Khwāja Bandanawāz Gēsūdarāz (Sayyid Muhammad Husaini), born in Delhi on 4 Rajab 721 AH (30 July 1321 CE), and deceased in Gulbarga on 16 Dhu al-Qaʿda 825 AH (1 November 1422 CE), was a seminal figure in the transmission of Sufi traditions from North India to the Deccan. A descendant of immigrants from Herat, he accompanied his father to Daulatabad in 727/1327, when Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq temporarily shifted the capital of the Delhi Sultanate. He returned to Delhi in 735/1335–36 and, the following year, became a disciple of the renowned Chishti saint Nasir al-Din Mahmud Chiragh-e-Dehli (d. 768/1367), who later bestowed upon him the title Gēsūdarāz, meaning “long locks.” For decades, Gēsūdarāz remained in Delhi as his master’s spiritual successor. In 1398, at the age of 77, he fled the city due to the imminent invasion by Timur. He first travelled to Gwalior, then through central India to Khambhat in Gujarat, and eventually made his way back to Daulatabad. In 802 AH (1399/1400 CE), at the invitation of Sultan Taj al-Din Firuz Shah Bahmani, he settled in the Bahmani capital of Gulbarga.

Although warmly received at first, Gēsūdarāz’s relationship with the Bahmani court eventually soured. Firuz Shah, a patron of the external sciences, grew critical of the saint’s emphasis on mystical theology. A core tension lay in Gēsūdarāz’s interpretation of Ibn ʿArabi’s works. Though Gēsūdarāz himself adhered to the metaphysical position of waḥdat al-shuhūd (unity of witnessing), distinct from Ibn ʿArabi’s waḥdat al-wujūd (unity of being), he nonetheless engaged deeply with the latter’s writings. When scholars at court raised suspicions over possible heterodoxy, an emissary sent to investigate Gēsūdarāz became his devotee instead. In 1407, due to growing unease at court, he was compelled to move his khānqāh away from the city’s fort. In 1415, further conflict arose when Gēsūdarāz endorsed the sultan’s brother Ahmad as successor rather than Firuz Shah’s son. These disputes were only resolved with Firuz’s death in 1422 and the accession of Sultan Ahmad Bahmani, who then commissioned the construction of a grand mausoleum over Gēsūdarāz’s hospice and tomb, which continues to serve as the principal site of Muslim pilgrimage in the Deccan.

Gēsūdarāz’s influence in the religious, intellectual, and literary life of the Deccan has been profound. A contemporary of major political upheaval and cultural transformation, he authored approximately 195 works in Arabic, Persian, and early Urdu, or Dakhni. His writings cover Sufism, jurisprudence, Hadith, Qur’anic commentary, and metaphysics, and include titles such as Sharḥ-i Tamhīdāt, Ḥazāʾir al-quds, Sharḥ-i ʿAwārif al-maʿārif, Asmār al-asrār, and Anīs al-ʿUshshāq. His corpus also includes commentaries on Suhrawardi and Ibn ʿArabi, which played a key role in diffusing Islamic mystical thought in India. Importantly, Gēsūdarāz was the first Chishti Sufi known to have composed works directly, rather than relying on disciples to record his teachings. He also wrote in Dakhni—a vernacular form of early Urdu spoken in South India—thereby expanding the accessibility of Sufi thought. His Mirāj al-ʿĀshiqīn, composed in Dakhni for a lay audience, exemplifies this outreach. Many verses in Dakhni attributed to him were later compiled under titles such as Chakkī-nāmah and survive in manuscript form, preserved both by scribes and through oral tradition. While attribution remains debated, editors such as Dr. Nazir and compilers like Muhammad Jamāl Sharīf consider some of these verses authentic. Following his death, Gēsūdarāz’s shrine became a center of royal patronage, supported successively by the Bahmanids, ʿĀdilshāhis, Qoṭbshāhis, Mughals, and the Nizāms of Hyderabad. His descendants have continued to administer the endowment supporting a mosque, school, library, and hostel attached to the shrine. His legacy remains foundational to both the spiritual and literary history of South Asian Islam.

Note: Some of his works are preserved in our collections: https://www.instagram.com/p/DJs8zTTzotn/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

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Further Readings:
1. Hashmi, Naseer-Uddin. Dakan MeiN Urdu. 1st ed., Taraqqi Urdu Bureau, 1985
2. Compiled by Prof. Mohiuddin Qadri Zore. Urdu Shah’paare. 1st ed., Urdu Academy A.P, 2009.
3. Hakeem Syed Shamsullah Qadri. Urdu-e-Qadeem: Urdu Zaban Ki Tareekh. 3rd ed., Matba Tej Kumar, 1967.
4. Shareef, Muhammad Jamaal. Dakan meiN Urdu Shayeri Wali Se Pehle. Edited by Muhammad Ali Asar. Hyderabad: Idara-e-Adabiyat-e-Urdu, 2004.