Question

Who is known as the founder of ‘Sohravardi Succession’ in India ?
1. Sheikh Saleem Chishti
2. Sheikh Kadir Jalani
3. Sheikh Ahamad Sarhindi
4. Sheikh Baha-Ud-Din Zakariya

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 4 : Sheikh Baha-Ud-Din Zakariya

​The correct answer is Sheikh Baha-Ud-Din Zakariya.

• Sheikh Baha-Ud-Din Zakariya is known as the founder of the ‘Sohravardi Succession’ in India.

• The Suhrawardi order entered India at about the same time, as the Chishtis, but its activities were confined largely to the Punjab and Multan.
• This order was founded by Sheikh Shihabuddin Suhrawardi, but the real founder of this order in India was Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariyya born at Kot Karor, near Multan, in about 1182-83.
• The order became popular in India owing to the work of Bukhari and his successor Baha-ud-din Zakariya.
• Zakariya’s successor was his son Shaikh Sadruddin ‘Arif.
• His disciple Amir Husayn, the author of Zad- al-Musafirin, wrote several works on the doctrine of the oneness of being.
• Shaikh Arif’s son and successor Ruknuddin were highly respected by the Delhi Sultans from Alauddin Khalji to Muhammad Ibn Tughlaq.
• The Suhrawardiyya  is a Sufi order founded by the Sufi Diya al-din Abu ‘n-Najib as-Suhrawardi (1097 – 1168 CE).
• It is a strictly Sunni order, guided by the Shafi`i school of Islamic law (madhhab), and, like many such orders, traces its spiritual genealogy (Silsila) to Ali ibn Abi Talib through Junayd Baghdadi and al-Ghazali.
• It played an important role in the formation of a conservative ‘new piety’ and in the regulation of urban vocational and other groups, such as trades-guilds and youth clubs (see Futuwwa), particularly in Baghdad.