Zahed Gilani

Who was Zahed Gilani?

Taj Al-Din Ebrahim ibn Rushan Amir Al-Kurdi Al-Sanjani, titled Sheikh Zahed Gilani, was Grandmaster of the famed Zahediyeh Sufi Order at Lahijan. He was of Kurdish descent.

Since the mid 13th century, Sheikh Zahed is 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 picturesque village of Sheikhanvar. His ancestors hailed from the ancient Iranian city of Sanjan in Khorasan. Fleeing the Seljuq invasion that would eventually conquer large parts of Persia, 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, descendants of Genghis Khan, who followed Seljuq rule.

His most notable disciple was Safi-ad-din Ardabili, the Eponym of the Safavid Dynasty. He wed Zahed's daughter Bibi Fatima and, overgoing the interest of Taj Al-Din 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 Order. Some 170 years after Safi Al-Din's death, Safaviyya had gained sufficient political and military power to claim the Throne of Iran for the Safavid Heir, Shah Ismail I Safavi. His second-born son, Sadr al-Dīn, wed Safi Al-Din's daughter from a previous marriage. The two families were to be intertwined for many centuries to come, by blood as well as mutual spiritual causes.