Abdul Qadir Gilani

ʿAbd al-Qādir Gīlānī, (Persian: عبدالقادر گیلانی‎, Arabic: عبدالقادر الجيلاني‎, Turkish: Abdülkâdir Geylânî, Kurdish: ,Evdilqadirê Geylanî عه‌بدوالقادری گه‌یلانی‎), formally known as Muḥyī l-Dīn Abū Muḥammad b. Abū Sāliḥ ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Gīlānī al-Ḥasanī wa'l-Ḥusaynī, was a Hanbali Sunni Muslim preacher, orator, ascetic, mystic, sayyid, faqīh, and theologian, who was known for being the eponymous founder of the Qadiriyya tariqa (Sufi order) of Sufism.^[3]

He was born on 29 Sha'ban 470 AH (March 23, 1078) in the town of Na'if, district of Gilan-e Gharb, Gilan, Iran^{[4][nb 1]} and died on Monday, February 21, 1166 (11 Rabi' al-Thani 561 AH), in Baghdad.^[5] He was a Persian^[4] Hanbali Sunni^[1][2] jurist and Sufi based in Baghdad. The Qadiriyya tariqa is named after him.^[6]

Contents

• 1Name
• 2Family background
• 3Education
• 4Later life
• 5Death and burial
• 6Birthday and death anniversary celebration
• 7Books
• 8See also
• 9Bibliography
• 10Notes
• 11References
• 12External links

Name[edit]

The name Muhiyudin describes him as a "reviver of religion".^[7] Gilani (Arabic al-Jilani) refers to his place of birth, Gilan.^[8][9] However, Gilani also carried the epithet Baghdadi.^[10][11][12] referring to his residence and burial in Baghdad.

Family background[edit]

Gilani's father, Abu Saleh, was from a Sayyid lineage, tracing his descent from Hasan ibn Ali, a grandson of the prophet Muhammad.^[13][14][3] Abu Saleh was respected as a saint by the people of his day, and was known as Jangi Dost (meaning "fight-lover" in Persian) "who loves God", thus "Jangidost" was his sobriquet.^[15][16][17] Gilani's mother, Ummul Khair Fatima, was also a Sayyid, having been a descendant of Muhammad al-Jawad, himself descended from Husayn ibn Ali, the younger brother of Hasan.^[18]

Education[edit]

Gilani spent his early life in Gilan, the town of his birth. In 1095, at the age of eighteen years, he went to Baghdad. There, he pursued the study of Hanbali law ^[19] under Abu Saeed Mubarak Makhzoomi and ibn Aqil.^[20] He was given lessons on Hadith by Abu Muhammad Ja'far al-Sarraj.^[20] His Sufi spiritual instructor was Abu'l-Khair Hammad ibn Muslim al-Dabbas.^[21] (A detailed description of his various teachers and subjects are included below). After completing his education, Gilani left Baghdad. He spent twenty-five years wandering in the deserts of Iraq.^[22]

Later life[edit]

In 1127, Gilani returned to Baghdad and began to preach to the public.^[23] He joined the teaching staff of the school belonging to his own teacher, al-Mazkhzoomi, and was popular with students. In the morning he taught hadith and tafsir, and in the afternoon he held discourse on the science of the heart and the virtues of the Quran. He was said to have been a convincing preacher and converted numerous Jews and Christians. His strength came in the reconciling of the mystical nature of Sufism and strict nature of the Law.^[23]

Death and burial[edit]

Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gilani Mosque in Baghdad 1925

Gilani died on 21 February 1166 (11th Rabi' al-thani 561 AH) at the age of 91 according to the Islamic calendar.^[5] His body was entombed in a shrine within his madrasa in Babul-Sheikh, Rusafa on the east bank of the Tigris in Baghdad, Iraq.^[24][25][26]

During the reign of the Safavid Shah Ismail I, Gilani's shrine was destroyed.^[27] However, in 1535, the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent had a dome built over the shrine, which still exists.^[28]

Birthday and death anniversary celebration[edit]

1 Ramadan is celebrated as the birthday of Abdul Qadir Gilani while the death anniversary is on 11 Rabi us Thani though some scholars and traditions say 29 Shaban and 17 Rabi us Sani as birth and death day respectively. His ’urs’, or death anniversary, is called in the subcontinent as Giyarwee Shareef or Honoured Day of 11th.^[29]

Tomb of Sheikh Abdul Qadir, Baghdad, Iraq.

Books[edit]

• Kitab Sirr al-Asrar wa Mazhar al-Anwar^[30] (The Book of the Secret of Secrets and the Manifestation of Light)
• Futuh al ghaib (Secrets of the unseen)

See also[edit]

• Jilala
• Moinuddin Chishti

Bibliography[edit]

• Sayings of Shaikh Abd al-Qadir al-Jīlānī Malfūzāt, Holland, Muhtar (translator). S. Abdul Majeed & Co, Kuala Lumpur (1994) ISBN 1-882216-03-2.
• Fifteen letters, khamsata ashara maktūban / Shaikh Abd Al-Qādir Al-Jīlānī. Translated from Persian to Arabic by Alī usāmu ́D-Dīn Al-Muttaqī. Translated from Arabic into English by Muhtar Holland.
• Kamsata ašara maktūban. First edition. ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn, ʿAlī B., ʿAbd al-Malik al- Muttaqī al-Hindī (about 1480–1567) and Muhtar Holland (1935–). Al-Baz publications, Hollywood, Florida. (1997) ISBN 1-882216-16-4.
• Jalā Al-Khawātir: a collection of forty-five discourses of Shaikh Abd Al-Qādir Al-Jīlānī, the removal of cares. Chapter 23, pg 308. Jalā al-Khawātir, Holland, Muhtar (1935–) (translator). Al-Baz publications, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (1997) ISBN 1-882216-13-X.
• The sultan of the saints: mystical life and teachings of Shaikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jilani / Muhammad Riaz Qadiri Qadiri, Muhammad Riyaz. Gujranwala, Abbasi publications. (2000) ISBN 969-8510-16-8.
• The sublime revelation: al-Fath ar-Rabbānī, a collection of sixty-two discourses / Abd al-Qādir al- Jīlānī, Second edition. al-Rabbānī, al-Fath. Al-Baz publications, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (1998). ISBN 1-882216-02-4.
• Al-Ghunya li-talibi tariq al-haqq wa al-din, (Sufficient provision for seekers of the path of truth and religion), Parts one and two in Arabic. Al-Qadir, Abd, Al-Gaylani. Dar Al-Hurya, Baghdad, Iraq, (1988).
• Al-Ghunya li-talibi tariq al-haqq wa al-din, (Sufficient provision for seekers of the path of truth and religion.) in Arabic. Introduced by Al-Kilani, Majid Irsan. Dar Al-Khair, Damascus, Bairut, (2005).
• Encyclopædia Iranica, Bibliotheca Persica PresS, ISBN 1-56859-050-4.
• Geography of the Baz Ahhab second reading in the biography of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani, and the birthplace of his birth according to the methodology of scientific research (MA in Islamic History from Baghdad University in 2001) of Iraqi researcher Jamal al-Din Faleh Kilani, review and submission of the historian Emad Abdulsalam Rauf،Publishe Dar Baz Publishing, United States of America, 2016, translated by Sayed Wahid Al-Qadri Aref.

Notes[edit]

1. ^ 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani at the Encyclopædia Britannica

References[edit]

1. ^ Jump up to:^a b John Renard, The A to Z of Sufism. p 142. ISBN 081086343X
2. ^ Jump up to:^a b Juan Eduardo Campo, Encyclopedia of Islam, p. 288. ISBN 1438126964
3. ^ Jump up to:^a b Abdul Qadir Gilani at Encyclopædia Iranica
4. ^ Jump up to:^a b W. Braune, Abd al-Kadir al-Djilani, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. I, ed. H.A.R Gibb, J.H.Kramers, E. Levi-Provencal, J. Schacht, (Brill, 1986), 69;"authorities are unanimous in stating that he was a Persian from Nayf (Nif) in Djilan, south of the Caspian Sea."
5. ^ Jump up to:^a b The works of Shaykh Umar Eli of Somalia of al-Tariqat al-Qadiriyyah.
6. ^ "Sufism, Sufis, and Sufi Orders: Sufism's Many Paths". islam.uga.edu. Retrieved 2017-07-21.
7. ^ Mihr-e-munīr: biography of Hadrat Syed Pīr Meher Alī Shāh pg 21, Muhammad Fādil Khān, Faid Ahmad. Sajjadah Nashinan of Golra Sharif, Islamabad (1998).
8. ^ Encyclopaedia of religion and ethics: volume 1. (A – Art). Part 1. (A – Algonquins) pg 10. Hastings, James and Selbie, John A. Adamant Media corporation. (2001), "and he was probably of Persian origin."
9. ^ The Sufi orders in Islam, 2nd edition, pg 32. Triingham, J. Spencer and Voll, John O. Oxford University Press US, (1998), "The Hanafi Qadirriya is also included since 'Abd al-Qadir, of Persian origin was contemporary of the other two."
10. ^ Devotional Islam and politics in British India: Ahmad Riza Khan Barelwi and his movement, 1870–1920, pg 144, Sanyal, Usha Oxford University Press US, 19 August 1999. ISBN 0-19-564862-5 ISBN 978-0-19-564862-1.
11. ^ Cultural and religious heritage of India: Islam pg 321. Sharma, Suresh K. (2004)
12. ^ Indo-iranica pg 7. The Iran Society, Calcutta, India. (1985).
13. ^ Historical and political who's who of Afghanistan. p 177. Adamec, Ludwig W. (1975)
14. ^ Qādrī, Muḥammad Riyāz̤ (2000-01-01). The Sultan of the Saints: Mystical Life and Teaching of Shaikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jilani. Abbasi Pablications. p. 19. ISBN 9789698510169.
15. ^ "Sulook organisation website" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2010-02-19.
16. ^ Mihr-e-munīr: biography of Hadrat Syed Pīr Meher Alī Shāh pg 27, Khān, Muhammad Fādil and Ahmad, Faid. Sajjadah Nashinan of Golra Sharif, Islamabad. (1997)
17. ^ Encyclopaedia of Sufism, volume 1, Kahn, Masood Ali and Ram, S.
18. ^ Qādrī (2000, p. 21)
19. ^ Campo, Juan Eduardo (2009-01-01). Encyclopedia of Islam. Infobase Publishing. p. 4. ISBN 9781438126968.
20. ^ Jump up to:^a b Gibb, H.A.R.; Kramers, J.H.; Levi-Provencal, E.; Schacht, J. (1986) [1st. pub. 1960]. Encyclopaedia of Islam (New Edition). Volume I (A-B). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. p. 69. ISBN 978-9004081147.
21. ^ Malise Ruthven, Islam in the World, p 243. ISBN 0195305035
22. ^ Esposito J. L. The Oxford dictionary of Islam. p160. ISBN 0199757267
23. ^ Jump up to:^a b 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani at the Encyclopædia Britannica
24. ^ Al-Ghunya li-talibi tariq al-haqq wa al-din (Sufficient provision for seekers of the path of truth and religion), parts one and two in Arabic, Al-Qadir, Abd and Al-Gilani. Dar Al-Hurya, Baghdad, Iraq, (1988).
25. ^ Al-Ghunya li-talibi tariq al-haqq wa al-din (Sufficient provision for seekers of the path of truth and religion) with introduction by Al-Kilani, Majid Irsan. Al-Kilani, Majid, al-Tariqat, 'Ursan, and al-Qadiriyah, Nash'at
26. ^ "The Qadirya Mausoleum" (PDF).
27. ^ A.A. Duri, Baghdad, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. I, 903.
28. ^ W. Braune, Abd al-Kadir al-Djilani, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. I, 70.
29. ^ "Ghousia".
30. ^ "Sirr-ul-Asrar". www.nafseislam.com. Retrieved 2016-08-04.

External links[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Abdul Qadeer Gilani

• lisanarabs.جغرافية الباز الأشهب - قراءة ثانية في سيرة الشيخ عبد القادر الكيلاني - جمال الدين الكيلاني GOGHRAFI ALBAZ ALASHB, at archive.org.
• Revelations of the Unseen Translation of Futuh al-Ghaib, at archive.org.
• Sufficient Provision For Seekers Of The Path Of Truth Translation of parts of Al-Ghunya Li Talibi Tariq Al-Haqq, at archive.org.
• Openings from the Lord Translation of excerpts from Al-Fath Al-Rabbani, at archive.org.
• Utterances Translation of Malfuzat, at archive.org.