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{{Short description|Ormur Pashtun Sufi poet (c. 1525–1585)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Pir Roshan
| native_name = {{nobold|{{lang|ps|پیر روښان}}}}
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Bāyazīd Khān Ansārī
| birth_date = {{circa|1525}}
| birth_place = [[Jalandhar]], [[Punjab]], [[Lodi dynasty|Lodi Sultanate]]<ref name="Schimmel"/><br/>{{small|(present-day [[Punjab, India|Punjab]], India)}}
| death_date = {{circa|1585}}<ref name="Schimmel"/> (aged 60)
| death_place = [[Topi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|Topi]], [[Kabulistan|Kabul Subah]], [[Mughal Empire]]<br/>{{small|(present-day [[Swabi District]], [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]], Pakistan)}}
| resting_place = [[North Waziristan]], [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]], Pakistan
| known_for = [[Pashto literature]]<br/>[[Roshani movement]]<br/>[[Pashto alphabet]]
| notable_works = ''[[Khayr al-Bayān]]''
| children = {{unbulleted list|Sheikh Omar|Nuruddin|Khairuddin|Kamaluddin|Jalaluddin|Allahdad|Dawlatullah}}<ref name=":1"/>
| father = Sheikh Abdullah<ref>{{cite book |others=Houtsma, M Th |title=E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam 1913-1936, Volume 9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p5U3AAAAIAAJ |access-date=11 August 2013 |year=1987 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=9004082654 |page=686}}</ref>
| spouse = {{unbulleted list|Shamso}}<ref name=":1"/>
}}

'''Bāyazīd Khān Ansārī''' ({{langx|ps|بایزید خان انصاري}}; {{circa|1525}} – 1585), commonly known as '''Pīr Rōshān''' or '''Pīr Rōkhān''', was an [[Ormur]] warrior, [[Sufism|Sufi]] [[Pir (Sufism)|Pir]] and revolutionary leader.<ref>{{cite book |author=Lee |first=Jonathan L. |title=Afghanistan: A History from 1260 to the Present |date=2022 |page=58 |quote=Pir Roshan, was from the small Ormur or Baraki tribe, whose mother tongue was Ormuri}}</ref> He is best known for founding the [[Roshani movement]], which gained many followers in present-day [[Pakistan]] and [[Afghanistan]], and produced a number of Pashto poets and writers. Pir Roshan wrote ''[[Khayr al-Bayān]],'' one of the earliest known books containing Pashto prose, and also created the [[Pashto alphabet]], derived from the [[Arabic script]] with 13 new letters. A modified version of this alphabet continues to be used to write Pashto. He wrote mostly in [[Pashto language|Pashto]], but also in [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Urdu]] and [[Arabic language|Arabic]], while his own mother tongue was [[Ormuri]].

Pir Roshan assembled Pashtun tribesmen to fight against the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] emperor [[Akbar]] in response to Akbar's continuous military agitations. The Mughals referred to Pir Roshan as ''Pīr-e Tārīk'' ({{langx|en|Dark Sufi Master}}).<ref name=":0" /> Due to Pir Roshan's spiritual and religious hold over a large portion of Pashtuns, Akbar sought help of various religious figures into the struggle, most notably [[Pir Baba]] and [[Akhund Darweza]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Bilgrami |first=Fatima Zehra |date=1995 |title=The Roshanis and the Mughals |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44158619 |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=56 |pages=188–203 |issn=2249-1937 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> The Mughals persecuted his followers and executed many of them. A Mughal army eventually killed Pir Roshan and most of his sons. Only his youngest son, Pir Jalala, survived and later took up arms against the Mughals as the new leader of the Roshani movement.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wynbrandt |first=James |title=A Brief History of Pakistan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xQGwgJnCPZgC|year=2009 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-0816061846 |page=82}}</ref> The Roshani followers in [[Waziristan]], [[Kurram Valley|Kurram]], [[Tirah]], [[Loya Paktia]], [[Loy Kandahar]] (including [[Kasi (Pashtun tribe)|Kasi]] tribesmen), and [[Nangarhar Province|Nangarhar]] continued their struggle against the Mughals for about a hundred years after Pir Roshan's death.

==Background ==
Bayazid was born in 1525 just outside [[Jalandhar]] in [[Punjab region|Punjab]] (present-day India), but early in his childhood, he moved with his family to their ancestral homeland of [[Kaniguram]] in [[South Waziristan]] (present-day Pakistan).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kakar |first=Hasan Kawun |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vgbYEAAAQBAJ&dq=bayazid+Afghan+1525&pg=PT14 |title=Government and Society in Afghanistan: The Reign of Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan |date=2014-08-27 |publisher=Univ of TX + ORM |isbn=978-0-292-76777-5 |language=en}}</ref> He descended from a prominent family of [[Medina]] which traced its ancestry from [[Abu Ayyub al-Ansari]], a companion of prophet [[Muhammad]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Bilgrami |first=Fatima Zehra |date=1999 |title=The 'Roshani' Family in the Mughal Nobility |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44144096 |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |publisher=[[Indian History Congress]] |volume=60 |pages=293–305 |issn=2249-1937 |jstor=44144096 |url-access=subscription |jstor-access=}}</ref> His family was one of the many families who fled back to their ancestral land after the Turkic ruler [[Babur]] overthrew the Afghan [[Lodi dynasty]] in India in 1526.<ref name="Monash2">{{cite book |author1=Angelo Andrea Di Castro |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zGGfCgAAQBAJ |title=Asian Horizons: Giuseppe Tucci's Buddhist, Indian, Himalayan and Central Asian Studies |author2=David Templeman |publisher=Monash University Publishing |year=2015 |isbn=978-1922235336 |pages=544–584}}</ref> His grandfather was from the [[Logar Province|Lohgar Valley]] near [[Kabul]] in the country of the [[Baraki Barak|Barkis]], but had immigrated to Waziristan, while his grandson was born in India.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=tGTd9KKwKVwC&dq=pir+roshan+ormur&pg=PA201 |page=201 |author= G.P Tate |date=2001 |title=The Kingdom of Afghanistan: A Historical Sketch |publisher=Asian Educational Services |isbn=9788120615861 }}</ref> His father, Abdullah, was an Islamic [[Qadi]] (judge). However, his father and relatives, and later Bayazid himself, also traded between Afghanistan and India.

== Roshani movement ==
{{main|Roshani movement}}
Bayazid began teaching at the age of 40. His message was well received by the [[Mohmand (tribe)|Mohmand]] and [[Shinwari]] tribesmen. He then went to the [[Peshawar]] valley and spread his message to the [[Khalil (Pashtun tribe)|Khalil]] and [[Muhammadzai]]. He sent missionaries (''khalifas'') to various parts of South and Central Asia. He sent one of his disciples, Dawlat Khan, along with his book ''Sirat at-Tawhid'' to Mughal Emperor Akbar. ''Khalifa'' Yusuf was sent along with his book ''Fakhr at-Talibin'' to the ruler of [[Badakhshan]], [[Mirza Sulayman]]. Mawdud Tareen was sent to propagate his message to [[Kandahar]], [[Balochistan]], and [[Sindh]]. Arzani Khweshki was sent to India to convey the message to common people there. Besides, he also sent his deputies to [[Kabul]], [[Balkh]], [[Bukhara]], and [[Samarkand]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Responses of Mysticism to Religious Terrorism: Sufism and Beyond|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p3vGDwAAQBAJ |author1=Mahmoud Masaeli|author2=Rico Sneller|publisher=Gompel&Svacina|year=2020|page=91|isbn=978-9463711906}}</ref> However, when he and his followers started spreading their movement amongst the Yousafzais, Bayazid came into direct confrontation with the orthodox followers of [[Pir Baba]] in [[Buner]]. He established a base in the [[Tirah]] valley where he rallied other tribes. In ''Oxford History of India'', [[Vincent Arthur Smith|Vincent Smith]] describes this as the first "Pashtun renaissance" against Mughal rule.<ref>Vincent Smith; Oxford History of India volume Vol: VI; P- 325-40</ref> When Mughal Emperor Akbar proclaimed [[Din-i Ilahi|''Din-i Ilahi'']], Bayazid raised the flag of open rebellion. He led his army in several successful skirmishes and battles against Mughal forces, but they were routed in a major battle in [[Nangarhar]] by Mughal General Muhsin Khan.

During the 1580s, [[Yusufzai]]s rebelled against the Mughals and joined the [[Roshani movement]] of Pir Roshan.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V19_154.gif|title=Imperial Gazetteer2 of India, Volume 19– Imperial Gazetteer of India|publisher=Digital South Asia Library|page=152|access-date=22 April 2015|archive-date=5 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205202857/https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V19_154.gif|url-status=dead}}</ref> In late 1585, Mughal Emperor Akbar sent military forces under [[Zain Khan Koka]] and [[Birbal]] to crush the Roshani rebellion. In February 1586, about 8,000 Mughal soldiers, including Birbal, were [[Battle of the Malandari Pass (1586)|killed near the Karakar Pass]] between Buner and Swat while fighting against the Yusufzai lashkar led by [[Kalu Khan Yousafzai|Kalu Khan]]. This was the greatest disaster faced by the Mughal army during Akbar's reign.<ref>{{cite book |first=John F. |last=Richards |author-link=John F. Richards |series=The New Cambridge History of India |title=The Mughal Empire |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1993 |pages=50–51 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHyVh29gy4QC&pg=PA50|isbn=9780521566032 }}</ref> However, during the attack, Pir Roshan was himself killed by the Mughal army near [[Topi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|Topi]]. In 1587, Mughal general [[Man Singh I]] defeated 20,000 strong Roshani soldiers and 5,000 horsemen.<ref name="Schimmel" /> Major [[Henry George Raverty]] transpired the account from Akhund Darweza about Pir Roshan's coffin was seized in the midst of a battle between the Roshaniyya and Mughal forces. Some of his bones were burnt, and cast into the Indus river.<ref name="Abubakar2014">{{cite book
|title=Singing with the Mountains; The Language of God in the Afghan Highland
|date=5 December 2023
|publisher= Fordham University Press
|page=27
|author= William Sherman
|isbn= 9781531505691
|url=https://www.google.co.id/books/edition/Singing_with_the_Mountains/2w7iEAAAQBAJ?hl=en
|chapter= 4 Vernacular Apocalypse: Poetic and Polemical Emergences of Pashto Literature
}}</ref> Pir Roshan's five sons, however, continued fighting against the Mughals until about 1640.<ref name="Schimmel">{{cite book|title=Islam in the Indian Subcontinent|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TYImm1TnemwC |last=Schimmel|first=Annemarie|publisher=BRILL|year=1980|page=87|isbn=9004061177}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-02-16 |title=The Power Of Pen And Sword: How Pir Roshan United Pashtuns Against The Mughal Empire |url=https://www.thefridaytimes.com/2022/02/16/the-power-of-pen-and-sword-how-pir-roshan-united-pashtuns-against-the-mughal-empire/ |access-date=2025-10-12 |website=The Friday Times |language=en}}</ref>

==Successors==

Bayazid's sons were put to death with the exception of his youngest, Jalala, who was pardoned by Akbar as he was only 14 years old when he was captured. He later took up arms as Pir Jalala Khan and successfully engaged the Mughal armies.<ref name=":1" />

As part of a concerted campaign to destroy the Roshanis around 1619 or 1620, [[Mahabat Khan]], under the Emperor Jahangir, massacred 300 Daulatzai Orakzai in the Tirah. Ghairat Khan was sent to the Tirah region to engage the Roshani forces with a large military force via Kohat.<ref name="Gazetteer_23_389">{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/TheImperialGazetteerOfIndia-Volume23
|title= Tīrāh–Imperial Gazetteer of India |volume= 23 |page= 389}}</ref> The Mughal forces were repulsed, but six years later Muzaffar Khan marched against Ahdad Khan. After several months of intense fighting, Ahdad Khan was killed. The death of Jahangir in 1627 led to a general uprising of the Pashtuns against Mughal forces.<ref name="Gazetteer_23_389"/> Ahdad's son Abdul Qadir returned to Tirah to seek vengeance. Under his command, the Roshani defeated Muzaffar Khan's forces en route from Peshawar to Kabul, killing Muzaffar. Abdul Qadir plundered Peshawar and invested the citadel.<ref name="Gazetteer_23_389"/> It was not until the time of Mughal Emperor [[Shah Jahan]] (1628–1658) that a truce was brokered – between Akbar's grandson and Bayazid's great grandson.

== Legacy and assessment ==
The religious view of Pir Roshan was considered heretical by his contemporaries of Pashtun tribes from [[Khattak]] and [[Yusufzai]].<ref name="Afghanistan:Ali Ahmad Jalali; 252" /> Roshan extended his dismissiveness to Shiʻism as well, deriding it as an inferior form of Islam invented by Iranian elites during the rise of Three Ottomans, as effort undermine it. Roshan claimed that Persians actually regards the Ottomans embodied the true Islam.<ref>{{Cite book
|last = Mirsepassi
|first = Ali
|title = The Discovery of Iran: Taghi Arani, a Radical Cosmopolitan
|trans-title =
|date = 2021
|publisher = Stanford University Press
|isbn = 9781503629806
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0_ZNEAAAQBAJ
|access-date = December 24, 2025}}, quote: "When the Ottoman Empire was undergoing formation, Iran stood against us as an opposing force. The Shia religion, which had just come into existence, took a political form, shedding much blood. The difference between the two religions led to much acrimony. But what is the difference? To love Ali and his sons? But is this not shared by all Muslims? Do we prefer Abubakr (May Allah be pleased with him), Omar or Othman (May Allah be pleased with them)? No! It is just that they were able to fulfill their duties in their right time and place. History has thus given them due respect and sanctity. We are therefore bound to fulfill our religious duty out of respect."</ref>

Pir Roshan also originally wrote his ''Khair al-Bayan'' in [[Pashto]], which meant that the text was more accessible to the Pashtuns than the [[Arabic]] [[Quran]] and that those followers took some measure of pride in its composition.<ref name="Nichols, Robert 1900">Nichols, Robert. Settling the frontier: Land, law and society in the Peshawar valley, 1500-1900. University of Pennsylvania, 1997</ref>

During the 19th century, [[oriental studies|orientalist]] scholars translating texts from Pashto and other regional texts termed his movement a "sect" which believed in the transmigration of souls and in the representation of God through individuals.<ref name="Monash">{{cite book |author1=Angelo Andrea Di Castro |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zGGfCgAAQBAJ |title=Asian Horizons: Giuseppe Tucci's Buddhist, Indian, Himalayan and Central Asian Studies |author2=David Templeman |publisher=Monash University Publishing |year=2015 |isbn=978-1922235336 |pages=544–584}}</ref> Ideologically, history assessors with [[Left-wing politics|left-wing]] view has regarded him as reformer who fight against conservative value among Pashtuns during his era.<ref name="Afghanistan:Ali Ahmad Jalali; 252">{{cite book |author1=Ali Ahmad Jalali |title=Afghanistan: A Military History from the Ancient Empires to the Great Game |year=2021 |publisher=University Press of Kansas |isbn=978-0700632633 |page=252 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NBGrEAAAQBAJ |access-date=23 July 2024}}</ref>

Aminullah Khan Gandapur, in his book ''Tārīkh-i-Sarzamīn-i-Gōmal'' (History of the Gomal Land; National Book Foundation-2008, 2nd Ed. ISBN 978-969-23423-2-2; P-57-63), ascribed a chapter to the Roshani movement and to their strife and achievement with the sword and the pen.

==See also==
* [[Mullah Powindah]]
* [[Rajwali Shah|Raj Wali Shah Khattak]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://pashtunhistory.com/desecration-of-pir-roshan-grave/ Desecration of Pir Roshan's grave and dead body]
* [https://pashtunhistory.com/pir-roshan-bayazid-ansari/ History of Pir Roshan]

{{Pashtun nationalism}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roshan, Pir}}
[[Category:1520s births]]
[[Category:1580s deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:16th-century rebels]]
[[Category:Pashtun people]]
[[Category:Writers from Jalandhar]]
[[Category:People from South Waziristan]]
[[Category:Shrines in Pakistan]]
[[Category:North Waziristan District]]
[[Category:Proto-socialists]]

Pir Roshan - Revision history

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