KHAJA Mohammad TAHIR RAFIQI ASHAI R.A

One among the influential Suhrawardi Sufis of Kashmir during the sixteenth
century was Khwajah Tahir Rafiq ‘Asha’i, who was a contemporary of Makhdum
Shaykh Hamzah, the leading Suhrawardi Sufi of Kashmir. He was son of a cloth
merchant namely Khwajah Ibrahim ‘Asha’i, along with whom he often used to visit Lahore for the business purpose. Khwajah Tahir became a disciple of Shaykh ‘Abd al Shakur, a descendant of Baha al-Din Zakariyya Multani r.a . Having enlightened him with the guiding principles of the spiritual path, Shaykh ‘Abd al-Shakur bestowed him with
Ijazat Namah (formal permission to enrol disciples), a rosary and a Khirqa. Later on,
he received guidance in the Naqashbandi, Kubrawi and Qadiri orders as well.
Initially Khwajah Tahir used to carry the business of his father but later on
abandoned it and earned his livelihood by cultivation of land at Wanigam. He
travelled most parts of the valley and remained in seclusion for almost nine years. He had established close relations with his contemporary Sufi scholars like Shaykh Y’aqub Sarafi and Baba Dawud Khaki, the noted disciple of Makhdum Shaykh Hamzah. Owing to the antipathy of Suhrawardi’s against the Shiite traditions in the valley, most of the Suhrawardi Sufis had to face persecution and exile during the Shiite rule in Kashmir. Thus, while Kashmir was ruled by Y’aqub Shah Chak, the Shiite ruler (of Chak dynasty), he remained out of the city and returned only after the Mughals started to rule over Kashmir in 1586 C.E. Khwajah Tahir stayed with an eminent Brahman of Verinag namely Adar Suh, who finally embraced Islam. “^ He resided in the area known as Fatah Kadal in Srinagar, where he established a Khanqah, known as Khanqah-i Rafiqi, along with a Langar (Public charity kitchen).
Khwajah Tahir was an eminent and influential Suhrawardi Sufi, who was bestowed with great expertise in the spiritual knowledge. During his travels within the valley, he attempted to spread the Suhrawardi order and guided enormous number of people
in the spiritual path. He left behind a multitude of great Sufi scholars as his disciples, including Shaykh Musa Zahgir, Shaykh Mir ‘All, Mawlana Hasan Lankar, Shaykh Yusuf, Shaykh Muhammad Sharif etc. They kept the Suhrawardi chain of Khwaja Tahir alive for at least next two generations. Khwaja Tahir died in 1001 A.H / 1592- 93 C.E. and was entombed at Fatah Kadal in Srinagar.