Zahed Gilani

 ( 1218 Births ) 

Taj Al-Din Ebrahim ibn Rushan Amir Al-Kurdi Al-Sanjani (or Sinjani; Persian language:تاج الدين ابراهيم كردی سنجانی)‎ (1218 – 1301), titled Sheikh Zahed (or Zahid) Gilani (Persian language: شیخ زاهد گیلانی), was an Iranian peoples Grandmaster ( murshid-i kamil) of the famed Zahediyeh Sufi order at Lahijan. 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..." 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", Sûfî Araştırmaları - Sufi Studies, Sayı 13, s. 50Serap Şah, 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 Şeyx Səfi Təzkirəsi. Səfvətüs-səfanın XVI əsr türk tərcüməsi. Bakı: Nurlan, 2006, s. 135 He is also known as Sultan-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. However, another tomb dedicated to him can be found in Lahijan.

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 Greater Khorasan (located in present-day Turkmenistan). Fleeing the Seljuk Empire 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 Sufism 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 peoples Bayramiye and Jelveti orders also had their origin in Zahed Gilani's Zahediyeh Sufism Order.

• List of Persian poets and authors

• Yves Bomati and Houchang Nahavandi, Shah Abbas, Emperor of Persia,1587-1629, 2017, ed. Ketab Corporation, Los Angeles, , English translation by Azizeh Azodi.
• E.G. Browne. Literary History of Persia. (Four volumes, 2,256 pages, and twenty-five years in the writing). 1998.
• Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company. 1968 .
• Derwische im Vorhof der Macht. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-515-05758-7.