Najm al-Din Kubra

Najm al-Din Kubra (Ahmad ibn Umar; honorific Abu al-Jannab), born around 540 AH / 1145 CE in the Central Asian region of Khwarazm, was a Sufi master — a teacher of Islamic mysticism — best known as the eponym of the Kubrawiyya, one of the major Sufi orders (tariqas, "paths") of medieval Iran and Central Asia. Sources report that he began as a scholar of hadith (reports of the Prophet's words and deeds) and kalam (theology), traveling in search of learning to Egypt, Iran and beyond. In Egypt he is said to have been drawn to the mystical path, receiving Sufi initiation; he later trained in western Iran under Ismail al-Qasri and then under Ammar al-Bidlisi before being authorized to teach in his own right. He returned to his native Khwarazm, settling at Gurganj (Urgench), where he founded a lodge and gathered disciples — several of whom became major figures in their own right. Tradition nicknamed him "the saint-maker." He is remembered as a theorist of the inner visionary experience, especially the coloured lights the mystic perceives along the path, set out in his Arabic treatise Fawa'ih al-jamal. He is traditionally reported to have refused to flee the Mongol assault on Khwarazm and to have died in the sack of the city in 618 AH / 1221 CE. His order later spread widely across Iran, Central Asia and into India.