Qadiriyya

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The Qadiriyya (Arabic: القادرية) or the Qadiri order (Arabic: الطريقة القادرية, romanized: al-Ṭarīqa al-Qādiriyya) is a Sunni Sufi order (Tariqa) founded by Abdul Qadir Gilani (1077–1166, also transliterated Jilani), who was a Hanbali scholar from Gilan, Iran.^[1] The symbol of the order is the rose. A rose of green and white cloth, with a star in the middle, is traditionally worn in the cap of Qadiri dervishes. Robes of black felt are customarily worn as well.^[2] The names of God are prescribed as chants for repetition, or Dhikr, by initiates.^[2]

The order, with its many sub-orders, is widespread. Its members are present in India, Bangladesh, China, Turkey, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Balkans, Russia, Palestine, as well as East and West Africa.^[3][4]

Abdul Qadir Gilani, a Hanbali scholar and preacher, having been a pupil at the madrasa of Abu Saeed Mubarak, became the leader of the madrasa after Mubarak's death in 1119. Being the new Sheikh, he and his large family lived in the madrasa until his death in 1166, when his son, Abdul Razzaq, succeeded his father as Sheikh. Abdul Razzaq published a hagiography of his father, adding to his already established reputation as founder of a prestigious Sufi order.^[5]

The Qadiriyya flourished, surviving the Mongolian conquest of Baghdad in 1258, and remained an influential Sunni Sufi order. After the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate, the legend of Abdul Qadir Gilani was again found in many texts such as 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 taught that Abdul Qadir Gilani was the greatest saint within Islam, helped the Qadiri order flourish far beyond Baghdad.^[5]

By the end of the fifteenth century, the Qadiriyya had distinct sub-orders and had spread to Morocco, Spain, Turkey, India, Ethiopia, Somalia, and present-day Mali.^[5]

Khwaja Abdullah, a Sheikh of the Qadiriyya and a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, is reported to have entered China in 1674 and traveled the country preaching until his death in 1689.^[5][6] One of his students, Qi Jingyi Hilal al-Din, is said to have rooted Qadiri Sufism in China. He was buried in Linxia City, which became the center of the Qadiriyya in China.^[4]

Sultan Bahu contributed to the spread of Qadiriyya in India. His method of spreading the teachings of the Sufi doctrine of Faqr was through his Punjabi couplets and other writings, which numbered more than 140.^[7]

Sheikh Sidi Ahmad al-Bakka'i of the Kunta family was born in the region of the Noun river, Akka) established a Qadiri Zawiya or Sufi lodge in Walata. In the sixteenth century his family spread across the Sahara to Timbuktu, Agades, Bornu, Nigeria, and in the eighteenth century large numbers of Kunta family members moved to the region of the middle of Niger where they established the village of Mabruk. Sidi al-Mukhtar al-Kunti (1728–1811) united the Kunta family's factions by successful negotiation, and established an extensive confederation. Under his influence the Maliki school of Islamic law was reinvigorated and the Qadiriyya order spread throughout Mauritania, the middle Niger region, Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Futa Toro, and Futa Jallon. Kunta settlements in the Senegambian region became centers of Muslim teaching.^[8]

Sheikh Usman dan Fodio (1754-1817) from Gobir popularized the Qadiri teachings in Nigeria. He was well educated in classical Islamic science, philosophy, and theology. He also became a revered religious thinker. In 1789 a vision led him to believe he had the power to work miracles, and to teach his own mystical wird, or litany. His litanies are still widely practiced and distributed in the Islamic world.^[9] Dan Fodio later had visions of Abdul Qadir Gilani, the founder of the Qadiri tariqa, through which he was initiated into the Qadiriyya and the spiritual chain of succession (Silsila), which ultimately leads back to Prophet Muhammad. His writings dealt with Islamic concepts of the Mujaddid and the role of the Ulama in teaching history, and other works in Arabic and the Fula language.^[10]

The spiritual chain of succession or Silsila of the Qadiriyya is as follows:^{[11][12][13][14]}

1. • Muhammad
2. • Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib
3. • Imam Husayn
4. • Imam Ali Zayn al-Abidin
5. • Imam Muhammad Baqir
6. • Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq
7. • Imam Musa al-Kazim
8. • Imam Ali al-Rida
9. • Ma'ruf Karkhi
10. • Sari al-Saqati
11. • Junayd al-Baghdadi
12. • Sheikh Abu Bakr Shibli
13. • Sheikh Abdul Aziz Tamimi
14. • Abu al-Fadl al-Tamimi
15. • Abu al-Farah Tartusi
16. • Abu al-Hasan Hankari
17. • Abu Saeed Mubarak Makhzoomi
18. • Abdul Qadir Gilani

The Qadiri Naushahi sub-order of the Qadiriyya was established by Muhammad Naushah Qadiri, famously known as Hazrat Naushah Pak in Gujrat, Pakistan, in the late sixteenth century.^[15][16]

This sub-order was started by Sultan Bahu in the seventeenth century and spread in the western part of Indian subcontinent. It follows most of the Qadiriyya's approach, although, it does not follow a specific dress code nor require seclusion or other lengthy exercises. Its main purpose is the contemplation of God.^[17]

This sub-order of the Qadiriyya came into being in the eighteenth century, led by al-Mukhtar al-Kunti of the western Sahara who wished to establish Qadiri Sufism as the dominant Sufi order in the region. In contrast to other sub-orders of the Qadiriyya that do not have a centralized authority, the Mukhtari sub-order is highly centralized. Its leaders focus on economic prosperity as well as spiritual well-being, sending their disciples on trade caravans as far away as Europe. The main focus of this sub-order is Islamic revivalism.^[18]

The founder of the Qadiriyya Harari sub-order was Abu Bakr bin 'Abd Allah 'Aydarus and his shrine is located in Harar, Ethiopia. Other notable Sheikhs have shrines scattered around the environs of Harar. The current leader of the sub-order is a Somali man named Mohamed Nasrudin bin Shaykh Ibrahim Kulmiye.^[19] The sub-order is widespread in Djibouti, Somaliland, Ethiopia, and Somalia. Notable leaders of the sub-order include Uways al-Barawi, Sheikh Madar, al-Zaylaʽi and Abadir Umar ar-Rida.^[20][21]

Founded by Shah Barkatullah Marehrawi, an Islamic scholar, jurist, and Sufi living at the time of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, who passed away on the tenth of Muharram 1142 AH or October 1729 CE. He is buried in the Dargah-e Barkatiyya in Marehra, India. Muhammad Ameen Mian Qadiri is the present custodian of the sub-order.^[22]

It was founded in 1738 by the Indian Sunni Muslim Sheikh Seyfullah Effendi Hintli in Selamsız, and became popular among the Romani people in Turkey.^[23] The sub-order is present in the Balkans and Turkey.^[24]

Founded by Muhammad ibn Ahmad Lebbai, reverentially known as Imam al-Arus, from which the sub-order gets its name. Muhammad ibn Ahmad Lebbai is a well-known Qadiri Sheikh in Sri Lanka, who is seen as a reviver of Islam and an advocate of communal harmony by the people of the island nation. His sub-order spread from Sri Lanka to South India, the Middle East, and even the Far East parts of Russia and China.^[25]

Founded by Abdurrahman Halis. This sub-order is one of the most popular of them all, and is present in Turkey, as well as where the Qadiriyya was founded- Iraq.^[26]

Qadiriyya wa Naqshbandiyya is a Sufi order which is a synthesis of the Qadiri and Naqshbandi orders of Sufism.^[27] The Qadiriyya wa Naqshbandiyya Sufi order traces back through its chain of succession to Muhammad, through the Hanbali Islamic scholar Abdul Qadir Gilani and the Hanafi Islamic scholar Shah Baha al-Din Naqshband, combining both of their Sufi orders.^[27][28] The order has a major presence in three countries, namely Pakistan, India, and Indonesia.^[29][30]

The Barelvi movement, also known as the Ridawiyya, was founded by Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi, a student of Shah Aale Rasool Marehrawi, who was a descendant of Shah Barkatullah Marehrawi. When Ahmed Raza Khan became a student of Shah Aale Rasool, he was initiated into the Qadiri Sufi order and was given Ijazah to spread the teachings of the Qadiri, Chishti, Naqshbandi, and Suhrawardi Sufi orders. Ahmed Raza Khan fused teachings from the aforementioned Sufi orders, along with his own teachings into his Barelvi movement, which sought to defend Sunni Islam from what Ahmed Raza Khan perceived as heresies, such as Deobandism, Wahhabism, Shi'ism and Ahmadism. Contemporary Barelvis generally follow the teachings of the Hanafi and Shafi'i schools of jurisprudence, and Maturidi and Ash'ari schools of theology and multiple Sufi orders, including the Qadiri, Chishti, Naqshbandi, and Suhrawardi orders.^{[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]}

• Sufism
• Abdul Qadir Gilani
• Dhikr
• Sufi orders

• Abun-Nasr, Jamil M. "The Special Sufi Paths (Taqiras)", in Muslim Communities of Grace: The Sufi Brotherhoods in Islamic Religious Life. New York: Columbia UP, 2007. 86–96.
• Chopra, R. M., Sufism, 2016, Anuradha Prakashan, New Delhi ISBN 978-93-85083-52-5
• "Halisa and the Distinguished Ones", Mehmet Albayrak, Ankara, 1993, Turkey