What is "khwajagan"

Khwājagān (shortened/singular forms: Khwaja, Khaja(h), Khawaja or khuwaja) is a Persian title for "the Masters". Khwajagan, as the plural for "Khwāja", is often used to refer to a network of Sufis in Central Asia from the 10th to the 16th century who are often incorporated into later Naqshbandi hierarchies, as well as other Sufi groups, such as the Yasaviyya. In Firdowsi's Shahnama the word is used many times for some rulers and heroes of ancient Iran as well. The special zikr of the Khwajagan is called 'Khatm Khajagan'.

Interest in the Khwajagan was revived in the 20th century with the publication in Turkey of Hacegan Hanedanı, by Hasan Lütfi Şuşud, Istanbul, 1958. His sources included:

• Reşahat Ayn el-Hayat, compiled by Mevlana Ali Bin Huseyin Safi, A.H. 993.
• Nefahat el-Uns min Hazerat el-Kuds, by Nuraddin Abdurrahman Jami, A.H. 881.
• Risale-i Bahaiyye, by Rif'at Bey.
• Semerat el-Fuad, by Sari Abdullah.
• Enis ut-Talibin wa Iddet us-Salikin Makamat-i Muhammed Bahaeddin Nakshibend, by Salahaddin Ibn'i Mubarek al-Buhari, Istanbul, A.H. 1328.

A short translation of Shushud's work by J. G. Bennett was published in Systematics Volume 6, No. 4 March 1969, Muhtar Holland's full length translation Masters of Wisdom of Central Asia was published by Coombe Springs press in 1983. J. G. Bennett also wrote a full-length work loosely based on Shushud's original.

Some authors such as Idries Shah and John Godolphin Bennett maintain that George Ivanovich Gurdjieff's ' Fourth Way' originated with the Khwajagan.