The Roshaniya, or Illuminated ones, was a sixteenth century secret society of Afghanistan. The sect grew into an army which opposed and was crushed by the Moghul empire. It supposedly inspired Adam Weishaupt to found his Illuminati in the 18th century.
Bayazid Ansari of Jullundhar (1525-1581) founded the Roshaniya. He was inspired by the teachings of the Sufi and the Yogi, but in addition crafted some doctrines of his own. The most remarkable of them was that the most complete manifestations of God were made in the persons of holy men. Ansari claimed to be a descendant of the
Ansar, those who helped Muhammad after his flight from Mecca, and therefore especially enlightened.
The members of Ansari's cult learned that they owed allegiance to nothing but the Order. Those who could not identify themselves by the secret sign were legitimate prey. Ansari himself took the title Pir Roshan, Apostle of Light. This caused his greatest
opponent, Akhund Darweza, to call him Pir Tarik - Apostle of Darkness. In the end a mixture of religious figures declaring the sect heretic and the military force of the Moghuls brought the Roshaniya to an end.