Biography of Rahman Baba (Abdur Rahman Mohmand)

Abdur Rahman Baba belonged to the Baezai division of the Mohmand tribe. He lived in the village of Hazar Khani in the tappa of Mohmands. Despite his learning, he lived the life of a darvesh, absorbed in religious contemplation and detached from worldly affairs. He is said to have been fond of hearing Qawalis like the Chishtiya school of thought.

In time, Rahman Baba began composing poetry and odes. Known for his emotional depth, he was often found in tears, which became so frequent that wounds appeared on his cheeks. His seclusion led to rumors from envious clerics, who accused him of heresy for avoiding congregational prayers. Eventually, at the urging of his friends, he agreed to join mosque prayers while maintaining his spiritual retreat.

Rahman Baba distributed poems to friends, who compiled them into a diwan after his death. Some verses mistakenly attributed to him were later removed, ensuring the authenticity of his collection.

Some historians claimed Rahman Baba debated poetry with Khushal Khan Khattak, but evidence suggests otherwise. While their lives overlapped briefly, Rahman Baba was closer in age to Afzal Khan, Khushal’s grandson. A key proof lies in Rahman Baba’s long poem on the tragic deaths of Gul Khan and Jamal Khan in 1711—25 years after Khushal’s death.

Rahman Baba’s descendants on his daughter’s side still reside in Deh-i-Bahadur, Mohmand territory, while the male line has become extinct. His tomb remains in his native village’s graveyard.

Source: "History of the Pathans", by Haroon Rashid, Vol-2, pp.461-462.

Hazrat Ilyas and Hazrat Khizr beside a pond, with Rahman Baba praying in the foreground. From a richly illustrated manuscript of his diwan, Kashmir, 1798. Source

A folio from an illustrated diwan of Rahman Baba, Rampur Raza Library. Source

The mosque and tomb of Ghulam Hussain Hazratji Baba, Kandahar

The mosque and tomb of Ghulam Hussain Hazratji Baba (a 17th century saint), Kandahar, Afghanistan, 1880. Photo by Benjamin Simpson. 

The tombs are marked at either end with a tall marble stones and decorated with black and white pebbles.

Original caption : "Tombs of Hazratji and Shere Ali's father". Source

Sher Ali's father i.e. Dost Muhammad Khan is buried in Herat, not Kandahar.

Mosque of Ghulam Hazratji, 1840 (c), by James Rattray. Original caption: "Mosque of Goolaum Hoossein Huzrut-Jee, the Great Prophet of the Afghauns, and the Tombs of the Kings at Kandahar".  Plate 30 from Scenery, Inhabitants and Costumes of Afghanistan, engraved by R. Carrick. Source

 Tombs of Hazratgi & Shere Ali's father [Kandahar]. (bl.uk)

Mausoleum of Shaikh Imam al-Din (a Khalil Pashtun), Palosai, Peshawar

Mausoleum of Shaikh Imam al-Din (a Khalil Pashtun), Palosai, Peshawar. 

According to Persian inscription on the site, Shaikh Imam al-Din died in 1650 AD and the mausoleum was constructed in 1653 AD. 

 

He was grandson of Shaikh Qasim Sulaimani, a renowned saint of Akbar's reign.

Shaikh Jamaluddin Kasi (a 16th century Pashtun saint)

Shaikh Jamaluddin Kasi was a 16th century Pashtun saint of Chishti order. A member of the Pashtun tribe of Kasi, he enjoyed considerable respect from his own as well as other Pashtun tribes. In his early life he held a high post in the government under Sher Shah Sur (c.1486-1545). After the downfall of the Pashtuns in India and restoration of Mughals to the throne, Jalaluddin Kasi renounced the world and moved to Unnao (UP, India) where he joined the khanqah of Shah Mahmud Chishti. Later he went to the tomb of Shaikh Badrud-Din of Badaun (UP, India) where he constantly recited Quran and cared for the tomb. In short time he was surrounded by a large number of people. 

Shaikh Jalaluddin Kasi developed the habit of mediating and reciting the Quran until midnight at the tomb of Shaikh Badruddin some distance from the town. These nocturnal habits severely hampered local thieves who operated around this area. They murdered Shaikh Jalaluddin In 1604 AD.

Source: Biographical Encyclopaedia of Sufis: South Asia By N. Hanif, p-175

Sar-tor faqir (سر تور فقير) stirring up the Pashtun tribesmen of Swat valley against the British, 1897

"Mad Mullah" haranguing Pashtun tribesmen in the Swat valley, 1897. 

"His standard bears the same insignia as did of Umra Khan in the Chitral campaign, namely a blood-red hand upon a green field". 

 From "London Illustrated News", 18th September 1897. 

 Artist : Sydney Prior Hall

Source: https://www.meisterdrucke.uk/fine-art-prints/Sydney-Prior-Hall/160794/The-Indian-Frontier-Troubles-.html

Khwaja Hasan Afghan (1206–1290 A.D)

According to Akhbar al-Akhyar, a Pashtun by name of Khwaja Hasan (1206–1290 A.D) was a famous disciple of Shaikh Baha-uddin Zakariya of Multan. Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya is reported to have praised him for his piety. 

 

The author of Akhbar al-akhyar, Shaikh Abdul Haq Muhadith of Delhi, was born in 1551 AD during the reign of Islam Shah Sur.

A ziarat (shrine) in Bust, Helmand, Afghanistan, 1959-61

A ziyarat (shrine) in Bust, Helmand, Afghanistan, 1959-61. Photos by Josephine Powell.

Source

Khwaja Khizr Khan Sarwani

Mausoleum of Khwaja Khizr Sarwani (Sonipat, Haryana, India)

Mausoleum of Khwaja Khizr Sarwani (Sonipat, Haryana, India)

Khwaja Khizr Khan Sarwani was a Pashtun of saintly reputation who was governor of Sonipat (Haryana state, India) during the during the reign of Sultan Ibrahim Lodi (1517-1526 AD). He is buried in Sonipat in a magnificent Mausoleum which was constructed during the reign of Sultan Ibahrim Lodi. According to a Persian inscription on the site, Khwaja Khizr Khan was the son of Darya Khan Sarwani. The latter himself was an influential noble in the court of Sikandar Lodi. Work commenced on the tomb in 1522 and was completed by 1524. It was built on the orders of Langar Khan Khizr who was most probably his relative. The inscriptions read as follow:

"The portico of the tomb of Khwaja Khizr Khan, son of Darya Khan Sarwani – may God have mercy upon both! – was erected on Monday, 15th Shawwal, 928, in the reign of Just and liberal King, who relies on the assistance of the Merciful, Abul Muzaffar Ibrahim Shah, son of Sikandar Shah, son of Bahlul, the King. May God continue his kingdom and reign! "

"With the help of God, who is blessed and exalted, and by his grace, the building of this tomb of the great and noble saint, Miyan Khwaja Khizr Khan, the deceased, the pardoned, son of Darya Khan, son of the Shaikh of Shaikhs Shaikh Ahmad, son of the king of Shaikhs Shaikh Manduki Darwesh Sarwani – may God have mercy upon them,  – muqta (governor) of the town of Sonipat, was completed in the time of the kings of kings, the confirmer of the laws of Islam and the faith, the shadow of the God in both worlds, who trusts to the aid of the Merciful, Abdul Muzaffar Ibrahim Shah, son of Sikandar Shah, son of Bahlul Shah, the King  – may God perpetuate his kingdom and rule – by order of Langar Khan Khizr, on the 15th Rajab – may the honour of this month increase, A.H. 930."

Sarwani is an extinct tribe of Pashtuns who are said to be descendants of Sarwanaey, a son of Shah Hussain Ghori by his second wife Bibi Mahi who was daughter of a servant of Shaikh Batan. Descendants of Sarwanaey were brought up by Bibi Mato and are also grouped under the general name of Mati tribes.

Shaikh Qasim Sulaimani

Qasim Sulaimani was a Pashtun saint of great fame during the reigns of Akbar and Jahangir. He belonged to the Khalil tribe of Pashtuns. Emperor Jahangir suspected him of favouring the claims to the throne of his son Khusrau, and imprisoned him in the fortress of Chunar in 1606 where he died the following year. Sulaimani is a name by which the Pashtuns were known. His grandson Abdur-Razzak wrote a history of the Pashtun tribes which was in the possession of Major H.G. Raverty (Reference: "Notes on Afghanistan", Raverty)

According to Asrar ul Afaghina, Shaikh Qasim was born at Peshawar in 956 Hijri, 1549 AD. [North Indian Notes and Queries, Volumes 1-2, 1892, p-163]

Mausoleum of Qasim Sulaimani at Chunar, 1803's painting.

Musa Darwesh

Musa Darwesh is ancestor of Darwesh Khel Wazirs. He had two sons Ahmad and Utman (progenitors of Ahmadzai and Utmanzai respectively). In 1911 Sir Denzil Ibbetson reports, "The Ahmadzai Wazirs and others on their way to Birmal leave their superfluous property in the precincts of this shrine and on their return in autumn find it intact. The belief is that any one stealing property thus deposited is immediately struck blind".

' Many stories are told of the miraculous powers of Musa Darwesh, as, for instance:- one day the saint's brother Isa was grazing his flocks in the hills. There was no water in the neighborhood. Isa and his flock both became parched with thirst. Just then Musa came to his brother's help and with his stick made a small hole in the ground , covered it with his mantle, and began to pray. After a while he told his brother Isa to remove the mantle. The tradition says that a spring of clear water began to ooze from the hole, at which Isa and his flock quenched their thirst. Musa then closed the hole and the spring dried up. The site of this spring is in the Warmana Nala, close to which are seen two large heaps of stones called the chilas of Musa and Isa. Within the walls of this shrine are three trees, which are believed to be endowed with different miraculous qualities. To embrace the first will give a man a wife ; to climb the second will give him a horse; and to swing from the third will give him a son. Close to the Musa nikka ziarat are two others, known respectively as Shin Starga ziarat and Baghar ziarat. [A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province, 1919, Vol-I]

Ziarat of Musa nikka ,Birmal

Shaikh Isa Mashwani, a Pashto poet of Sher Shah Sur's period

The first Pashtun poet, the historicity of whose person and work, we cannot reasonably doubt, is Shaikh Isa Mashwani, though the quantity of his poetic effusion vouchsafed to the potency is very small. He was contemporary of the great Pashtun monarch, Sher Shah Sur, whose short reign (1540-45) is one of the golden periods of the Muslim rule in Indo-Pakistan sub-continent. Shaikh Isa seems to have settled in India. Naimatullah Haravi in his history of the Afghans, variously known as 'Makhzan-i-Afghani' and the 'Tareekh-i-Khan Jahani', mentions Shaikh Isa among the Afghan saints, and attributes to him the authorship of a "Risalah" (book or treatise) written on the unity of the divine being in three languages i.e Pashto, Persian and Hindavi viz Hindi or Hindustani, and produces a few specimens of his verses in these languages.(Dost Muhammad Khan Kamil, "Pashto literature during the Mughal period", Daily Fronteir Post, 10 April 1993, Peshawar)

Qazi Abdul Haleem Asar says: "Hazrat Shaikh Ahmad Son differed with theory of "Unity of Being" of Muhiyudin Ibn-Arabi , and wrote against his book, "Fusus-al-hikam", a rislah, named "Maseeh-ul-Quloob". He sent the risalah to Mian Shaikh Isa Mashwani and criticized his under-mention Pashto quatrain.

پخپله کارکړېخپله انکارکړې  - کله باداریم کله مې خوارکړې

 ته خوقادرئي په صفتونو - کله مې نورکړې کله مې نار کړې

عسی حیران دے په دې شیونو - کله مې یا کړې کله اغیار کړې

[You yourself do the acts and then deny them. Some time you make me the master, and then despise me.

You are omnipotent, some time you make me the light and then the fire.

Essa is surprised over all of these (things). At one time you chose me as your friend, and at other times, make me deserted and unfamiliar]

Qazi Asar referring to the "Solat-i-Afghani", writes that Shaikh Isa also wrote a risalah in the response to Shaikh Ahmad Son's risalah and had sent it to Shaikh Ahmad Son. (Qazi Abdul Haleem Asar, "Roohani rabita aw Roohani Taroon" second edition, 1967, pp.454-455)

Afzal Khan (grandson of Khushal Khattak) writes about Shaikh Isa Mashwani: "It is said that King Sher Shah was told that Essa was habitual to drink wine. Sher Shah appointed one of his reliable persons to look into the matter. When he arrived, he saw that the Shaikh was drinking milk from a goblet. It is said that Shaikh Essa Mashwani composed many good verses in Pashto, Persian and Hindi to praise monotheism." (Afzal Khan Khattak, "Tareekh-i-Murassa", p-549)

Sources: 

Roshnites and Pashto literature by Yar Muhammad Maghmoom Khattak.

Shaikh Michan Niazi مچن نيکه | Michan Khel tribe

Ziarat of Mechan Nika (مچن نيکه) , Wana, South Waziristan.

Shaikh Michan Niazi was a medieval Pashtun saint . His real name was Muhsin and he is generally said to have been 6th in descent from Khako, son of Niazi. He was given the title of Michan (meaning handmill in Pashto) when one day, while on hunt in wilderness, he started rotating like a hand-mill in religious ecstasy. A brief account of him is given in Makhzan-i-Afghani (composed in 1612 AD) as follow ;

"Shaikh Mechan, is related, in the prime of youth, to have been addicted to hunting and sporting. One day, while hunting, the divine attraction entered him, and the breeze of the Almighty's grace breathed into him, so that he became affected with with ecstasy and contrition , and, by excessive love , was subjected to periodical rotation. In consequence of which , they called him Mechan , which in the Afghan language, signifies a 'mill' ; that is to say , he turned around like a mill. His descendants, among the Mati tribe, enjoy great authority ; and his threshold is a place of pilgrimage to high and low." [B.Dorn translation]

The descendants of Michan Baba are reputed to posses charms against Snake bites and hydrophobia. They are known to catch living snakes with no fear or danger. Michan Baba is buried at Wana in thr hills of Waziristan. Haji Murad, a descendant of Michan, is a saint of great repute, and his tomb is on the bank of Kurram near Lakki.  ["A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West", Vol-3, p-101]