Sheikh Muhammad Rohani(1220-1305 AD)(Pashto:شيخ محمد روحانى) also known as Shah Muhammad Rohani and Rohani Ba Ba was a Sufi cleric born around 1220 AD. The cleric, whose shrine in southern Afghanistan attracts thousands of Sufi visitors every year, is said to have migrated to current day Afghanistan in the later parts of the 13th century AD during the decline of the

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Mutta ...

in Baghdad. He was a disciple of the renowned Sheikh

Rukn-e-Alam Sheikh Rukn-ud-Din Abul Fateh ( ; – ) was an eminent Punjabi Sufi saint from Multan in modern-day Pakistan who belonged to Suhrawardiyya Sufi order. He is commonly known by the title (Shah) Rukn-e-Alam ("Pillar of the World"). Biography ...

. The demise of the Abbasid dynasty in Baghdad in 1258 AD triggered a mass exodus of Islamic scholars and spiritual leaders from Baghdad fearing persecution at the hands of

Turko-Mongol The Turco-Mongol or Turko-Mongol tradition was an ethnocultural synthesis that arose in Asia during the 14th century, among the ruling elites of the Golden Horde and the Chagatai Khanate. The ruling Mongol elites of these Khanates eventually ...

invaders. Some of the Abbasid members migrated westward and established yet another dynasty in Egypt that lasted until 1519. Most of the Abbasid cadre migrated southeastward to Iran, Central Asia, Afghanistan, and parts of India. The descendants of Sheikh Muhammad Rohani in the

Bannu Bannu ( ps, بنو, translit=banū ; ur, , translit=bannū̃, ) is a city located on the Kurram River in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the capital of Bannu Division. Bannu's residents are primarily members of the Banuchi ...

region of Pakistan and parts of Western Afghanistan identify as "Shah," "Said" or "Sheikh" to claim hereditary spiritual honor. Afghan ethnographers refer to the descendants of Sheikh Muhammad Rohani as

Sayyid ''Sayyid'' (, ; ar, سيد ; ; meaning 'sir', 'Lord', 'Master'; Arabic plural: ; feminine: ; ) is a surname of people descending from the Prophets in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali ...

. The ancestors of the Fermuli tribe were guided to Islam by Sheikh Mohammad Rohani. He was the spiritual leader, "Pir," of the

Banuchi The Banuchi (Shitak) ( ps, شيتک), originally BannuZai ( ps, بنوزي), also Banusi ( ps, بنوڅي) or Banisi, is a Pashtun tribe inhabiting the Bannu District of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan and North Waziristan of the Federa ...

tribe in Bannu where the cleric is still held in great esteem. According to Mohammad Hayat Khan, the author of the acclaimed reference book on Afghan tribes ''Hayat-i-Afghani,'' Sheikh Muhammad Rohani and his son Sheikh Naikbin aided the

tribe gain control of the Bannu region after Mangal and Hani tribes reneged on their promises to deliver the customary ten percent tax to the family of the Sheikh. In 1504, when the Moghul emperor, Zahiru'din Muhammad

Babur Babur ( fa, , lit= tiger, translit= Bābur; ; 14 February 148326 December 1530), born Mīrzā Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad, was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his ...

, conquered southern Afghanistan, he noted the shrine of this saint in Zurmat at a spring, high on a hilltop. The descendants of the Sheikh were allowed to collect and appropriate local taxes during the reign of Moghul emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir but the emperor's son Bahadur Shah discontinued this trend. Nevertheless the Sheikhan of Bannu were exempt from Mogul and later Durrani taxes until 1847 when Sir

Herbert Edwardes Major-General Sir Herbert Benjamin Edwardes DCL (12 November 1819 – 23 December 1868) was a British administrator, soldier, and statesman active in the Punjab region of British India. He is best known as the "Hero of Multan" for his pivotal ...

, a British colonial officer, levied six percent tax on the annual income of the tribe. Following the imposition of colonial taxes large numbers of this community migrated to southern Afghanistan.Marwat, Mohammad Sadiq. ''Zmong Qabail'', (Publishers unknown), 1995, P.112-113 In 2017 the government of Afghanistan named a district after this saint. The district of Rohani Baba is located in Paktia Province in southern Afghanistan. Sheikh Mohammad had five sons from two wives. Sheikh Naikbin and Sheikh Fateh-ul-din settled in Bannu and Ghaznin. Their descendants are known as Faqirkhail and Fatehkhail. Sheikh Ismail and Sheikh Ahmad settled in the Arghistan basin and Khwaja Arman hills. Their descendants took the name of Ismailzai and Ahmadkhail. A fifth son was Sheikh Nasr-ul-din.

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