Sayyidina Muhyiddin Al Imam Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani Quddusus Sirruhoo

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
Nahmaduhu wa Nusalli ‘alaa Rasulihil Kareem

Sayyidina Muhyiddin Al Imam Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani Quddusus Sirruhoo

A Brief Sketch

Shaykh Muhyiddeen Abdul Qadir Jilani (1077 CE/472H - 1166 CE/561 H) was the luminary of his time in the spiritual sciences and in the disciplines of the Divine Law. His renown in the sciences of Sufism and Shariah was so great, that he came to be known as the spiritual pole of his time, al-Ghawth al-Adham.

He was born in the city of Jilan, in the northwestern province of Persia, in the year 1077 AC. At the age of eighteen he set forth for the city of Baghdad to seek the Divine Knowledge and Guidance.

His first shaykhs of Divine Law were Shaykh Abul Wafa Ibn Aqil, Shaykh Muhammad bin al-Hassan al-Baqlani and Abu Zakariya Tabrizi. Under these great divines he learned the Science of exegesis of Quran, the Science of the Traditions, the Science of the Life of the Prophet (sirah), theology, jurisprudence (fiqh), grammar, Quranic recitation and philology. He studied the Hanbali school of jurisprudence, yet he was able to give decisions in the Shafii school as well. He memorized the Quran, not in only one form, but in all seven methods of recitation.

After mastering thirteen disciplines of the religious law and its related sciences, he then turned to the spiritual path under the guidance of Shaykh Hammad bin Muslim ad-Dabbas. He received initiation into the path of seekers under Shaykh al-Mubarak Said bin al-Hassan. Shaykh al-Mubarak Said was shaykh to most of the greatest seekers and masters in his time in Baghdad.

Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani received the ijaza and leadership of the tariqa at the age of fifty years old from his shaykh, Shaykh al-Mubarak Said. Not long after receiving the official title of Shaykh at-Tariqat, he was renowned throughout the city and into the surrounding lands as a grand master and the source to which all yearning hearts must turn for guidance and illumination, guiding their hearts to the path of divine love and divine inspiration.

Sayyidina Abdul Qadir relates, “Initially, only a few people would come to attend my association. As more people heard about me the school became crowded. I then used to sit in the mosque at Bab al-Hilba which became too small to hold the large numbers of people who would come to hear me. they would even come at nighttime, carrying lamps and candles to see. When finally it would no longer accommodate the crowds, and my chair of teaching was moved to the main thoroughfare and later to the outskirts of the city, becoming the new place of gathering. People would come to attend by foot, by horse, by mule, by ass and by camel. You could see seventy-thousand listeners standing in the circle in these meetings.”

In his gatherings, he would enjoin the people to do the good and to abjure for committing wrong. His advice addressed rulers, ministers, governors, judges, his disciples and the common people. According to Ibn Kathir, the great historian, “Standing in the mosques, he reprimanded publicly the rulers who committed wrong, in the presence of all as witnesses and in his public speeches. He avoided any sort of political appointments, never feared anyone in his speech except God Almighty and was unaffected by the reproach of anyone.” Once when the caliph of the Islamic world at that time apointed an unjust person to be chief judge, Sayyidina Abdul Qadir Jilani stood up in the largest mosque in Baghdad to give the Friday sermon. He spoke in his sermon to the caliph directly. He said, “You have apointed the worst of the unjust ones to judge the affairs of Muslims! What will be your answer tomorrow in front of the Lord of the worlds, the Most Merciful of the merciful?” Upon hearing this, the caliph shook with fear. Shedding many tears, he quickly went after the prayers to dismiss that judge.