Mir Sayyid Mahmud Agha, officially known as Sayyid ul Sadaat Mir Sayyid Mahmud Saheb Agha ibn Mir Hasan Naqshbandi al-Hasani wal-Husseini (died 1882) was a Sufi saint of South Asia. He was the brother of Sayyid Mir Jan and acted under him as Grand Master of the Naqshbandi Sufi order. Together with his brother, he preached the legacy of their ancestor Hazrat Ishaan.

Hazrat Ishaan
Mir Sayyid Mahmud Saheb Agha
DiedOctober 1882
Resting placeLahore
TitleMir (Prince)[1][2][3]

Shah Rahnumah (guide of kings)[4]

Hazrat Shah Saheb (Blessed king)[5]

Aziz al-Jannah (Prince of paradise)[5]

Qudwat ul-Salikeen (The destination of seekers)[6]

Sayyid ul Sadat (Sayyid of the Sayyids)

Sultan Fazl (The king of virtue)

Sultan Karam (The holy king)

Sultan Wafaeen (The king of the loyals)

Sardar Mardan (Prince of men (honored by his father Shahe Mardan, Ali Ibn Abi Talib))

Turab (After his father Ali Ibn Abi Talib)

Sultan Muizz (The king, who grants honor)

Sultan Muzill (The high Authority, punishing unjust rulers)

Wakil Muali (The high Advocate)

Sher Sowar (Tiger rider)

Farzand Delband Ali wa Mustafa (Beloved son of Ali and Muhammad)

Dost Ali (Friend of Ali)

Mahbube Sayyid Mir jan (beloved of Sayyid Mir Jan)
PredecessorSayyid Mir Jan
SuccessorSayyid ul Sadaat Sayyid Mir Fazlullah & Sayyida Bibi Siddiqa Begum
ParentSayyid Hasan ibn Azimullah

Biography

edit

Before joining his brother Sayyid Mir Jan, he was a powerful statesman and Naqib al-Ashraf in the Emirate of Afghanistan as young leader in the young age of twenty years. Together with his brother Sayyid Mir Jan, he has revived the culture of Hazrat Ishaan, after it was closely forgotten, due to the tragic martyrdom of his relative Mir Sayyid Kamaludeen Shaheed.[1][7]

 
Inside of the Darbar. Grave of Hazrat Eshan Shah Saheb, Hazrat Sayyid Mir Jan Shah Saheb Sayyid Mahmud Shah Saheb after renovation by Khwaja Sardar Sayyid Mir Sultan Masood Dakik

Ancestry

edit

Sayyid Mahmud Agha is a Sayyid (a descendant of Muhammad through his daughter Fatimah and his cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib), both maternally and paternally. Among his paternal ancestors are seven of the Twelve Imams, and among his maternal ancestors were eleven of the Twelve Imams, Sayyid Bahauddin Naqshband, Sayyid Alauddin Atar, and Khwaja Khawand Mahmud (also known as Hazrat Ishaan) also. After the Battle of Karbala, the Ahl al-Bayt went back to Medina.[8] From there Musa al Kazim was forced to go to Iraq.[9] The Musavis, i.e. the descendants of Musa al Kadhim, settled to Persia. One of them was Khwaja Sayyid Mir Ismail Muhammad Hakim, father of Khwaja Sayyid Mir Latif, an ancestor of Hazrat Sayyid Mahmud Agha. The descendants of Sayyid Mir Latif immigrated to Bokhara and after that to Kabul, where Sayyid Mahmud Agha was born.[10][11] His paternal family were and are still known as Naqib al-Ashraf of the Sunnis of Greater Iran.[3] Sayyid Mahmud Agha's maternal ancestors were Askari Sayyids, i.e. descendants of Imam Hasan al-Askari, through his son Sayyid Ali Akbar,[12] whose existence was hidden, because of political conflicts.[13][14] Sayyid Ali Akbar's descendants also migrated to Bokhara, where the prominent Sufi saint Bahauddin Naqshband, founder of the Naqshbandi Sufi Order, was born.[15][16] A descendant of Bahauddin Naqshband after 7 generations was Hazrat Ishaan,[17][18] whose descendants later immigrated to variable regions of South Asia, like Khorasan, today known as Afghanistan in order to spread the Ishaqiyya Naqshbandiyya branch's teachings.[15][17][18][19] He was also considered an Alid Prince, with the heraldic title Mir.[20][1]

Lineage

edit
  1. Muhammad
  2. Ali and Fatima Al Zahra
  3. Imam Hussain Shaheede Reza
  4. Ali Zayn al-Abidin
  5. Muhammad al Baqir
  6. Ja'far al-Sadiq
  7. Musa al Kazim
  8. Imamzadeh Hamzah
  9. Sayyid Mir Qasim
  10. Sayyid Mir Ahmad
  11. Sayyid Mir Muhammad
  12. Sayyid Mir Ismail Muhammad Hakim
  13. Khwaja Sayyid Mir Latif
  14. Khwaja Sayyid Mir Muhammad
  15. Khwaja Sayyid Mir Kulal
  16. Khwaja Sayyid Mir Ahmad
  17. Khwaja Sayyid Mir Hashim
  18. Khwaja Sayyid Mir Mustaali
  19. Khwaja Sayyid Mir Dost Ali
  20. Khwaja Sayyid Mir Muhammad Latif
  21. Khwaja Sayyid Mir Abdullah
  22. Khwaja Sayyid Mir Muhammad Shamah
  23. Khwaja Sayyid Mir Latifullah
  24. Khwaja Sayyid Mir Ruhollah
  25. Khwaja Sayyid Mir Baitullah
  26. Khwaja Sayyid Mir Nimatullah
  27. Khwaja Sayyid Mir Azimullah
  28. Khwaja Sayyid Mir Muhammad Hasan
  29. Sayyid Mahmud Agha

Teachings

edit

Mir Sayyid Mahmud Agha along with his brother preached the legacy of their ancestor Hazrat Ishaan as regards principles of Islam and spirituality.

Death and legacy

edit

Mahmud Agha died in Lahore in his twenties. A legend goes that after his death, his Hindu, Sikh and Muslim followers clashed, wishing to bury him in accordance with their respective religions.[20] Eventually Sayyid Mir Jan mediated and calmed down the mob, deciding to bury Mahmud Agha in an Islamic manner.

Sayyid Mahmud Agha is buried in Begampura, Lahore next to his brother Sayyid Mir Jan. His death anniversary is commemorated with short prayers called Zikr.[21][20]

Today the legacy of Sayyid Mahmud Agha is predominantly represented by the descendants of his younger brother Sayyid Mir Fazlullah Agha.

Sayyid Agha's followers call him Nooron ala Noor or "the manifestation of the light"[21][20]

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c Tazkare Khwanadane Hazrat Eshan (genealogy of the family of Hazrat Eshan) (by author and investigator: Muhammad Yasin Qasvari Naqshbandi company: Edara Talimat Naqshbandiyya Lahore) p.335
  2. ^ "Sayyid Mahmud (R.a.) | House of Hazrat Ishaan".
  3. ^ a b "Culture".
  4. ^ Tazkare Khanwade Hazrat ishaan, Edarat Talimat naqshbandiyya, by Muhammad Yasin Qasvari, p. 334
  5. ^ a b Khatm Ziyarat Sharif Hazrat Ishaan, Section Dua Ikhtimitamiya, p. 4
  6. ^ Tazkare Khanwade Hazrat ishaan, Edarat Talimat naqshbandiyya, by Muhammad Yasin Qasvari, p. 336
  7. ^ Damrell, in Forgotten Grace, page. 250 ff.
  8. ^ Imam Ali ibn al-Hussein (2001). The Complite Edition of the Treatise on Rights. Qum: Ansariyan Publications.
  9. ^ Sharif al-Qarashi2, Baqir (2000). The Life Of Imam Musa Bin Ja'far aL-Kazim (PDF). Translated by Jasim al-Rasheed. Iraq: Ansarian
  10. ^ Tazkare Khwanadane Hazrat Eshan(genealogy of the family of Hazrat Eshan)(by author and investigator:Muhammad Yasin Qasvari Naqshbandi company:Edara Talimat Naqshbandiyya Lahore) p.65
  11. ^ Khatme Ziarate Sharife hazrat eshan Bukhari(written and investigated by Mian Ahmad Bader Akhlaq (BSC)) printed the second time in 1988 Writer and inspector Mian Muhammad Hasan Akhlaq (M.Km) 1988 company: Koperatis Lahorin
  12. ^ "Shajara-e-nasab lineages of descendants of Imam Hasan al-Askari r.a.-Shajara.org". Retrieved 2020-06-29.
  13. ^ al-Kafi, by Muhammad Ya'qub Kulayni. Translated by Muhammad Sarwar. Chap. 124, Birth of Abi Muhammad al-Hasan ibn 'Ali, p.705
  14. ^ Dr.Annemarie Schimmels book "Pain and Grace: A Study of Two Mystical Writers of Eighteenth-Century Muslim India" BRILL, 1976, p.32
  15. ^ a b Khtame Ziarate Sharife hazrat eshan Bukhari(written and investigated by Mian Ahmad Bader Akhlaq(BSC)) printed the second time in 1988 Writer and inspector Mian Muhammad Hasan Akhlaq(M.Km) 1988 company: Koperatis Lahorin
  16. ^ Sultanova, Razia (2011). "Naqshbandiyya". From Shamanism to Sufism. I.B.Tauris. p. 32-37. ISBN 978-1-84885-309-6.
  17. ^ a b "Nazaria-i-Pakistan Trust".
  18. ^ a b Expanding Frontiers in South Asian and World History: Essays in Honor of John F. Richards p. 159
  19. ^ the Naqshbandiyya: Orthodoxy and activism in a worldwide Sufi tradition" written and investigated by: Itzchak Weismann; company: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group (p. 52)
  20. ^ a b c d Badr Akhlaq, in "Mian Hazrat Ishaan Ouran ka Qarab wa jawaris, page 115
  21. ^ a b Tazkare Khwanadane Hazrat Eshan(genealogy of the family of Hazrat Eshan)(by author and investigator:Muhammad Yasin Qasvari Naqshbandi company:Edara Talimat Naqshbandiyya Lahore)p.332-337