Ahmad al-Khatibi (Khatib of Balkh)

Ahmad al-Khatibi (Khatib-i Balkhi) was the elder of a renowned family of preachers and scholars of Balkh, the grandfather of Baha al-Din Walad (Sultan al-Ulama) and thus the great-grandfather of Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi. His son Husayn al-Khatibi was likewise among the leading scholars of Balkh (TDV, 'Bahâeddin Veled'). In the Mevlevi chain transmitted in Aflaki's Manaqib al-Arifin he appears as the link who received spiritual instruction from Ahmad al-Ghazali and carries the chain to his grandson Baha al-Din Walad (TDV, 'Mevleviyye'). He is known to have lived in Balkh in the 6th century AH (12th century CE), but his birth and death dates are not firmly recorded; what is known of him comes largely through the Mevlevi hagiographical tradition. As the location of his grave is unknown, no map pin is given.