The Rōshānī movement (, or The Illuminati) was a populist, nonsectarian Sufi movement that was founded in the mid-16th century, in the Pashtunistan region of present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan, and arose among the Pashtun tribes. The movement was founded by Pir Roshan, an Ormur warrior, Sufi poet and revolutionary.
Described as heterodoxical movement with Millenarianism view, This Sufi was group popular with the Pashtun populations in the northwestern regions of the Mughal Empire. The movement itself was a challenge to Pashtun tribal society, and its purpose was to raise issues of leadership, authority, and social ethics. Roshan preached a life of poverty, fasting, and remembrance of God which appealed to the poorer classes of Kaniguram. He developed republican-esque composition which blended with Sufi interpretations of Islamic sharia Law, an idea which considered radical by religious establishment of his time. Researcher Saifur Rehman Masud has concluded that Pir Roshan's ultimate motivation was the unity of Pashtuns under a single ideology which combine religion and politics. Pir Roshan wanted his followers to embrace the idea of Sufi thoughts that he called tariqat and haqiqat. By doing so, Pir Roshan brought together Pashtun tribes from Kandahar to Nangarhar under his slogan which says wahdat, qurbat and waslat (lit. oneness, unity and nearness).
Roshan's millenarian message of repentance and preparation for the Day of Judgement struck a particularly sympathetic chord in the religious sensibilities of Pashtuns. Since Pashtun tribesmen have traditionally considered religious law and religious leaders to be at odds with tribal law or Pashtunwali, they may have been attracted to Roshan's particular emphasis on mysticism at the expense of the shari'at and his condemnation of the religious establishment.
, Following the death of Bayazid, Jalal-ad-Din (also known as Jalala), son of Pir Roshan, took the leadership of Roshani movement following the death of his father. He first went to Tirah, where he organized the Afridi and Orakza'i tribes in an outbreak of violence. Around 5,000 horses were captured by the Orakzai,
Legacy
Bayazid's emphasis on the ascetic life, mysticism, and repentance in anticipation of the Day of Judgement were themes that attracted numerous people and provoked an initially positive reaction from Afghan tribesmen.