19 Facts About Pir Roshan

1.

Pir Roshan wrote mostly in Pashto, but in Persian, Hindustani, and Arabic, while his mother tongue was Ormuri.

2.

Pir Roshan is known for founding the Roshani movement, which gained many followers in the Pashtunistan region of present day countries of Pakistan and Afghanistan and produced numerous Pashto poets and writers.

3.

Pir Roshan created a Pashto alphabet, derived from the Arabic script with 13 new letters.

4.

Pir Roshan wrote Khayr al-Bayan, one of the earliest known books containing Pashto prose.

5.

Pir Roshan assembled Pashtun tribesmen to fight against the Mughal emperor Akbar in response to Akbar's continuous military agitations.

6.

Only his youngest son, Pir Jalala, survived the attack, and later took up arms against the Mughals and became the new leader of the Roshani movement.

7.

Pir Roshan's grandfather was from the Lohgar Valley near Kabul in the country of the Barkis, but had immigrated to Waziristan, while his grandson was born in India.

8.

Pir Roshan's family was one of the many Afghan families who fled back to Ancestral Pashtun Land after the Turkic ruler Babur overthrew the Afghan Lodi dynasty in India in 1526.

9.

Pir Roshan was known for being stubborn, strong-willed and outspoken.

10.

Pir Roshan's message was well received by the Mohmand and Shinwari tribesmen.

11.

Pir Roshan then went to the Peshawar valley and spread his message to the Khalils and Muhammadzais.

12.

Pir Roshan sent missionaries to various parts of South and Central Asia.

13.

Pir Roshan sent one of his disciples, Dawlat Khan, along with his book Sirat at-Tawhid to Mughal Emperor Akbar.

14.

Pir Roshan established a base in the Tirah valley where he rallied other tribes.

15.

Pir Roshan led his army in several successful skirmishes and battles against Mughal forces, but they were routed in a major battle in Nangarhar by Mughal General Muhsin Khan.

16.

However, during the attack, Pir Roshan was himself killed by the Mughal army near Topi.

17.

Pir Roshan later took up arms as Pir Jalala Khan and successfully engaged the Mughal armies.

18.

Pir Roshan became widely known as Pir Roshan, which in Pashto means "the radiant or luminous Sufi master".

19.

Pir Roshan formed the Roshani movement, which had one central tenet: the equality of every man and woman.