Dates of demise of the Awliya in Gregorian calendar

Following are some of the verified dates of demise of the well known Islamic saints in Gregorian calendar. Since most of the recorded dates are in Hijri calendar, there is no standard way to translate it in Gregorian calendar without an error of 1 to 2 days. However in some cases, the day is also recorded, which helps in removing this small error.

This list will be updated continuously.

January

26: Demise of Khwāja Muhammad Usmān Dāmāni of Musa Zai Sharif, khalifa of Khwāja Dost Muhammad Qandhāri, died 26 January 1897 (Tuesday, 22 Shaban 1314 AH [1]).

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Sayyid Wilayat Shah Hamdani

Hadrat Sayyid Wilāyat Shāh Hamdānī Bilāwalī was one of the blessed deputies of Khwāja Muhammad Sirāj ad-Dīn Naqshbandī Mujaddidī of Mūsā Zaī Sharīf, Pakistan.

He lived in village Danda Shāh Bilāwal, established by one of his pious great-grandfathers. He was a direct descendant of the Holy Prophet sallAllāhu ʻalayhi wasallam and a relative of Sayyid Laʻl Shāh Hamdānī.

Not much is known about him, except some oral traditions about him in his family. He had two sons and four daughters. His eldest son Sayyid Muhammad ʻĀrif (d.1984) was his khalīfa and successor, and did not have any children. His younger son Sayyid Ghulām Rabbānī was a murīd of his elder brother. One of his pious daughters is still living.

Sayyid Ghulām Rabbānī Hamdānī had two sons and two daughters. His sons are: Sayyid Hāmid ʻAlī Shāh and Sayyid Haibat ʻAlī Shāh.

Hadrat Sayyid Wilāyat Shāh spread the noble Naqshbandī Order in areas near Multān, Pakistan.

References

  1. Family history
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Sayyid Muhammad Shah Hamdani

Hadrat Sayyid Muhammad Shāh Hamdānī Bilāwalī was nephew of Sayyid Laʻl Shāh Hamdānī who was one of the greatest deputies of Khwāja Muhammad Usmān Dāmānī quddisa-sirruhumā.

Sayyid Muhammad was a direct descendant of the Holy Prophet sallAllāhu ʻalayhi wasallam, and was from the Hamdānī branch of Sayyids. He lived in a town Danda Shāh Bilāwal, located in Punjab Province, Pakistan.

He was initiated into the Naqshbandī Order by his uncle. After the demise of his uncle, he went to his uncle’s shaykh Khwāja Muhammad Usmān along with many of his family and friends who were also murids of Sayyid Laʻl Shāh. They all were initiated again by the Shaykh, who immediately awarded deputyship to Sayyid Muhammad Shāh and gave him the certificate of authorization (khilāfat-nāma) which was written by Mawlānā Mahmūd Shīrāzī. Continue reading

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Malfuzat (speeches) of Shaykh Fazal Ali Qureshi Naqshbandi

Following are some of the malfūzāt (speeches and advice) of Hadrat Shaykh Fazal Alī Qureshī Naqshbandī Mujaddidī qaddasAllāhu sirrahū (d.1935). Most of them are translated roughly from the published Malfūzāt of the shaykh which were written by his chief khalīfa Shaykh Abdul-Ghaffār Fazalī quddisa-sirruhū (d.1964).

Malfūzāt of the Shaykh

The shaykh used to read the following verses:

“Pride and arrogance looted three homes: the sayyid, the scholar, the tribal chief,
They consider themselves great, but have forgotten The Greatest.”

The Shaykh was outspoken and would not hesitate to say the truth regardless of who he was speaking to. Once he came to the Sabīl masjid in Delhi (where Mawlānā Abdul Ghafoor Madanī was the imam) where hundreds of people including many scholars came to see his eminence. Many people there had a habit of chewing Paan. The shaykh started watching them anxiously, from one corner to the other, and finally he remarked:

“In our area, women menstruate; but here the men (do), though from the mouth” (referring to the red saliva of a Paan chewer).

The people were so ashamed that many of them pledged not to use the Paan from that day. [1]

He said to his faqīrs:

“Do not listen to the speeches of common scholars whose hearts are ignorant of the remembrance of Allah. Their company will destroy your good beliefs and practices. Listen only to those scholars who have purified their Self with the company of perfected Awliyā and have adorned their hearts with the zikr” [7].

He said:

“If you wish to understand the Qur’ān then observe Taqwā. Taqwā is the name of leaving aside all Harām, doubtful and unnecessary things” [1].

Shaykh Fazal Alī Qureshī once said:

“A saint used to write down whatever he spoke during the day. In the evening, he would review his list: he would be satisfied at the good speech and he would repent from the indecent speech.”

Once the Shaykh said:

Befriend the Friends of Allah, (as) they are attentive to you.

Once he said:

A saint used to say that I have a quality in me that is not in God. Someone asked what it is, he said it is humbleness and humility, and God is free of it.

Khwāja Fazal Alī once told following story:

A murīd of Ḥaḍrat Bāyazīd Bastāmī was traveling in a trade caravan. Suddenly, bandits came and started looting the caravan. All the caravan people called upon God, but to no avail. That murīd called upon his master, and he was the only one in the caravan who was protected from looting. The caravan people were astounded from this. Later, some of them asked Khwāja Bāyazīd about the fact that their supplicating God did not help them, while that murīd’s calling his master for help protected him. Khwāja Bāyazīd replied: he (that murīd) supplicated me and I supplicated God. Since I had a strong bond of love with God, my supplication was granted immediately, while you did not possess that strong connection with God, you were not granted.

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Majzub Salik: A distinctive quality of the Naqshbandi Sufi Path

One of the sublime qualities of the Naqshbandi tarīqah, that distinguishes it from all other Sufi paths, is the initial Jazba that precedes Sulūk.

Jazba means passion, the plural is Jazbāt (passions). It is an emotional quality that takes a seeker’s spiritual subtleties (Laṭāʼif) upwards (fawq). Sulūk is the spiritual journey towards perfection, which requires effort and endurance. All tarīqahs except the Naqshbandī, start a seeker’s journey with Sulūk in order to purify him of all spiritual ills and evils, before taking him to the higher stations where he receives Jazba. The Naqshbandī tarīqah starts with the subtleties of the Command-World (ʻĀlm al-Amr), and the seeker enters jazba in the very beginning of the path. This jazba is a reflection of the jazba that a perfected seeker receives in the journey’s end. After tasting this jazba, it becomes extremely easy for the seeker to traverse the spiritual path (Sulūk) without much effort and difficulty. Continue reading

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An incident of “Istighatha”: Using Intermediaries and Intercessors

(Written by Shaykh Gibril Fouad Haddad, reproduced with permission)

In SP AH wrote:

One night, the Prophet of Allah ﷺ may Allah bless him and grant him peace – was in his house and was heard to proclaim ‘I am here!’ three times and ‘You have been granted help’ also three times. Umm al-Muʼminīn, Maymūnah – may Allah be well pleased with her – asked the Prophet – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – whom he had been talking to since there was no one present. He ﷺ may Allah bless him and grant him peace – replied, ‘I was talking to a person called Rajiz from the tribe of Banī Kaʻab. He asked for help from me against the Quraysh.’ Umm al-Muʼminīn, Maymūnah – may Allah be well pleased with her – said that when she finished fajr prayer the next morning, she heard Rajiz calling out in the streets of Madina: “Yā Rasūl-Allāh! Help us and call the servants of Allah to help us.”

Shaykh Yūsuf al-Nabhānī, Allah have mercy on him, cites two hadiths in this respect with their full wording in the chapter of the Prophet’s ʻilm al-ghayb in his encyclopedia of the Prophetic miracles, “Hujjat Allāh ʻala al-ʻĀlamīn bi-Muʻjizāt Sayyid al-Mursalīn” (p. 493): Continue reading

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Tawajjuh, Tasawwur, Suhba, Rabita

(Written by Shaykh Gibril Fuad Haddad, reproduced with permission)

Wa ʻalaykum as-Salām wa rahmatullāh wa barakātuh:

Is the concept of tawajjuh a common and accepted practice in Sūfī Tarīqahs? By Tawajuuh I don’t mean during the prayer towards the qibla. Rather, it was explained to me that a mureed must imagine he is facing his Shaykh when doing dhikr. I have heard it described that it is like trying to see the sun by facing a mirror. Similarly if you want to connect to God, you must orient yourself towards your Shaykh.

This is a rather technical question best answered by the Naqshbandīs, may Allāh Most High bless them and benefit us with their lights.

Tawajjuh literally means orientation and refers to the turning of one’s heart to Allāh Most High. In the Naqshbandī Tarīqa it can refer either to the murīd’s turning to Allāh Most High, similar to vigilance (murāqaba) and mentioned alongside it; or it refers to the accomplished guide’s (al-murshid al-kāmil) intent duʻa for individual murīds. Continue reading

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Some points about content copyrights

Today I noticed a blog on Blogspot.com that had copied many posts from my blog, without even mentioning my name or linking to the original posts. Although I believe that Islamic content should not be copyrighted strictly, and copying others’ posts for the purpose of spreading sacred knowledge is fine. But it is a moral obligation of the copier to acknowledge the original author, and if possible, link to the original content or provide proper reference.

I am not a learned person or scholar of Islam, neither am I a prolific and qualified writer. I write only because of my love and attraction to the masters of Sufism, and my sole wish is to propagate their teachings. I feel pleased when my writings are spread on other blogs as well, either linked or copied. But at the same time, it is sad to see that some copiers do not even mention the original author’s name, effectively claiming the content to be their own (which is obviously false and could be counted as a lie).

This reminds of the great saint and Sufi master, Hadrat Sayyid ʻAlī Hujwerī, alias Dātā Ganj Bakhsh, who is the author of reputed book of Tasawwuf “Kashf al-Maḥjūb”. He writes in that book that a few of his previous writings, including texts and poetry, were stolen by some fraudsters, who later tried to publish those writings under their names. When such exalted saints of Islam are not saved from the act of plagiarism, what am I?

The blog I mentioned seems to represent a well reputed Naqshbandi organization in the USA, the Naqshbandiya Foundation for Islamic Education (NFIE). But the owner, it looks to me, is not officially connected to NFIE, and copies content from this blog freely and posts it under his name. Here is the address:

http://wwwnfiecomblogspotcom.blogspot.se/

It should be noted that I often update the posts of my blog, so any copy-pasting will lead to old and inaccurate content being distributed through other channels. Please visit this website only for up-to-date blog posts.

May Allah forgive the owner of that blog for his actions, and forgive me as well as the readers of this blog. Ameen

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Naqshbandi Order in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The country that is now called Bosnia and Herzegovina, informally called Bosnia, is located in the Balkan region of Europe. The modern state became independent in 1992. The capital and the largest city of Bosnia is Sarajevo.

The history of the Naqshbandi Order in Bosnia and other Balkan states is quite old. Many tekkes (khānqāh in Persian) of the Naqshbandi Order are still functional in Bosnia, and followers frequent them for receiving spiritual training and performing dhikr. However, many such tekkes have lost the original methods and teachings of the Naqshbandī masters, and adopted methods of dhikr and other practices over time.

Pre-Mujaddidī branches

Bosnia was conquered by Ottoman Empire in 1463. Very soon, the Ottomans sent scholars and shaykhs of different tarīqas to the newly conquered Balkan lands to spread Islam and Sufism in the local population. The first Naqshbandī tekke in Bosnia was constructed very soon after the conquest, in the same year 1463, by Iskandar Pāshā, who was the governor of Bosnia. It was built in a village near a river bank, on the site where the modern city Sarajevo stands. It was called the Tekke of Shaykh Musāfir.

Probably the first Naqshbandi Sufi master who entered the Balkan states and firmly established the Order there was Haḍrat Mullā ʻAbdullāh Ilāhī (d.896 AH), who was a khalīfa of Khwāja ʻUbaydullāh Aḥrār qaddas-Allāhu sirrahū. After learning the tarīqa from Khwāja Aḥrār, who came to Istanbul where he established a tekke and had many followers, including some from the ruling elites. Soon, he moved on to Greece where he lived and died in Vardar Yenicesi in northern Greece, where his tomb was a place of pilgrimage for the next two centuries (until Greece was recaptured by the Christians). Continue reading

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The superiority of Abu-Bakr Siddiq over other Sahaba

It is a collective agreement [Ijmāʻ] of the scholars of Ahl as-Sunnah wal-Jamāʻh that the greatest person in this Ummah is Abū Bakr, then ʿUmar, then ʿUs̱mān and then ʿAlī, radiyAllahu anhum. The greatest Sufi masters have also affirmed this tenet of the Sunnī creed. Particularly, the Naqshbandī masters hold this belief firmly, not only based on the authentic narrations, but also by their Kashf.

Regarding the superiority of Sayyidinā Abū-Bakr, it is also a belief of Sunni Muslims that he is the best human being after the prophets.

There are numerous scholarly proofs regarding this core tenet of Ahl-us-Sunnah, including many Sahīh Hadīths and their interpretations by the Imāms of jurisprudence and creed. Repeating those arguments is not necessary here. Rather, I will emphasize on the quotes of the luminary Sufi masters who have affirmed this belief. This is in response to some Sufis who believe in the contrary and hold Imām Alī to be better than Abū-Bakr.

On the other hand, this post does not in any way show disrespect or diminishing of the dignity of our master Imām ʻAlī ibn Abī Tālib, who is the beloved of every seeker of the spiritual paths. No one can ever diminish his lofty status in the eyes of his lovers. Not only him, but even his sons, grandsons and great-grandsons are pupils of the eyes of true Muslims.

The master of all Sufis, the master of the Muslim nation, the center of sainthood, Imām ʻAlī ibn Abī Tālib radiyAllāhu ʻanhu himself has declared the superiority of Abū-Bakr over all others. He said the following words in a public gathering:

“Indeed Abū-Bakr and ʻUmar are the greatest in this nation.”

This is reported by Imām Dhahabī and quoted by Imām Rabbānī in his Maktūbāt. Imām Dhahabī also said that more than eighty narrators have narrated this from Imām ʻAlī.

Imām Rabbānī also quotes the following through Imām Dhahabī:

“I have been informed that some people consider me greater than these two [Abū-Bakr and ʻUmar]. Thus, however considers me greater than them, he is a liar and his punishment is the same as for a liar.” [Maktūbāt, volume 1, letter 266]

The light of the Ahl al-Bait our master Imām Muḥammad al-Bāqir (d.114H/733) alaihi as-Salām said in this regard:

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