Zahed Gilani

Taj Al-Din Ebrahim ibn Rushan Amir Al-Kurdi Al-Sanjani (or Sinjani; Persian: تاج الدين ابراهيم كردی سنجانی)‎ (1216–1301), titled Sheikh Zahed (or Zahid) Gilani, was an Iranian Grandmaster (Murshid Kamil) of the famed Zahediyeh Sufi Order at Lahijan. He is well known as Sultân-ûl Khalwatiyya Tadj’ad-Dīn Ebraheem Zāheed al-Geylānī, as well.

His life

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 (located in present day Turkmenistan). 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 (1256–1353), descendants of Genghis Khan, who followed Seljuq rule.