What was the source of their income?

Endowments to the Saiyids and their khanqahs, meant as relief for their families and followers, gave them control over land. They were fortunate enough to have fertile zones for farming; they derived income from the voluntary labour of their disciples on these lands, and also from gifts of produce from the peasants and artisans of their area. With the unpaid labour of their disciples, they accumulated large fortunes. Over a period of time, the system of religious and secular grants, and the subjection of peasants and craftsmen to the grantees, defined the social system within the valley. Their grants enabled the Saiyids in due course to designate their heirs as administrators in perpetuity. Gradually, the Saiyids adopted local traditions, at least with outward conformity, to build the public character of their khanqahs and estates. Their endowments were free from the exactions of the sultans and their officials. Though the relationship on these estates cannot be characterized as feudal in the European sense, there were lots of constraints on the utilization of labour power. The state assumed a feudal character in the sense that it primarily served the cause of surplus extraction by religious and secular elements, and did not check the process of sub-infeudation.