Shaykh Muhammad Ali Husam al-Din al-Naqshbandi was a prominent Kurdish Muslim scholar and spiritual teacher of the Khalidi branch of the Naqshbandi tradition.…
Shaykh Muhammad Ali Husam al-Din al-Naqshbandi was a prominent Kurdish Muslim scholar and spiritual teacher of the Khalidi branch of the Naqshbandi tradition. Born in Tawela in 1861, he belonged to an influential family of scholars and was the son of Shaykh Muhammad Baha al-Din and grandson of Shaykh Uthman Siraj al-Din I, through whom the Naqshbandi-Khalidi tradition became firmly established across the Hawraman region. After the death of his father, Shaykh Husam al-Din emerged as one of the principal leaders of the family's Naqshbandi tradition. His influence extended far beyond Hawraman, with students and followers travelling to him from different parts of Kurdistan, Iran and elsewhere in the Muslim world. He was known for combining the teaching of the Islamic sciences with spiritual instruction and the training of students and disciples. Shaykh Husam al-Din initially continued his family's work at Tawela before transferring his principal centre to the village of Bakhakon near Halabja. There he established a khanqah that became an important centre of religious learning, worship and Naqshbandi spiritual life. Bakhakon consequently became closely associated with his name and remained an important destination for members of the tradition after his death. He died at Bakhakon in 1939 and was traditionally buried beside his khanqah. His grave and the surrounding religious complex became a well-known place of ziyarah and continue to preserve the legacy of one of the most influential Naqshbandi shaykhs of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Iraqi Kurdistan.