Hadhrat Mawlānā Khwāja Ghulām Muhiy-ad-Dīn Qusūrī Siddīqī Naqshbandī Mujaddidī qaddas-Allāhu sirrahu was one of the chief deputies of the great Indian Naqshbandi master Shāh Ghulām-ʿAlī Dahlawī quddisa-sirruhu.
He was from the descendants of the first caliph of Islam Sayyidinā Abū Bakr Siddīq radiy-Allāhu ʿanhu. His ancestors moved from Sindh to Qusoor city in Punjab, Pakistan. His father Shaykh Ghulām Mustafā and grandfather Shaykh Ghulām Murtadā were qualified scholars and masters of the Qādri Sufi order. In fact, his grandfather Shaykh Ghulām Murtadā was the teacher of the well known Sufi poets of Punjabi language Bulhay Shāh and Wārith Shāh.
Birth and life
He was born around 1202H/1787. His father passed away when he was just one year old. He was brought up by his uncle Shaykh Muhammad Qusoori, who taught him the Islamic sciences and trained him in the Qādri method. His uncle also taught him the Sufi book Maktubāt Imām Rabbāni (letters of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi). After graduating and learning the Sufi Path, he was authorized in the Qādri order and was made a successor of his uncle.
He soon gathered many disciples and taught them the Sufi Path of the Qādri order. But his heart was inclined towards the Path of the Mujaddidi order, and he wished to receive it from a qualified master. However, until his uncle and shaykh was alive, he did not go to another shaykh. When his shaykh passed away, he took allegiance with the greatest Naqshbandi master of the time, Hadhrat Shāh Ghulām Ali Dihlawi Mujaddidi.
Shāh Ghulām Ali was highly pleased to get a talented disciple like him. He considered Mawlānā Qusoori as his fifth deputy, as he had stated four of his deputies to be the most qualified, including Shāh Abū Saʿīd Mujaddidī, Shāh Ahmad Saʿīd Mujaddidī, Shāh Raūf Ahmad Mujaddidī, and Mawlānā Bashārat-Allāh Bihrāichi.
One day, his shaykh said to him: “Mawlawī Sāhib! Throw away the scholarship [Maulawiyyat] and learn the sigh”.
During his stay in Delhi, Mawlānā Qusoori also met with the great Indian scholar Shāh Abd al-Aziz Dihlawi, and received Sanads of famous books of Hadith from him. These included Shahih al-Bukhāri, Sahih al-Muslim, Al-Mishkāt, and Hisn Hiseen.
After the demise of Shāh Ghulām Ali Dihlawi in 1240H, Mawlānā Qusoori preached and taught the Mujaddidi Path in the far and wide of Punjab and became the most prominent Sufi master of his time in Punjab. His khāniqāh in Qusoor became a seat of Sufi learning and thousands came to him to seek the true love and nearness of their Lord. He had many deputies who established their own khāniqāhs in various places.
Hadhrat Khwāja Qusoori passed away on 22 Dhul-Qa’dah 1270 (1854) at exactly noon time during meditation. Just before his death, he taught a lesson from Mathnavī Rūmī, in which he talked about the death of saints and their eternal life after death. After that, he went into meditation. A long time passed and the disciples thought he was deeply immersed in meditation, but later found out that his blessed soul had passed away to his Lord. He was about 69 years old. He was buried in the larger cemetery of Qusoor city, where his noble tomb lies as a place of pilgrimage for his lovers and devotees.
Deputies
He left behind many qualified and perfected deputies, many of whom are well known Sufi saints in Punjab. His deputies include:
- His son Mawlānā ʿAbd ar-Rasūl Qusūrī Naqshbandī Mujaddidī (1235-1294 AH)
- Mawlānā Ghulām-Nabī Lillāhī, who established a khānqāh in Lillāh, district Jhelum, Pakistan
- Mawlānā Ghulām-Murtadā, Bīrbal, district Sargodhā, Pakistan
- Mawlānā Hāfiz Nur ad-Din (d.1302H), Chakorī, district Gujarāt, Pakistan
- Mawlānā Muftī Ghulām Muhiy ad-Dīn (d.1306H), Namak Miānī, district Sargodhā, Pakistan
- Mawlānā Ghulām-Muhammad (d.1297H), Derā Ismāīl Khān, Pakistan
- Mawlānā Ghulām-Dastagīr Qusūrī (d.1315H), Qusoor, Pakistan
- Mawlānā Muhammad-Ashraf Bhīrvī (d.1279H)
- Mawlānā ʿAtāʾ-Allāh Qandahārī
- Mawlānā Sālih-Muhammad Kanjāhī, author of Silsilat al-Awliyā
- Mawlānā Badr ad-Dīn
- Shaykh Hāfiz Sardār, Hasht-nagar, Kāngrā
- Shaykh Muhammad Khān Alīzaī
- Shaykh Miyān Ahmad, Derā Ismāīl Khān, Pakistan
- Shaykh Miyān Uthmān Sabbāgh
- Mawlānā Walī-Muhammad, Fārūq-Ābād, Chūharkāna
- Mawlānā Fayz-Muhammad
- Shaykh Miyān Karam-Ilāhī, Bhīra, Punjab, Pakistan
- Mawlānā Mahmūd Jī, Khūshāb, Pakistan
Writings
He left behind a large library of precious books that included many rare manuscripts of ancient books. He was a writer and poet and wrote many books and treatises. Some of his authored works are listed below:
- Sharh Gulistān Sa’di (Farsi), 1225H/1810. A manuscript in handwriting of the author preserved in the collection of Kitabkhana Ganj Bakhsh, Center for Persian Research Iran and Pakistan, Islamabad, Pakistan.
- Risāla Ilm-i Mirās, Ramadan 1227H / 1812. A manuscript in handwriting of the author preserved in Kitabkhana Ganj Bakhsh, Islamabad, Pakistan.
- Tuhfa-i Rasooliya (Farsi), 1234H. A poetic work in Persian consisting of the merits, virtues and miracles of the Final Prophet sall-Allahu alaihi wa-Sallam. Published in 1308H from Lahore, republished multiple times.
- Zād al-Hāj (Punjabi). Basic Fiqh of Hajj pilgrimage.
- Risāla-i Nizāmiya. Concerning the creed of Wahdat al-Wujood.
- Salālat al-Marurah Fi Tajwiz Asmā al-Mashhoorah (Persian). Concerning the validity of the personal names such as Abd ar-Rasul and Abd an-Nabi (slave of the Prophet). Written in refutation of a Wahhabi writer Molvi Khurram Ali Dihlawi.
- Hulya Sharif.
- Alfāz-i Chand.
- Diwān-i Huzoori Qusoori. His Diwan of Persian and Punjabi poetry. Selections of his poetry were published in 1976 under the title Ahsan al-Kalam.
- Isrār al-Haqiqah. Manuscript in the library of Khaniqah Musa Zai Sharif, Dera Ismail Khan district, Pakistan.
- Makātib-i Tayyiba. His letters collected by himself.
- Makātib Sharifah. His letters collected by his deputy Mawlana Ghulam Nabi Lillahi.
- Maktubāt. His letters collected by his deputy Mawlana Muhammad Salih Kanjahi.
- Letters addressed to Molvi Ghulam Muhammad.
- Other letters written to various persons. Compiled by Prof. Muhammad Iqbal Mujaddidi.
- Bayāz-i Nazm wa Nasr. 1232H – 1269H. Consisting of short verses and texts written as memoranda of years of birth and death of notable persons.
- Sharh Durood Mustaghās. Punjabi poem. Included in a book titled Izhar Inkar al-Munkareen, by Mawlana Nabi Bakhsh Halwai, published from Lahore in 1973.
- Risālah Dar Radd-i Firqah Dāllah Wahhābiyah (Treatise in refutation of the Wahhabi sect). Affirming the Sunni creed that saints passed away from this world can listen and communicate with the living people.
He wrote poetry in Farsi, Arabic and Punjabi, and many of his writings are in poetic form.
Stance against Wahhabism
His student and biographer Maulawī Imām ad-Dīn writes about his last days:
“Towards the end of his life, he exceedingly condemned the Wahhābī Najdī deviant sect. He used to inform his friends and acquaintances about the deception and treachery of these reprobates. And for this reason he has written a poem in their rebuttal.”
He wrote a short treatise in the form of a long poem in refutation of the Wahhābī sect. It is called Risālah Dar Radd-i Firqah Dāllah Wahhābiyah (رساله در رد فرقه ضاله وهابیه). He also wrote a treatise on the validity of Islamic names such as Ghulām-Rasūl, ʿAbd ar-Rasūl, ʿAbd an-Nabī. These names include the word ʿAbd (meaning slave) related to prophets or saints (instead of God). In the Wahhābī creed, such names are not allowed.
His deputies also took a hard stance against the emerging sectarianism propagated by the Wahhabis. His deputy Mawlānā Ghulām-Dastagīr also wrote a treatise against Wahhabism called Tuhfa Dastagīriya (تحفه دستگیریه).
References
[1] Tārīkh-i Mashāikh-i Naqshbandiyyah (Urdu). By Prof. Muhammad Abdur-Rasool Lillāhī. Published by Maktabah Zāwiyah, Lahore in 2007.