Abdul Qadir Gilani, (Persian: عبدالقادر گیلانی, Arabic: عبدالقادر الجيلاني) known by admirers 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, ascetic, mystic, jurist, and theologian, known for being the eponymous founder of the Qadiriyya tariqa (Sufi order) of Sufism.
He was born on 11 Rabi’ al-Thani 470 AH (March 23, 1078) in the town of Na’if in Gilan, Iran, and died on Monday, February 21, 1166 (11 Rabi’ al-Thani 561 AH), in Baghdad. He was a Persian Hanbali Sunni jurist and Sufi based in Baghdad. The Qadiriyya tariqa is named after him.
Name
The honorific Muhiyudin denotes his status with many Sufis as a “reviver of religion”. Gilani (Arabic al-Jilani) refers to his place of birth, Gilan. However, Gilani also carried the epithet Baghdadi, referring to his residence and burial in Baghdad.
Family background
Gilani’s father, Abu Saleh Moosah, was from a Sayyid lineage, tracing his descent from Hasan ibn Ali, a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Abu Saleh was respected as a saint by the people of his day, and was known as Jungi Dost (meaning “gian-lover” in louri), which was originally his father’s sobriquet. 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.
Education
Gilani spent his early life in Gilan, the province of his birth. In 1095, at the age of eighteen, he went to Baghdad. There, he pursued the study of Hanbali law under Abu Saeed Mubarak Makhzoomi and ibn Aqil. He studied Hadith with Abu Muhammad Ja’far al-Sarraj. His Sufi spiritual instructor was Abu’l-Khair Hammad ibn Muslim al-Dabbas. (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.
School of law
Al-Jilani belonged to the Shafi’i and Hanbali schools of law. He placed Shafi’i jurisprudence (fiqh) on an equal footing with the Hanbali school (madhhab), and used to give fatwa according to both of them simultaneously. This is why al-Nawawi praised him in his book entitled Bustan al-‘Arifin (Garden of the Spiritual Masters), saying: “We have never known anyone more dignified than Baghdad’s Sheikh Muhyi al-Din ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, may Allah be pleased with him, the Sheikh of Shafi’is and Hanbalis in Baghdad”.
Qadiriyya tariqa
He established Qadiriyya tariqa order, with its many offshoots, is widespread, various parts of the world, and can also be found in United Kingdom, Africa, Turkey, Indonesia, Afghanistan, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Balkans, Russia, Palestine, China, and East and West Africa.
The Qadiriyya flourished, surviving the Mongolian conquest of Baghdad in 1258, and remained an influential Sunni institution. After the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate, the legend of Gilani was further spread by a text entitled The Joy of the Secrets in Abdul-Qadir’s Mysterious Deeds (Bahjat al-asrar fi ba’d manaqib ‘Abd al-Qadir) attributed to Nur al-Din ‘Ali al-Shattanufi, who depicted Gilani as the ultimate channel of divine grace and helped the Qadiri order to spread far beyond the region of Baghdad.
By the end of the fifteenth century, the Qadiriyya had distinct branches and had spread to Morocco, Spain, Turkey, India, Ethiopia, Somalia, and present-day Mali. Established Sufi sheikhs often adopted the Qadiriyya tradition without abandoning leadership of their local communities. During the Safavid dynasty‘s rule of Baghdad from 1508 to 1534, the sheikh of the Qadiriyya was appointed chief Sufi of Baghdad and the surrounding lands. Shortly after the Ottoman Empire conquered Baghdad in 1534, Suleiman the Magnificent commissioned a dome to be built on the mausoleum of Abdul-Qadir Gilani, establishing the Qadiriyya as his main allies in Iraq.
Later life
In 1127, Gilani returned to Baghdad and began to preach to the public. 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. He was able to reconcile the mystical nature of Sufism with the sober demands of Islamic Law.
Death and burial
Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gilani Mosque in Baghdad 1925
Gilani died on 21 February 1166 (11 Rabi’ al-Thani 561 AH) at the age of 87. His body was entombed in a shrine within his madrasa in Babul-Sheikh, Rusafa on the east bank of the Tigris in Baghdad, Iraq.
During the reign of the Safavid Shah Ismail I, Gilani’s shrine was destroyed. However, in 1535, the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent had a dome built over the shrine, which still exists.
Birthday and death anniversary celebration
11 Rabi’ al-Thani is celebrated as Gilani’s birthday, although some scholars give 29 Sha’ban and 17 Rabi’ al-Thani as his birth and death days. In the Indian subcontinent, his ‘urs, or death anniversary, is called Giyarwee Shareef, or Honoured Day. Tomb of Sheikh Abdul Qadir, Baghdad, Iraq.
Books
- Kitab Sirr al-Asrar wa Mazhar al-Anwar (The Book of the Secret of Secrets and the Manifestation of Light)
- Futuh al ghaib (Secrets of the unseen)
- Ghunyat tut talibeen (Treasure for seekers) غنیہ الطالیبین
- Al-Fuyudat al-Rabbaniya (Emanations of Lordly Grace)
- Fifteen Letters: Khamsata ‘Ashara Maktuban
- Kibriyat e Ahmar
- A Concise Description of Jannah & Jahannam
- The Sublime Revelation (al-Fatḥ Ar-rabbānī)
