Ibrahim Danishmand, Saiyid

Ibrahim Danishmand, Saiyid a sufi saint of the Qadiriya tarika who was in direct lineage from Hazrat Imam Husain, son of the fourth Khalifa Hazrat Ali (R). He was an inhabitant of Persia and came to Bengal during the reign of Sultan Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah (1533-1540), son of Husayn Shah and the last sultan of Husayn Shahi dynasty, or sometime earlier, married the eldest daughter of Sultan Mahmud Shah, and was appointed as ruler of Taraf in south Sylhet. He was invested with the high royal title of Malik-ul-umara (chief of the amirs). Saiyid Danishmand was also granted a la-kharaj or rent-free landed property in Sonargoan by the Sultan. From circumstantial evidences it seems that Saiyid Danishmand ruled over Taraf even after the fall of the house of Sultan Husayn Shah (1540), and perhaps up to the sixth decade of the sixteenth century. Thereafter he came to Sonargoan and established his khanka at the present site of Dargabari in Mograpara (earlier Sadipur or Nagar Sadipur).

A highly learned man in all branches of Islamic subjects, especially in Tasawwaf (Islamic mysticism), and a prolific writer, he was styled Danishmand for his wisdom. He was also invested with the honorific title of Qutb-ul-ashekeen. Saiyid Ibrahim Danishmand seems to belong to the group of the earliest sufis of Qadiriya tarika who preached the sufi order in Bengal. He initiated a great tradition for the preaching of sufi order and the teaching of Islamic subjects through his khanka at Dargabari, which was continued by his descendants and intellectual successors.

Saiyid Danishmand lies buried in a mausoleum at Dargabari premises in Sonargoan. His mausoleum on the western extremity of the tomb-complex is a dome-roofed building quadrangular in plan with hut-type chouchala covering. [Muazzam Hussain Khan]