Today’s programme is about Mahboob-e-Subhani, Sahib al-Maqamat wa’l-Karamat, Sayyid ahlul Tariqah, Muhiyuddin, wa Ghaus ul A’zam, Sultan ul Awlia ‘Abdul Qadir al-Jilani RA.
Many of us have heard of this great name and this saint. He was born 400 years after the Prophet in a place called Jilan, which is northern Iran. His father dies at a young age and he spends the first 18 years of his life under the madrassa of his mother, not that she had a school, but she understood the active role of a parent in raising the child, she a saint herself was raising another saint.
And he was blessed from day one. When he was a child, he would not eat nor drink during the month of Ramadan. In fact, one day the people were unsure whether Ramadan has started or not due to an overcast, so they came to his mother and asked her if the child has eaten. She said, he refuses to eat and so they realised Ramadan has indeed begun!
As he is growing, he relates that he would be escorted to the school by an Angel and the Angel would stay with him and bring him back home.
And when he reaches the age of 18, she sends him off to Baghdad.
Bandits and Truth
You may have heard about his story and the bandits. But let’s recap. She gives him 40 gold coins for his journey and studies, tying it to his inner pocket. On the way to Baghdad, they’re stopped by highway men and everyone in the caravan gets a shake down. They discover Abdul Qadir has something on him, but his pockets are empty. They try again to find the source of the sound of the coins. So they ask him, what is that? where is the money? He says, the coins are sewn in my inner pocket. When this news reaches the chief, he says, “why did you tell us, we didn’t even know.” Abdal Qadir replies, “When my mother sent me on my way, the last thing she told me was to always speak to the truth.”
And if you can place yourself in those times where transport is by foot or camel and you have to travel 100s of miles, it was possible you were never coming back home. This could be the last time she sees her son, so she gives him her final words of wisdom. “Always speak the truth.” And generally, we all accept lying is bad and that, yes we should speak the truth. But how careful are we really.
Theres a hadith about a mother who tells her child, “come her and I’ll give you a date”, the Prophet said to her, “If you were not to give him anything, a lie would be recorded against you.” This is something many of us do, just to get the child to listen. We think it’s a harmless lie. But we can see from the hadith, how upright character is very important from a young age and this can be extended to other habits, like sharing, being kind or being polite. If we teach them from an early age, it’s ok, then they are left with, it’s not that important.
Now another thing to mention here. Shaykh Abdal Qadir was a Sayyid, that means from the noble lineage of the Rasulullah. He was both Hasan’ and Hussainy. From his mother, he was Hussayni and from his fathers side he was Hasani. We have a hadith from Imam Hasan where he mentions the advice from RasulAllah to him before his passing, “Leave that which causes you doubt and take that which removes doubt, because telling the truth gives you a sense of peace whereas lying causing uneasiness in your heart.” One feels they haven’t been totally honest. Now the parting words of the Rasul to his beloved grandson were these, and the parting words from the Saintly mother to her beloved son were these too.
And this truthfulness had such an impact, the chief of them made tawba, and his followers said, you were our leader in robbery, now you’re our leader in repenting. They all became men of God!
And in fact later on in life when someone asked him what is it that has brought you to this spiritual level and he says it is the truthfulness which I promised to my mother. So if you too want this status, consider removing all deceitfulness.
Now when they get to Baghdad, a man, who we later know to be Al-Khidr, the green cloaked one, stops him, and takes him to the desert and says do not leave this place until I come back. Abdul Qadir stays there for three years. He says for one year, “I ate grass and roots, the next year I drank water only and in the final year I neither ate nor drunk nor slept.” At the end of the three years Khidr came again and told him to stay again and again and again until he completed seven years and then he was allowed to enter Baghdad and there he meets his Shaikh and makes bayah. He was sent to the desert to overcome his nafs, even the devil visited him many times and the sultan beat him every time.
Preach
Abdul Qadir was the humble mureed. He was in Allah’s service and in his remembrance but since he was a learned man, he was a teacher too. He was known to be an expert in Quran and Fiqh studies. And it’s only when he is in his 50s, he begins to preach and that too by the permission and blessings of the Prophet. The Prophet came to him in his dream, “Why don’t you lecture the people, guide them.” He said, “I’m not a preacher, also I’m from Persia, and these people are experts in Arabic, how will I lecture them.” The Prophet placed his blessed saliva in Abdul Qadir’s mouth, seven times.
He then starts to preach, but considering what we have said about this great saint, it’s only when he is in his 50s he preaches. You can see these great men of Allah weren’t about the fame, status, or the mureeds. As we saw, he spent many years in seclusion, wandering, fighting his nafs, alongside learning knowledge in the deen, and sitting with his Shaikh, cleaning his heart even further.
At his peak, he has thousands in his gatherings. He went from a small madrassa with two people to thousands in an open space. One day, whilst giving a speech, it started to rain. And he said to Allah, “I’m here gathering the people, advising them and then you are sending the rain to disperse them.” And then as witnessed by all the people that were there, all of a sudden, the clouds parted above the gathering. Anyone in the gathering was free from the rain, anyone out of it got wet!
Invitation challenge
He was known to never reject an invitation. One day, he was tested by his students… to see whose house he will go to. So both of them approach him and invite him separately. The following day, when they meet, they are happy, “the shaykh chose my house”, say both of them! But then they dispute both claiming the Shaykh came to their house. These are miracles of the Awlia. And not too uncommon.
Abdullah bin Mubarak when he had saved for Hajj and was off, just before going, he sees a poor woman about to eat the meat of a dead animal. He looks at her, and says how can I go to Hajj after my first, when my neighbour is Miskeen. So he gives her his money.
When the caravan returned from Hajj, he went out to welcome them and congratulate them, but they said, “thank you Shaikh for leading us and guiding us.” He said, “I did not go this year…” another said, “Subhan’Allah! You led us in the Hajj, what are you saying?” So he makes Dua, “Ya Allah what is happening…”
That night he sees a dream of a man, he says, “I am your habib in this life, and your shafi’e in the next life.” He tells him Allah loved your deed, so an angel was present in your form, and it led the people in the Hajj. And Allah has rewarded you with Hajj also, and you get the reward of teaching too!
Likewise, Allah made it that Sayyiduna Abdul Qadir would be presented in both mureeds home.
But these miracles do not really define him. Like the famous sufi said, Ek dam Istiqamat, Sau dam Karamat. One deed done consistently is better than 100 miracles. He’s got this work called the Secrets of Secrets, you might wonder what this work is about. Not just the secrets, but their secrets, it sounds quite mystical, but SubhanAllah what we find is that he bears emphasis on the Zikr of Allah, on purifying the heart, on suppressing the nafs, on perfecting the five pillars. And this is the reality of the men of piety. It’s not about miracles, it never has been. These are gifts given to his friends by Allah. But the true miracle is the one who takes on the practice and continues that for days on end.
In his work, Futuh Ghaib, he mentions 12 qualities each devout servant must possess;
- Two of them are from the attributes of Allah which is to hide the faults of the people and to have compassion and forgiveness for even the worst of sins.
- The next two qualities are from the Prophet which are love and gentleness.
- From Abu Bakr: It is truthfulness, devotion and generosity.
- From Omer it is justice.
- From Usman, it is humility and praying when the rest of mankind are asleep
- From Ali, it is knowledge and courage
And it’s because of his rank with Allah, his istiqamah, his tassawuf, that his followers formalised the Qadri order. Which is to establish a particular way of doing thing. Some of the key features are:
- Focus on Personal Transformation and Purification
- Dhikr
- Charity – feeding the poor
- Simple living – Abdul Qadi used to wear a very simply garment
- Giyarwee – To hold a mehfil and give food to the poor on the 11th of every month
And don’t think we don’t have a stake in this Fayz. This hat we wear, known as the Taaj e Mujadiddiya was introduced by Mujaddid Alif Thani, Ahmad Sirindhi. The four side represent the four main tariqas, he received fayz from all of them. So this became a benchmark of the Mujaddidi way, as in the people who have Fayz from all four Tariqas. Sufi Nawabudeen, in fact, were stern on the hat. They didn’t let mureeds sit in the mehfil, if they weren’t wearing their crowns. Because for those in tariqa, this is the channel in which we receive the fayz from these tariqas.
Finally, Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jillani, said, “Your true friend is he who warns you to take care of your hereafter.”
Aaqulu Qawli Haza, Wastaghfirullah.
And you may have heard of Imam Ghazali, it is said he was the master of the theory of spiritual sciences, he has the ihya and many advices. He dies in 1111CE, and it’s actually here when Abdul Qadir is discovered in Baghdad. And he is known for his Sufi practice. So the scholars say Imam Ghazali came to teach the theory and imam Abdul Qadir came to then show the practical.
“I spent many long years in complete isolation, wandering about in the deserts and wastelands of Iraq. Throughout all of forty years, I would perform my dawn prayer [Fajr] with the ablution of the night prayer [Esha]. Then, I would recite the Qur’an from the opening chapter [Surah Fatiha] – standing perched on one leg, with my hand in a socket knocked into the wall, for fear of falling asleep – until I came to the end of the Qur’an, around the approach of dawn.”