Muhammad Uthman Siraj al-Din Naqshbandi (1896, Biyara, safi abad javanroud iran – 1997, Istanbul, Turkey), nicknamed Siraj al-Din al-Thani, meaning the second Siraj al-Din, in honor of his great-grandfather Uthman Siraj al-Din Naqshbandi, was an Islamic scholar, mystic of the Naqshbandi order, and leader of the Sipay Rizgari militant group.[1] [2]
Muhammad Uthman Siraj al-Din, grandson of and son of, was descended from Muhammad ibn Abdullah through Husayn ibn Ali, making him a sayyid.[3] As he was named Uthman in honor of his great-grandfather Uthman Siraj al-Din Naqshbandi, he was given the nickname "al-Thani", which means the second in Arabic. Muhammad Uthman Siraj al-Din was of Iraqi Kurdish origin and born in 1896 in the village of Biyara, to the Sheikhs of Tavil household.[4] After studying religious sciences under the supervision and training of his father at a young age, he completed his education in the Arabic and Persian languages at the Duru and Biyara madrasas. Following the death of his father, he settled in the Biyara takiyya.[5] He fled to Iran in 1959 after getting into conflict with the Iraqi government of Abd al-Karim Qasim.[6] The Iranian government gave him asylum due to their strained relations with the Iraqi authorities, with SAVAK documents showing that the Iranian Pahlavi government viewed him as an ally and paid his pension.[7]
Muhammad Uthman Siraj al-Din brought back to life the Duru takiyya founded by his father in Iranian Kurdistan. As a result of his travels to different parts of Iran, he established a strong bond between the members of the Khalidi Naqshbandis in the Sunni Kurdish regions and the Talish region of Iran. He had a school built for 450 students providing education in the field of Islamic sciences. At the same time, more than 100 schools were built in the region under his leadership. There was an increase in the number and activities of Naqshbandi members during the twenty-year period he was in Iran.[8] His sons also took up positions within the Iranian government during this time.[9]
Strawberry farming was introduced to Iranian Kurdistan by Muhammad Uthman Siraj al-Din Naqshbandi in the 1960s.[10]
See main article: Sipay Rizgari. After the Iranian revolution and overthrow of the Pahlavi government, he organised a militant group called Sipay Rizgari with 1000–2000 of his followers and participated in the Kurdistan conflict against the new Iranian government, planning to incite a sectarian war between Shias and Sunnis, and having formed an alliance with the Iraqi government, the Kurdish Democratic Party, and Komala.[11] [12] [13] As a result of the victory of Iranian forces in Operation Walfajr-10, as well as previous conflict with their former allies of Komala, the Sipay Rizgari group suffered heavy casualties and was disbanded. Muhammad Uthman Siraj al-Din left for Baghdad. He then continued his activities in France and later in Turkey.[14]
Muhammad Uthman Siraj al-Din settled in Turkey in 1990 and held religious conversations with his domestic and foreign visitors in his guesthouse in the neighborhood of Istanbul.[15] He sought remedies for the material and spiritual ailments of the people who came to him. He asked people to work hard to earn a halal livelihood and advised young people to learn useful knowledge and sciences. People came to him for important life decisions and he would guide them with divine inspiration. He was also an expert in herbal medicine and left a written record of it.
Muhammad Uthman Siraj al-Din passed away on January 30, 1997. He was buried in the garden of his takiyya in the Hadımköy neighborhood of Istanbul.