Pir Roshan

Bāyazīd Khān Ansārī (Pashto: بایزید خان انصاري; c. 1525 – 1585), commonly known as Pīr Rōshān or Pīr Rōkhān, was an Afghan warrior, Sufi pir and revolutionary leader. He wrote mostly in Pashto, but also in Persian, Urdu and Arabic. His mother tongue was Ormuri. He is known for founding the Roshani movement, which gained many followers in present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan, and produced numerous Pashto poets and writers.

Pir Roshan created a Pashto alphabet, derived from the Arabic script with 13 new letters. A modified version of this alphabet continues to be used to write Pashto. Pir Roshan wrote Khayr al-Bayān, one of the earliest known books containing Pashto prose.

Pir Roshan assembled Pashtun tribesmen to fight against the Mughal emperor Akbar in response to Akbar's continuous military agitations. The Mughals referred to Pir Roshan as Pīr-e Tārīk (English: Dark Sufi Master).

Due to Pir Roshan's spiritual and religious hold over a large portion of Pashtuns, Akbar enlisted religious figures into the struggle, most notably Pir Baba (Sayyid Ali Tirmizi) and Akhund Darweza. The Mughals persecuted Pir Roshan's followers and executed many of them. A Mughal army eventually killed Pir Roshan and most of his sons. 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.

Roshani followers in Waziristan, Kurram, Tirah, Loya Paktia, Loy Kandahar (including Kasi tribesmen), and Nangarhar continued their struggle against the Mughals for about a hundred years after Pir Roshan's death.