One of the Iranian Sufis, who righteously can be considered as one of the great religious leaders, is Tayfur son of Isa Surushan.
He is mostly known as Abu Yazid or Bayazid Bastami. He was born in a year between 136 AH to 188 AH in the city of Bastam, now a part of Shahroud County, in the Zoroastrian district and a virtuous family of both Muslims and theists.
It seems that Bayazid had no Sufi master, and has not been introduced to mysticism by anyone. He has said in this regard “People learn from the dead, I learn from a living (existence), who never dies.” He was amongst the first Sufis to take up writing. It is written that Bayazid suffered for twelve years to learn the Islamic Sharia. Then he spent thirty years in Iraq and Syria and met many elders and scholars of his time. He then became known as Soltan ol-Orafa because of his god-given talent and deep world view. The book Tazkirat al-Awliya by Sheikh Farid ol-Din Attar of Nisahbur has described way of thinking and munificence. Sheikh Abusa'id Abolkhayr is another renowned mystic to speak highly of Bayazid. It has been told that he was sent to school by his mother.
During the holy Quran lessons, he reached the Ayah number fourteen of Luqman Sureh: So give thanks to Me, and to your parents. He asked his teacher the meaning of the text and was very completely shaken by what he learned. He asked his teacher for permission to go to his mother at home. At home, his mother, surprised to see him at that time of the day, asked for the reason, which was agreed to. He said to her about the Ayah “The Righteous (God) calls for us to serve him or you. I can’t fully serve both. Either let me serve him completely or tell me to serve you.” His mother asked him to serve god.
Bayazid Bastami passed away in 261 AH in the city of Bastam. His tomb is now a shrine for the mystics and his followers.
