Bayazid Khan known as Pir Roshan or Pir Rokhan (Pashto: پیر روښان, Persian: پیر روشن) (1525–1582/1585) was a Pashtun warrior poet and intellectual of the Barak/Urmar (known in present day as Burki) tribe who wrote in Pashto, Persian and Arabic. His mother tongue was Ormuri and he also spoke Pashto. He was born just outside Jullunder, Punjab, but early in his childhood, his father moved the family back to Kaniguram, the Burki heartland in today's South Waziristan.
Bayazid Khan (Barak/Urmar/Burki) --popularly known as Pir Roshan—became known for his thinking with its strong Sufi influences, radical for the times and unusual for the region. As to claims by some Burkis of an "Ansari" connection, refer to "An Enquiry into the Ethnography of Afghanistan" by Henry Walter Bellew (1891). Bayazid's people—currently referred to as "Burki"—who until the early twentieth century were known as Barak or Baraki were found in large numbers during the Greek period in their present environs (p. 62). On page 8, Bellew in this seminal work refers to the Baraki's origins as "mysterious" but not of Arab/Ansari descent.
He became known for his thinking with its strong Sufi influences, radical for the times and unusual for the region. Like other Pushtun tribes, the Burki seek self segregation from the outside world thus the importance of Kaniguram as the historical focal point of the tribe and the continued effort to retain their native tongue (Urmar)which predates Pushtu. Bayazid Khan of the Urmars/Baraks became widely known as Pir Roshan, which means in Pashto "the enlightened Pir". He was the first Pushtun to lead a major insurgency against the Mughal emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar.
Pir Roshan was an advocate for learning and equal treatment for women. A revolutionary concept for the times, and even today in South Waziristan. From his base in Kaniguram, he started his insurgency—Roshaniya (enlightened) movement—which was carried on against the emperor's troops by his children and then his grandchildren and great grandchildren . The Roshaniya movement spanned almost a century: 1560–1638.
During the 19th century orientalists translating texts from Pushto and other regional texts termed his movement a "sect", a mistake which persists to this day amongst many European researchers. The major focus of the movement was to create equality between men and women, including the right to learn and listen to lectures of scholars and fight to against Akbar after his proclamation of Din-i-Ilahi.
Read more about Pir Roshan: Background, Genealogy, Early Life, Exile and Rebellion, Roshanniya Movement, Contribution To Pashto Literature, Modern Day Folklore, Recent Books and Research, Song For Pir Rokhan, See Also, References