Qadiriyya
Encyclopedia
The Qadiriyya are members of the Qadiri Sufi order (tariqa). This derives its name from Abdul Qader Jeelani Al Amoli (1077–1166 CE, also transliterated as "Jilani" etc.) who was a native of the Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

ian province of Mazandaran. The order relies strongly upon adherence to the fundamentals of Islam. Common names for descendants of this order include Balochi Qadri and Ahmed Qadri. The Qadri are all Sufis.

The order, with its many offshoots, is widespread, particularly in the Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

ic-speaking world, and can also be found in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

, the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...

, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, East
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...

 and West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...

. A few famous travelers and writers such as Isabelle Eberhardt
Isabelle Eberhardt
Isabelle Eberhardt was a Swiss explorer and writer who lived and travelled extensively in North Africa. For the time she was an extremely liberated individual who rejected conventional European morality in favour of her own path and that of Islam...

 also belonged to the Qadiri order.

History

The founder of the Qadiriyya, Abdul-Qadir Gilani, was a respected scholar and preacher. Having been a pupil at the school (madrasa) of Abu Sa'id al-Mubarak Mukharrami he became leader of this school after Mukharrami's death in 1119 CE. Being the new shaykh, he and his large family lived comfortably in the madrasa until his death in 1166, when his son, Abdul-Wahhab, succeeded his father as sheikh
Sheikh
Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...

. At the time the Sufi tradition of Abu Hafs Umar al-Suhrawardi
Abu Hafs Umar al-Suhrawardi
Abu Hafs Umar al-Suhrawardi was a Persian Sufi from Chorasmia and nephew of Abu al-Najib al-Suhrawardi....

 was gaining prominence after the caliph al-Nasir came to power in 1180 and patronised al-Suhrawardi. Gilani's son, Abdul al-Razzaq, published a hagiography
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...

 of his father, emphasising his reputation as founder of a distinct and prestigious Sufi order.

The Qadiriyya flourished, surviving the Mongolian conquest of Baghdad in 1258, and remained an influential Sunni institution. After the fall of the 'Abbasid caliphate the legend of Gilani was further spread by a text entitled The Joy of the Secrets in Abdul-Qadir's Mysterious Deeds (Bahjat al-asrar fi ba'd manaqib 'Abd al-Qadir) attributed to Nur al-Din 'Ali al-Shattanufi, who depicted Gilani is the ultimate channel of divine grace and helped the Qadiri order to spread far beyond the region of Baghdad.

By the end of the fifteenth century the Qadiriyya had distinct branches and had spread to Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

, Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

, and present-day Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...

. Established Sufi sheikhs often adopted the Qadiriyya tradition without abandoning leadership of their local communities. During the Safavid rule of Baghdad, from 1508 to 1534, the shaykh of the Qadiriyya was appointed chief Sufi of Baghdad and the surrounding lands. Shortly after the Ottoman Turks
Ottoman Turks
The Ottoman Turks were the Turkish-speaking population of the Ottoman Empire who formed the base of the state's military and ruling classes. Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks is scarce, but they take their Turkish name, Osmanlı , from the house of Osman I The Ottoman...

 conquered Baghdad in 1534, Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system...

 commissioned a dome to be built on the tomb of Gilani
Gilani
Gilani or Jilani or Kilani may refer to:* a gentilic of Gilan, Iran* MV Gilani, an Empire F type coaster which sank at Montreal on 22 April 1972.* Gillani Railway Station, a neighbourhood in Karachi, Pakistan....

, establishing the Qadiriyya as his main allies in Iraq.

Koja Abdul Alla, a sheikh of the Qadiriyya and a descendant of Muhammed, is reported to have entered China in 1674 and traveled the country preaching until his death in 1689. One of Abdul Alla's students, Qi Jingyi Hilal al-Din, is said to have permanently rooted Qadiri Sufism in China. He was buried in Linxia City, which became the center of the Qadiriyya in China. By the seventeenth century, the Qadiriyya had reached Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

-occupied areas of Europe.

There were also many Qadiri sheikhs in Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

, including Moula al-Bokhari (Kannur), Syed Abd al-Rahman Aidrusi (Ponnani), Syed Qutb Alavi Manburami, Sheikh Abu-Bakr Madavuri, Sheikh Abu-Bakr Aluva and Sheikh Zain-ud-din Makhdum Ponnani.

Features

  • Qadiri leadership is not centralised. Each centre of Qadiri thought is free to adopt its own interpretations and practices.

  • The symbol of the order is the rose. A rose of green and white cloth, with a six-pointed star in the middle, is traditionally worn in the cap of Qadiri dervishes. Robes of black felt are also customary.

  • Teachings emphasise the struggle against the desires of the ego. Gilani described it as "the greater struggle" (jihad
    Jihad
    Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...

    ) This has two stages; first against deeds forbidden by religious law and second against fundamental vices such as greed, vanity, and fear. A true seeker of God should overcome all desires other than wishing to be taken into God's custody.

  • Though the sunna
    Sunnah
    The word literally means a clear, well trodden, busy and plain surfaced road. In the discussion of the sources of religion, Sunnah denotes the practice of Prophet Muhammad that he taught and practically instituted as a teacher of the sharī‘ah and the best exemplar...

     is the ultimate source of religious guidance, the wali (saints) are said to be God's chosen spiritual guides for the people. Such local Sufi saints command considerable local reverence. Although Sufi masters are not necessarily divinely-inspired, they are still responsible for guiding their disciples through deeper understanding of the intentions of Sunnah.

  • Names of God are prescribed as wazifa
    Wazifa
    Wazifa is the Sufi practice of reciting and meditating on some or all of the 99 names of Allah.-In Universal Sufism:The qualities of God, which in Universal Sufi terms are the aspects of Nature, can be evoked, understood, felt, and seen through the repetition of Wazifas, the Divine Names and...

    s
    (mantra
    Mantra
    A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation"...

    s) for repetition by initiates (dhikr
    Dhikr
    Dhikr , plural ; ), is an Islamic devotional act, typically involving the repetition of the Names of God, supplications or formulas taken from hadith texts and verses of the Qur'an. Dhikr is usually done individually, but in some Sufi orders it is instituted as a ceremonial activity...

    ). Formerly several hundred thousand repetitions were required, and obligatory for those who hold the office of sheikh.

  • Any person over the age of eighteen may be initiated. They may be asked to live in the order's commune (tekke) and to recount their dreams to their sheikh.

Texts

There are several texts important to the Qadiriyya;
  • Futuh al-Ghayb (Revelations from the Invisible World) - Seventy-eight of Gilani's essays (maqalat, singular: maqala) compiled by his son, Abdul al-Razzaq Gilani. These pieces tend to be short statements regarding Islamic doctrines and Sufi belief.

  • Fath al-Rabbani wa al-Fayd al-Rahmani (Revelation from the Lord and the Outflow of His Mercy) - Sermons Gilani delivered during sixty-two sessions held in his madrasa, most likely recorded by his disciples.

  • al-Ghunya li Lalibi Tariq al-Haqq (Indispensables for the Seekers of the Path of Truth) - the largest of Gilani's three known books, separated into five parts, each dealing with a different branch of Sufi learning; jurisprudence (fiqh
    Fiqh
    Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....

    ), tenets of the faith ('aqa'id), preaching (majalis wa'z), work or "the work" (a'mal) and Sufism (tasawwuf) itself generally.

Spiritual Chain

The chain of spiritual masters (silsila
Silsila
Silsila is a 1981 Bollywood film directed by Yash Chopra. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bhaduri, Sanjeev Kumar and Rekha, with Shashi Kapoor in a special appearance.-Plot:...

) of the Qadiriyya is given thus;
  • Prophet Muhammad (Ibn Abdullah)
  • Caliph Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib
  • Imām Al-Hasan ibn ‘Alī al-Mujtabā
  • Imām Hussein ibn ‘Alī al-Shahīd
  • Imām ‘Alī ibn al-Ḥussein as-Sajjād (Zayn al-‘Ābidīn)
  • Imām Muḥammad ibn ‘Alī al-Bāqir
    Muhammad al-Baqir
    Muḥammad ibn ‘Alī al-Bāqir was the Fifth Imām to the Twelver Shi‘a and Fourth Imām to the Ismā‘īlī Shī‘a. His father was the previous Imām, ‘Alī ibn Ḥusayn, and his mother was Fatimah bint al-Hasan...

  • Imām Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad al-Sādiq
    Ja'far al-Sadiq
    Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad al-Sādiq was a descendant of Muhammad and a prominent Muslim jurist. He is revered as an Imam by the adherents of Shi'a Islam and as a renowned Islamic scholar and personality by Sunni Muslims. The Shi'a Muslims consider him to be the sixth Imam or leader and spiritual...

  • Imām Mūsà ibn Ja‘far al-Kāẓim
    Musa al-Kadhim
    ' was the seventh of the Twelve Imams of Twelver Shi'a Islam. He was the son of Imam and his mother was Hamidah Khātūn, a student and former Zanjiyyah slave...

  • Imām ‘Alī ibn Mūsā al-Rizā
  • Abu Mahfuz Ma'ruf Ibn Firuz al-Karkhi
    Maruf Karkhi
    Maruf Karkhi , known also by his full name Abu Mahfuz Maruf Ibn Firuz al-Karkhi, was a Sufi Saint who is a pivotal figure in Sufism. He came from a Christian background and the story of his conversion to Islam is one of the most famous in Islamic lore....

  • Sari Saqati
  • Junayd al-Baghdadi
  • Shaikh Abu Bakr Shibli
    Abu Bakr Shibli
    Shaykh Abu Bakr Shibli was an important Sufi of Persian descent, and a disciple of Junayd Baghdadi.-Biography:He was born in Baghdad or Samarra, although his family was originally from Khorasan in Persia. He was a high official of Baghdad before he embarked on the spiritual path and became a...

  • Shaikh Abdul Aziz al-Tamīmī
  • Abu al-Fadl Abu al-Wahid al-Tamīmī
  • Abu al-Farah Tartusi
  • Abu al-Hasan Farshi
  • Abu Sa'id al-Mubarak Mukharrami
  • Abdul-Qadir Gilani


Another version, extending beyond Gilani's time, is as follows;
  • Prophet Muhammad (Ibn Abdullah)
  • Caliph Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib
  • Shaikh Hasan Basri
  • Shaikh Habib Ajami
  • Shaikh Dawood Taiee
  • Shaikh Abu Mahfuz Ma'ruf Ibn Firuz al-Karkhi
    Maruf Karkhi
    Maruf Karkhi , known also by his full name Abu Mahfuz Maruf Ibn Firuz al-Karkhi, was a Sufi Saint who is a pivotal figure in Sufism. He came from a Christian background and the story of his conversion to Islam is one of the most famous in Islamic lore....

  • Shaikh Sari Saqati
  • Shaikh Junayd al-Baghdadi
  • Shaikh Abu Bakr Shibli
    Abu Bakr Shibli
    Shaykh Abu Bakr Shibli was an important Sufi of Persian descent, and a disciple of Junayd Baghdadi.-Biography:He was born in Baghdad or Samarra, although his family was originally from Khorasan in Persia. He was a high official of Baghdad before he embarked on the spiritual path and became a...

  • Shaikh Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Tamīmī
  • Shaikh Abu al-Fadl Abu al-Wahid al-Tamīmī
  • Shaikh Abu al-Farah Tartusi
  • Shaikh Abu al-Hasan Farshi
  • Shaikh Abu Sa'id al-Mubarak Mukharrami
  • Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani
  • Shaikh Sayyed Muhammad Qadiri
    Muhammad Qadiri
    Hadhrat Haji Syed Muhammad Naushah Ganj Bakhsh, a scholar, saint and preacher of Islam in the South Asia, was the founder of the Naushahia branch of the Qadri order. He preached Islam in the ninth and tenth centuries Hijri and brought non-Muslims into the fold of Islam. He loved Muhammad and...

  • Arabi Muhiddini K.S.
  • Seyyid-i Semseddin-i Muhammed
  • Shaikh Husameddin
  • Shaikh Sahabeddin
  • Shaikh Huseyin Hamavih
  • Haci Bayrami Veli
  • Shaikh Esrefoglu Rumi
  • Shaikh Haci Kazan Kaya Baba
  • Shaikh Baba Kurdistani
  • Seyyit Mohammad
  • Shaikh Seyyid-i Halil
  • Haci Hasan Baba
  • Saban Baba
  • Ricali Dursun Baba
  • Ilhami Haci Hasan Baba
  • Süleyman Çalışkan

The Budshishiyya

The Tariqa Budshishiyya is a branch of the Qadiriyya that originated in North-east Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

 in the 18th century.

The Qadiriyya-Mukhtariyya Brotherhood

This branch of the Qadiriyya came into being in the eighteenth century resulting from a revivalist movement led by Sidi Al-Mukhtar al-Kunti
Al-Mukhtar al-Kunti
Al-Mukhtar al- Kunti was a West African sufi saint and a political leader.-References:*Phyllis G. Jestice, Holy people of the world: a cross-cultural encyclopedia, Volume 3, ed. ABC-CLIO, 2004, p. 613...

, a Sufi of the western Sahara
Sahara
The Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...

 who wished to establish Qadiri Sufism as the dominant religion in the region. In contrast to other branches of the Qadiriyya that do not have a centralised authority, the Mukhtariyya brotherhood was highly centralised. Its leaders focused on economic prosperity as well as spiritual well-being, sending their disciples on trade caravans as far as Europe. Yousuf Qadri and his father Ali Qadri defied this order, moving to the United States.

Qadiriyya wa Naqshbandiyya

An amalgamated order of Qadiriyya and Naqshbandiyya formed in south-east Asia and the middle-east.

See also

  • Abdul-Qadir Gilani
  • Ahmad Raza
  • Barelwi
    Barelwi
    Barelvi is a term used for the movement of Sufi , Sunni Islam originating in the Indian subcontinent.The Movement is known as Ahle Sunnat movement to its followers....

  • Dawat-e-Islami
    Dawat-e-Islami
    Dawat-e-Islami is an Islamic evangelical movement.-History:Dawat-e-Islami was founded in 1981 A.D at Babul Madina Karachi, Pakistan, by Muhammad Ilyas Qadri...

  • Farhan Ali Qadri
    Farhan Ali Qadri
    Farhan Ali Qadri was born on October 1st, 1995 in Jacobabad, Pakistan. He gained recognition as the best Naat Khawan of Pakistan and recited naats in various languages such as Urdu, Sindhi, Saraiki and Punjabi; he even recited naats in Bengali and English.Farhan grew up in Jacobabad, which is the...

  • Ilyas Attar Qadri
  • Owais Qadri
  • Qari Muhammad Muslehuddin Siddiqui
    Allama Al-Hafiz Al-Qari Muhammad Muslehuddin Siddiqui Qadri Razavi
    Muhammad Muslehuddin Siddiqui , was a Sufi leader of Hyderabad. He was born on the 11th day of Rabi' al-awwal 1336AH, corresponding to 27 December 1918, at the time of true dawn in Nander, Hyderabad deccan. His father was Ghulam Jilani, an Islamic scholar...

  • Tahir Allauddin
    Tahir Allauddin
    Al-Syed Tahir Allauddin AlGillani was a Sufi Saint who lived in the 20th century. He was considered the head of Silsilah e Qadiriah, Custodian of the Shrine of Ghous-e-Azam Abdul-Qadir Gillani, the Spiritual Guide of over 10 Million Disciples from across the world and thought to be a reformer of...

  • Tahir ul Qadri
  • Syed Ameen Badasha
    Syed Ameen Badasha
    Hazrath Syed Ameen Badasha also known as Khwaja e Guntur, was a renowned Muslim Sufi, saint and scholar of the Quadri, Chisti order from Indian sub continent.He was the disciple and the Qalifa-e-kamil of Sadulla Sha Almaroof Kamali Sha Who was the Qalifa e kamil of Peer Gousi Sha Akbari .He is...


Sufi Orders

Further reading

  • Abun-Nasr, Jamil M. "The Special Sufi Paths (Taqiras)." Muslim Communities of Grace: The Sufi Brotherhoods in Islamic Religious Life. New York: Columbia UP, 2007. 86-96.

External links

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