3 The Rise of the Khwajagan-Naqshbandiyya Sufi Order in Timurid Herat

Timurid rule in Herat spans the fifteenth century.1 From the time of Shahrukh ibn Timur (r. 1405–47) onward, the city was the capital of an empire that comprised large parts of Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. Although under Husayn Bayqara (r. 1470–1506) toward the end of the century, Timurid territory shrank considerably, Bayqara still ruled over Khurasan and some adjacent regions. Two more Timurid sultans must be mentioned from the start: Abu’l-Qasim Babur (d. 1457), who succeeded in winning the wars beginning after Shahrukh’s demise, and Abu Sa‘id (d. 1469) who ascended the throne, again, after some years of turmoil and fratricidal war. Under their collective rule, Timurid Herat became a brilliant center of Persianate culture. It was noted for its achievements in the arts (miniature painting and other arts of the book), architecture, poetry, historiography, and many other fields, surely including music (even if we do not know how Timurid princely music may have sounded). In various sciences, the Timurid era likewise produced lasting works; astronomy is only one example. In economics, Timurid Herat saw one of the most cogent attempts at rationalizing agriculture in the medieval Middle East, for example through accounting systems and systematic investment and development projects. Many of these projects took the form of pious endowments (waqf), and their beneficiaries were either well-established shrines in Herat and other cities (such as the shrine complex of ‘Abdullah Ansari at Gazurgah, a suburb of Herat, or the shrine of Riza at Mashhad) or such shrines as were founded in this period (most notably the shrine of ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib at Balkh, today’s Mazar-i Sharif).2 Sufis were nothing new in Timurid Herat. Over the previous centuries, ‘Abdullah Ansari (d. 1089), an outstanding master of Sunni Sufism, had posthumously grown into the position of the city’s patron saint. His shrine was a noted center of 3