Hazrat Ishaan

Hazrat Ishaan Mahmud bin Sharif bin Zia bin Muhammad bin Tajuddin bin Hussein bin Zahra binte Bahauddin Naqshband (1563 — 5 November 1642) was an influential Sunni saint from Bukhara, Uzbekistan and hereditary supreme leader of his ancestor Bahauddin Naqshband's Sufi Order, the Naqshbandiyya

Family
Hazrat Ishaan was the second son of Khwaja Sayyid Mir Sharifuddin son of Ziauddin son of Muhammad son of Tajuddin son of Hussein son of Zahra daughter of Bahauddin Naqshband Damrel additionally highlights Mahmuds maternal descent from Ahmad Yasavi and Imam Hussein and thus his direct bilateral descent from Muhammad.

Spiritual journey
Hazat Ishaan was granted permission from his father to study in a royal college and had become an accomplished scholar. In the age of 23 years Hazrat Ishaan Shah Saheb has received a letter to visit his father and to accompany him in his last days. Upon his father, passing away, he concentrated on the mystical quest. In this he first left to Wakhsh, where he became Shaykh ul Islam, performing his duties there. While staying in Wakhsh, he got to know Khwaja Hajji. They have met a second time in Balkh, where Khwaja Hajji has introduced him to his future master Khwaja Ishaq Dahbidi and has become his disciple. He met him the second time in Bokhara and has become his disciple. After twelve years of spiritual training Hazrat Ishaan Saheb has reached the level of a Shaykh in Tasawuff in year 1598. Khwaja Ishaq Wali has welcomed him in his circle as the "Shahanshah-e-Awliya" (English: Emperor of all Saints of the time). On the advise of Khwaja Ishaq Wali Hazrat Ishaan Saheb went to Lahore to propagate the Ishaqqiya path. Instead he went to Srinagar in Kashmir. In Srinagar he attracted many people, who have later followed him. The fame of his piety has reached many areas of Central Asia. Hundreds of thousands of disciples in Khorasan, modern-day Afghanistan, especially in the cities of Kandahar, Kabul and Herat, followed him. He has sent disciples in all over Central Asia under, whom 2 have been sent to Tibet. Unlike other Naqshbandi Masters he attracted many people, who were not only official patronages. Hazrat Khwaja Khawand Mahmud was invited by the Moghul Emperor Jahangir to attend to his court in Agra. Attending there several times, he was able to create firm connections to the court, because Jahangir was a disciple of his. Jahangir firmly believed in him, being taught by his father Akbar that he was born through Hazrat Ishaan´s prayers, when Akbar desperately wished to have a child. Becoming entangled in the struggle against the Shia community there, Moghul emperor Shah Jahan evacuated him in year 1636 to Delhi. Hazrat Ishaan spent his last six years in Lahore, where Jahangir's son Shah Jahan has built a Palace for him, that later became his mausoleum.

A number of notable figures are buried in the complex of Hazrat Ishaan’s tomb, for example Javed Iqbal (judge, born 1924), members of the Ferozsons family, and some members of Afghan royalty.

Succession
Hazrat Ishaan was succeeded by his son Moinuddin Naqshabnd in Kashmir. His youngest son Bahauddin succeeded his father in Lahore in a very young age. His spiritual line died out in the late eighteenth century. Hazrat Ishaan has stated that one of his progeny will come to revive his lineage and to take his place as Ghawth. It has been found, that Hazrat Sayyid Mir Jan is this person, who is his successor in the Uwaisiyyah transmissional way.

His successor was Sayyid ul Sadaat Hazrat Sayyid Mir Jan.

Descendants
Notable descendants of Mahmud include:
 * Sayyid Mir Jan (1800–1901)
 * Sayyid Mahmud Agha (d.1850s–1882)
 * Sayyid Mir Fazlullah Agha (1850s–1930s)