the ‘real world.’ Subsequently al-Ansari returned

started living in a cell that Zakiriyya assigned to him. Zakiriyya eventually

66 Rizvi 1986, vol.1, p.204: Siyar al-'Arifin, p.115.

Shahbaz Qalandar and Shi'ism

74 Rizvi 1986, vol. 1, p.306: Ma'arij al-Wilayat, f. 542b.

‘Shah Husayn.’75 Shahbaz’s ascetic and spiritual practices, or at least those

connections to Shi'ism through many of its members, at least one of whom

Zakiriyya’s theological connection to the Ja'fari fiqh

78 See al-Huda 2003, p.117.

79 See Zakiriyya 1978, pp. 53 & 59.

It is not clear if Rukn-e-'Alam continued his predecessor’s policy of

Rukn-e-'Alam’s conflict with local authorities

The Multan revolt

95 Toynbee 1961, p.15.

asked for a city-wide amnesty.99 According to al-Huda, Multan was full of

Muhammad Tughluq’s control over the Suhrawardi Order

99 Al-Huda 2003, p.126: Tarikh-e-Firuz Shahi, p.470.

donation of a hundred villages to Rukn-e-'Alam.

104 Al-Huda 2003, p.126.

The demise of the Suhrawardi Order in Multan under the Tughluqs

108 Ibid: Tarikh-e- Firuz Shahi, pp. 96-98.

protested while the inhabitants were being massacred by Muhammad Tughluq,

112 Daftary 2007, pp.419-420.

suppressed all heterodoxy, including the qalandar-friendly Suhrawardi Order.

115 al-Huda 2003, p. 194n.b

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