Mawl?n? ‘Al?’ al-D?n al-Abizh? al-Quhistan?, or Mu?ammad b. Mu?ammad b. Mu’min al-Abizh? al-Quhistan?, but more often known in the sources simply as Mawl?n? ‘Al?’ al-D?n 'Maktabdar' ('the Schoolteacher') was one of the followers of the 15th-century Naqshbandi shaykh Sa?d al-D?n al-K?shghar?. Although noted by the main historians of the time and described in the major hagiographies of the order, he has not been studied in his own right. However, one of his followers wrote a hagiography - the Raw?at al-s?lik?n - about him, which exists in only a handful of copies. It is thus a relatively untapped source for the study of the Naqshbandiyya in this period, and is important because it sheds light on a figure who has been treated as rather peripheral, although in fact he assumed a very prominent role in the leadership of the Naqshbandiyya after the death of Shaykh Sa'd al-Din in 1453. The work, when read in conjunction with other sources for the order in this period, places Mawlana 'Ala' al-Din at the center of religious life in Herat in the second half of the 15th century, and reveals that here was a figure who assumed as much importance as his direct contemporary Nur al-Din 'Abd al-Rahman Jami.