Muhammad Jaunpuri


Syed Mohammed Mehdi Mauood, Jaunpuri, son of Syed Abdullah titled Syed Khan, was born in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh on Monday the 14th Jamadi-ul Awwal 847 Hijri corresponding to 9 September 1443. His grandfather Usman came to India from Samarkand with his family and settled down in Jaunpur on the invitation of the Sharqiya King. Jaunpuri was a descendant of Imam Moosa Al-Kazim. He extensively traveled throughout India, Arabia and Khorasan.

Jaunpur

The founder of Jaunpur was Sultan Feroz Shah Tughlaq, the Sultan of Delhi. It is situated on the bank of river Gomti, in then Allahabad Province. This city became very famous and developed as an academic centre during the period of the Tughlaq dynasty and Jaunpur Sultanate. They were great patrons of learned persons and scholars. It is said that there were 1100 Ulema in the city during the reign of Sultan Hussain of the Jaunpur Sultanate, who was a devoted admirer and follower of Jaunpuri. There were also a number of schools, Jamias, mosques and hostels in Jaunpur at that time. Thus, it became very famous as a centre for Islamic studies in the East.

Life

His successor was Syed Khundmir.

Childhood and early life

Household

His first wife, Bibi Alhadadi, was the daughter of his uncle, Syed Jalaluddin. He Married her in Jaunpur in 866H, when he was nineteen years old. Jaunpuri and Alhadadi had two sons and two daughters together, Mahmood Sani-e-Mahdi, Ajmal, hunza and Fatima.

Travels

He left Jaunpur along with his family and a small group of followers. Migrating from place to place and gathering more companions the Mahdavia group reached Farah in Afghanistan.

Pilgrimage and claim to be the Mahdi

By the age of 53 he embarked on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, where in 1496, after circumambulating the Kaaba, he declared that he was the Promised Mahdi and whoever believes in him is a Momin.
He was generally ignored by the ulema of Mecca, and after staying in Mecca for nearly seven or nine months, he returned to India where he proclaimed himself Mahdi at Ahmedabad and later at Badhli.