As the Ummah of the beloved Rasool Prophet Muhammad is the best Ummah. In this ummah there are a lot of great personalities one of them with high status is Shaik Abdulqadir Jilani. In this short piece of writing we learn about his great personality.
Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani رَحْمَۃُ اللہِ تَعَالٰی عَلَیْہِ is amongst those personalities who are a source of advice and guidance for us even now this time and age. His family was the house of saints of Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ. His father, mother maternal grandfather, paternal grandfather, paternal aunt, brother and sons all were saints of Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ. His maternal lineage was Hussaini and paternal lineage was Hassani.
Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jeelani رَحْمَۃُ اللہِ تَعَالٰی عَلَیْہِ was born in jeelan on the first day of Ramadan, on Friday. The name of his mother was Ummul Khair Faddtima and the name of his father was Sayyed Abu Salleh MusaJangi dost. On his blessed birth a lots of remarkable events took place.
At his birth the age of his mother was sixty years when usually a woman cannot reproduce. The night when he born, all the mothers who gave birth to children gave birth the baby boy and not only this but all the children who born at that night became the wali of Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ when they grew up.
Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani رَحْمَۃُ اللہِ تَعَالٰی عَلَیْہِ was a graceful man on appearance, he had medium height, broad chest, wide and long beard and light brown complexion. His voice was loud and he had an extremely beautiful look. He was very intelligent.
His father was died in his early age and he was brought up by his maternal grandfather named Sayyiduna Abdullah saummaee. His grandfather was very pious man and was a famous religious personality of jeelan. Ghous e Azam رَحْمَۃُ اللہِ تَعَالٰی عَلَیْہِ gained his early education from him.Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani رَحْمَۃُ اللہِ تَعَالٰی عَلَیْہِ remembered Holy Al Quran at very early age. After the basic education in his city, ghous e Azam was sent to Baghdad for acquiring religious knowledge from famous scholars of Baghdad.
He sought the knowledge of Fiqh for a long period of time from the great scholars of Fiqh like Abu al khtaab, Qazi abu yaala, Qazi Abu Saeed and others. Similarly he got the knowledge of Hadith from the great Hadith scholars like Imam Baaqlaani, Abu al Qasim Karkhi and other great scholars of Hadith.
He had a great love for knowledge. He received the religious knowledge in a unique way. He was very eager to receive knowledge from his teachers. He used to go to forest after receiving knowledge from his teachers and there he continues his studies. He went to deserts or forests for acquiring loneliness to give proper concentration on his studies and he did not concern how the circumstances are. He went to study in deserts whether it was day or night, windstorm or pouring rain, heat or cold. He mostly remained hungry or ate very small quantity of food and continued his studies and sleep hungry on the ground of pebbles.
He spent most of his time learning knowledge. He has done struggles for it and spent his time in the company of famous saints and scholars of his time. He continued to gain spiritual and religious knowledge from them and a time came when he was the most exalted among these famous scholars and saints. He detached himself from worldly matters and started preaching Islam and remained in the remembrance of Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ.
He bore a lot of hardships and troubles during his efforts for gaining knowledge and as a result he became the greatest saint of the world. People used to follow and respect him. His efforts increased the majesty of Islam and the status of knowledge. People accepted his greatness and eminence. Blessed scholars of his time used to come to him for acquiring knowledge and became his students. Many of them got the award of his khilafat.
People came from the different areas to him for gaining knowledge. A large gathering of seventy thousand people collected before him to quench their thrust of knowledge. Numerous scholars, Mashaikh and Fuqhaa were found in his gathering.
After completion of his studies, he started the job of issuing fatawa and preaching Islamic teachings. Side by side he also carry on delivering sermons and made many publications.His lectures were full of knowledge and wisdom. They were so influential and powerful that listeners would go into spiritual ecstasy. Some of them would tear their clothes. Others would fall unconscious. On various occasions, even non-Muslims came to his lectures. After listening to his lectures they would find that they could not refute anything he said and they would willingly accept Islam. In addition to the ordinary members of the public, Rijaal-ul-Ghaib and Jinns also frequented his blessed gatherings. Akaabireen and Mashaa’ikh also frequented his gatherings. It was a training school for the young, a place to repent for the sinful, a place of guidance for the misguided, and a bank of spiritualism for the spiritually bankrupt.
He was matchless scholarly personality of his time. He had a strong hold on the knowledge of Fiqh, Hadees, Quranic commentary, Arabic grammar, literature and other fields of knowledge. He also had excellent manners and was very affectionate with his students. He used to send food and oil to light lamp from his home to the students of his madrassah.
People used to repent from sins in his gathering and there was no any of his gathering in which someone did not repented his sins and became a true Muslim. More than five thousand non Muslims accepted Islam in his hand and more than one lac thieves, liars and other sinners repented from their sins and became the saints of Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ. When he advised people then they listen him carefully and obey him. He advised people to do good deeds and avoid from bad. He used to address the rulers of his time in a very brave manner and called them towards the right path.
Ghous e Azam sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani رَحْمَۃُ اللہِ تَعَالٰی عَلَیْہِ was expert in teaching, writing but his special skills were found in the field of ifta. The great scholars, Islamic jurisprudent and mufti of his time were astonished on his excellent skills of writing fatwa. He gave the easy and nice answers of very difficult questions about Islamic rulings. He was very renowned for his fatawa in Iraq and people used to contact him for fatawa.
Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani رَحْمَۃُ اللہِ تَعَالٰی عَلَیْہِ wanted to see the religious scholars at very high rank in the society. He addressed the scholars and advised them not to go in the company of rich and rulers.
His will for sacrifice for others and selflessness was very high and he used to give his things of use to others if they also need these. He was averted from worldly people and worldly wealth. He was very patient and bore the hardships of life in the remembrance of Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ. He always helped the poor and needy people. He spent a lot of his time in the worship of Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ to attain spiritual bliss. He liked to sit with old age people and treat softly with the baggers. He respected elder and was kind to children. He liked to say Salam first and spent a long period of time with guests and students. He would ignore their mistakes. He mostly spoke in Arabic language. However he also spoke and wrote in Persian as he was a non Arab. His talk was a river of endless knowledge.
Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani رَحْمَۃُ اللہِ تَعَالٰی عَلَیْہِ wrote a lot of spiritual and acknowledging books. His books will continue to guide people towards the right path forever.
Some of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani’s رَحْمَۃُ اللہِ تَعَالٰی عَلَیْہِ well known works include:
1. Futuh al-Ghaib (Revelations of the Unseen) – 78 discourses, fairly short and to the point but very powerful.
2. Al-Fath ar-Rabbani (The Sublime Revelation) – 62 discourses definitely longer, given in the Ribaat and Madrasa in Baghdad AH 545-546.
3. Jala’ al-Khawatir (The Removal of Cares) – 45 discourses, also in the same locations, given in the year AH 546.
4. Kitab Sirr al-AsrarwaMazhar al-Anwar (The Book of the Secret of Secrets and the Manifestation of Lights)
5. Malfuzat (Utterances) – This is a collection of various sayings of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani رَحْمَۃُ اللہِ تَعَالٰی عَلَیْہِ. Generally it is found at the end of the hand copied Arabic manuscripts of Fath ar-Rabbani.
6. Al-Ghunya li-Talibi Tariq al-Haqq (Sufficient Provision for Seekers of the Path of Truth) – also known in the Indian sub-continent as Al-Ghunya li-Talibin. These five volumes, written by the Sheikh, at the request of one of his murids, is a comprehensive guide to all aspects of Islam, both the inward and the outward.
7. Khamsata ‘AsharaMaktuban (Fifteen Letters) – These are 15 letters originally written in Persian by Sheikh Abdul Qadir to one of his murids.
8. Al-Fuyudat al-Rabbaniyya (Emanations of Lordly Grace)
9. Bashair al-Khairat (Glad Tidings of Good Things) – A Salawat by Sheikh Abdul Qadir by way of inspiration from Allah.
10. Answers to Various Important Questions – Contains many concise answers to very important questions regarding a variety of topics.
11. Special Prayers – Contains many special invocations taught to us by the Sheikh for their special blessings.
Gate of Poverty – Contains the story excerpted from Necklaces of Gems of the Sheikh’s struggle with the Devil Armies, Iblis himself, and his lower self (nafs).
He died on 9 Rabi ul akhir 561 Hijri. He was about 90 years old at the time of his demise. His grave is in the famous city of Iraq, the Baghdad.