Zahed Gilani

File:Zahed Gilani succession.jpg, Safi-ad-din Ardabili, as his spiritual successor in 1301]]

Taj Al-Din Ebrahim ibn Rushan Amir Al-Kurdi Al-Sanjani (or Sinjani; Persian:تاج الدين ابراهيم كردی سنجانی)‎ (1218 – 1301), titled Sheikh Zahed (or Zahid) Gilani (Persian: شیخ زاهد گیلانی), was an Iranian Grandmaster (murshid-i kamil) of the famed Zahediyeh Sufi order at Lahijan.[https://books.google.com/books?id=lHTbrFutqCoC&q=Sheikh+Zahed+Gilani+Kurdi The Encyclopaedia of Islām: 4. cilt, 1. sayı, Brill, 1934, s. 57]: "...Tadj al-Din Ibrahim b. Rawshan Amir b. Babil b. Shaikh Bundâr al-Kurdi al-Sandjani of Gilan..."[https://books.google.com/books?id=rU8OAQAAMAAJ&q=Zahed+Gilani+Kurdi Ensiklopedia sejarah Islam, 3. cilt, Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 1986, s. 1207]: "Sehikh Zahid Taj al-Din Ibrahim b. Rawshan Amir b. Babil b. Sheikh Bundâr al-Kurdi al-Sanjani ..."Doç. Dr. Süleyman Gökbulut, "İbrahim Zahid Gilanî Üzerine Bir İnceleme", [http://isamveri.org/pdfdrg/D03784/2016_13/2016_13_GOKBULUTS.pdf Sûfî Araştırmaları - Sufi Studies, Sayı 13, s. 50]Serap Şah, [https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/eyayin/tez/T0056305.pdf Safvetü's-Safâ'da Safiyyüddîn-i Erdebîlî'nin hayatı, tasavvufi görüşleri ve menkibeleri, Doktora tezi], Marmara Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü / Temel İslam Bilimleri Anabilim Dalı Tasavvuf Bilim Dalı, İstanbul 2007, s. 30-31, s.66, s.340[http://lib.az/users/1/upload/files/Sheyx_Sefi_Tezkiresi._Sefvetus-sefanin_XVI_esr_turk_tercumesi._Baki._Nurlan._2006%2C_932_s..PDF Şeyx Səfi Təzkirəsi. Səfvətüs-səfanın XVI əsr türk tərcüməsi. Bakı: Nurlan, 2006, s. 135] He is also known as Sultân-ûl KhalwatiyyaAbdülbaki Gölpınarlı, Türkiye'de Mezhepler ve Tarikâtlar (Madh'habs and Tariqat in Turkey), İnkılâp Yayınevi, 1997. and Tadj’ad-Dīn Ebraheem Zāheed al-Geylānī as well.

According to Minorsky and Elwell-Sutton at the Encyclopaedia of Islam, the tomb of Sheikh Zahed is situated a few miles to the south of the town of Lankaran.{{sfn|Minorsky|Elwell-Sutton|1986|p=657}} However, another tomb dedicated to him can be found in Lahijan.

Life

File:Şeyx Zahid Gilani türbəsi.jpg

Zahed Gilani was probably a Talysh.{{cite journal |last1=Borjian |first1=Habib |author1-link=Habib Borjian |last2=Asatrian |first2=Garnik |authorlink2=Garnik Asatrian |title=Talish and the Talishis (The State of Research) |journal=Iran and the Caucasus |date=January 2005 |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=44|doi=10.1163/1573384054068169 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/ic/9/1/article-p43_5.xml |url-access=subscription |jstor=4030905}}

Since the mid-13th century, Sheikh Zahed has been revered as a spiritual authority and his tomb near Lahijan in Iran's Gilan Province, on the shores of the Caspian Sea, draws numerous pilgrims to the village of Sheikhanvar. His ancestors came from the ancient Iranian city of Sanjan in Khorasan (located in present-day Turkmenistan). Fleeing the Seljuk invasion that would eventually conquer large parts of Iran, his ancestors settled in Gilan in the late 11th century. Taj Al-Din Zahed Gilani was able to attain cultural and religious influence on the Ilkhanid rulers (1256–1353), descendants of Genghis Khan, who followed Seljuq rule.

His most notable disciple was Safi-ad-Din Ardabili (1252–1334), the Eponym of the Safavid dynasty (1501–1736). He wed Zahed's daughter Bibi Fatima and, overgoing the interest of Zahed's firstborn son, Gamal Al-Din Ali, was entrusted with the Grand Master's Zahediyeh Sufi Order, which he transformed into his own, the Safaviyya (Sufi order) Order. Zahed Gilani's second-born son, Sadr al-Dīn, wed Safi Al-Din's daughter from a previous marriage. 170 years after Safi Al-Din's death (and 200 years after the death of Sheikh Zahed Gilani) Safaviyya had gained sufficient political and military power to claim the Throne of (Northern) Iran for the Safavid Heir, Shah Ismail I Safavi. The two families were to be intertwined for many centuries to come, by blood as well as mutual spiritual causes.

The Sil-silat-al-nasab-e Safaviyeh or Genealogy of the Safavids, was written by Pir Hossein Abdul Zahedi, a 17th-century descendant of Zahed Gilani. This hagiography in praise of the Safavid forebears, was devoted to the genealogy of the Safavid Sufi masters.

The Turkish Bayrami and Jelveti orders also had their origin in Zahed Gilani's Zahediyeh Sufi Order.

Zahed Gilani

Life

See also

References

Further reading