Muhammad Baba Sammasi

Central Asian Sufi of the line known as the selsela-ye ḵᵛājagān (the line of the masters); the transmitting link who adopted Bahāʾ-al-Dīn Naqšband as his spiritual son and prepared his way in the chain.

He was born in Sammās (or Sammāsī), a village in the region of Rāmītan, three farsaḵs from Bukhara; the source gives no year of birth. Early in his life he became a follower of Ḵᵛāja ʿAlī Rāmītanī (“Hażrat-e ʿAzīzān”).

Most of Rāmītanī's life was spent in the environs of Bukhara, but he migrated to Ḵᵛārazm at a date that cannot be precisely determined. Sammāsī appears to have stayed in the area of Bukhara, although he must have visited his master in Ḵᵛārazm at least once, for he was present when Rāmītanī, on his deathbed in 721/1321, appointed him his sole successor.

The most important figure Sammāsī initiated into the “line of the masters” was his own principal successor, Amīr Kolāl. Before entering the Sufi path Amīr Kolāl was much given to wrestling, but he abandoned this pursuit and turned to Sufism when one day in Rāmītan he felt the powerful gaze of Bābā Sammāsī fixed on him during a bout; thereafter he remained almost constantly in Sammāsī's company.

Sammāsī's main title to fame lies in his having adopted as his spiritual son Ḵᵛāja Bahāʾ-al-Dīn Naqšband, the eponym of the Naqšbandī order. When passing by Qaṣr-e Hendovān, a suburb of Bukhara, he was in the habit of remarking that he could perceive a strong fragrance emerging from its soil, interpreting this to presage the birth of a great spiritual master. One day in 718/1318 he observed that the fragrance was stronger than ever before, and it turned out that Bahāʾ-al-Dīn had been born three days earlier. Bahāʾ-al-Dīn's grandfather, a disciple of Sammāsī, brought the infant to him for his blessing, whereupon he adopted him as his spiritual progeny. At the same time he entrusted Amīr Kolāl with training Bahāʾ-al-Dīn when he attained maturity, and it is not clear whether Bahāʾ-al-Dīn saw Sammāsī again before the age of eighteen. It was then that his grandfather, evidently the foremost influence in his life, decided it was time for him to marry and sent him to Bābā Sammāsī to obtain his approval. Bahāʾ-al-Dīn witnessed a number of miraculous feats during this visit, but it was not until Sammāsī himself paid a return visit to Qaṣr-e Hendovān that a bride was chosen and the marriage performed under his direct supervision.

None of the early Naqšbandī sources gives a date for Bābā Sammāsī's death; the celebrated 13th/19th-century hagiographical compendium, Ḡolām Sarvar Lāhūrī's Ḵazīnat al-aṣfīā, places it in 755/1354 and adds that he was buried in his native village. After the death of his spiritual father Bahāʾ-al-Dīn was taken by his grandfather to Samarkand to benefit from the Sufi masters of that city, before being entrusted to Amīr Kolāl for his formal initiation and training in accordance with Sammāsī's instructions.

All that is otherwise known about Sammāsī is that he was frequently subject to states of ecstasy that came upon him while he was working in his vineyard. No writings are attributed to him; his importance in the history of the chain appears to be purely that of a transmitter, the luster of his name enhanced by its proximity to that of Bahāʾ-al-Dīn Naqšband.

His Circle of Influence — In addition to Amīr Kolāl he left behind three successors: Ḵᵛāja Maḥmūd Sammāsī, his eldest son; Ḵᵛāja Ṣūfī Sūḵārī; and Mawlānā Dānešmand ʿAlī. The chain passed through Amīr Kolāl to Bahāʾ-al-Dīn Naqšband.

His Tomb and Complex — According to the source, the Ḵazīnat al-aṣfīā records that he was buried in his native village of Sammās. The source gives no information about the tomb structure.