Sayyid Mahmud Agha

Mir Sayyid Mahmud Agha, officially known as Sayyid ul Sadaat Mir Sayyid Mahmud Saheb Agha ibn Mir Hasan Gilani-Naqshbandi al-Hasani wal-Husseini (died 1882) was a Sufi saint of South Asia. He was the brother of Sayyid Mir Jan and acted under him as Grand Master of the Naqshbandi Sufi order. Together with his brother, he preached the legacy of their ancestor Hazrat Ishaan.

Biography
Before joining his brother Sayyid Mir Jan, he was a powerful statesman and Naqib al-Ashraf in the Emirate of Afghanistan as young leader in the young age of twenty years. Together with his brother Sayyid Mir Jan, he has revived the culture of Hazrat Ishaan, after it was closely forgotten, due to the tragic martyrdom of his relative Mir Sayyid Kamaludeen Shaheed.



Ancestry
Sayyid Mahmud Agha is a Sayyid (a descendant of Muhammad through his daughter Fatimah and his cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib), both maternally and paternally. Among his paternal ancestors are seven of the Twelve Imams, and among his maternal ancestors were eleven of the Twelve Imams, Sayyid Abdul Qadir Jilani, Sayyid Bahauddin Naqshband, Sayyid Alauddin Atar, and Khwaja Khawand Mahmud (also known as Hazrat Ishaan) also. After the Battle of Karbala, the Ahl al-Bayt went back to Medina. From there Musa al Kazim was forced to go to Iraq. The Musavis, i.e. the descendants of Musa al Kadhim, settled to Persia. One of them was Khwaja Sayyid Mir Ismail Muhammad Hakim, father of Khwaja Sayyid Mir Latif, an ancestor of Hazrat Sayyid Mahmud Agha. The descendants of Sayyid Mir Latif immigrated to Bokhara and after that to Kabul, where Sayyid Mahmud Agha was born. His paternal family were and are still known as Naqib al-Ashraf of the Sunnis of Greater Iran. Sayyid Mahmud Agha's maternal ancestors were Askari Sayyids, i.e. descendants of Imam Hasan al-Askari, through his son Sayyid Ali Akbar, whose existence was hidden, because of political conflicts. Sayyid Ali Akbar's descendants also migrated to Bokhara, where the prominent Sufi saint Bahauddin Naqshband, founder of the Naqshbandi Sufi Order, was born. A descendant of Bahauddin Naqshband after 7 generations was Hazrat Ishaan, whose descendants later immigrated to variable regions of South Asia, like Khorasan, today known as Afghanistan in order to spread the Ishaqiyya Naqshbandiyya branch's teachings. He was also considered an Alid Prince, with the heraldic title Mir.

Lineage

 * 1) Muhammad
 * 2) Ali and Fatima Al Zahra
 * 3) Imam Hussain Shaheede Reza
 * 4) Ali Zayn al-Abidin
 * 5) Muhammad al Baqir
 * 6) Ja'far al-Sadiq
 * 7) Musa al Kazim
 * 8) Imamzadeh Hamzah
 * 9) Sayyid Mir Qasim
 * 10) Sayyid Mir Ahmad
 * 11) Sayyid Mir Muhammad
 * 12) Sayyid Mir Ismail Muhammad Hakim
 * 13) Khwaja Sayyid Mir Latif
 * 14) Khwaja Sayyid Mir Muhammad
 * 15) Khwaja Sayyid Mir Kulal
 * 16) Khwaja Sayyid Mir Ahmad
 * 17) Khwaja Sayyid Mir Hashim
 * 18) Khwaja Sayyid Mir Mustaali
 * 19) Khwaja Sayyid Mir Dost Ali
 * 20) Khwaja Sayyid Mir Muhammad Latif
 * 21) Khwaja Sayyid Mir Abdullah
 * 22) Khwaja Sayyid Mir Muhammad Shamah
 * 23) Khwaja Sayyid Mir Latifullah
 * 24) Khwaja Sayyid Mir Ruhollah
 * 25) Khwaja Sayyid Mir Baitullah
 * 26) Khwaja Sayyid Mir Nimatullah
 * 27) Khwaja Sayyid Mir Azimullah
 * 28) Khwaja Sayyid Mir Muhammad Hasan
 * 29) Sayyid Mahmud Agha

Teachings
Mir Sayyid Mahmud Agha along with his brother preached the legacy of their ancestor Hazrat Ishaan as regards principles of Islam and spirituality.

Death and legacy
Mahmud Agha died in Lahore in his twenties. A legend goes that after his death, his Hindu, Sikh and Muslim followers clashed, wishing to bury him in accordance with their respective religions. Eventually Sayyid Mir Jan mediated and calmed down the mob, deciding to bury Mahmud Agha in an Islamic manner.

Sayyid Mahmud Agha is buried in Begampura, Lahore next to his brother Sayyid Mir Jan. His death anniversary is commemorated with short prayers called Zikr.

Today the legacy of Sayyid Mahmud Agha is predominantly represented by the descendants of his younger brother Sayyid Mir Fazlullah Agha.

Sayyid Agha's followers call him Nooron ala Noor or "the manifestation of the light"