User:HistoryofIran/Abdul Qadir Gilani

Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani
Imaginary depiction of Abdul Qadir Gilani. Created in Mughal India in c. 1680
Born	1077/78 Gilan
Died	1166

Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (Persian: عبدالقادر گیلانی, Arabic: عبدالقادر الجيلاني) was a Hanbali scholar, preacher, and Sufi leader who was the eponym of the Qadiriyya, one of the oldest Sufi orders.

Background

Al-Jilani was born in 1077 or 1078. Despite his popularity, his background is uncertain. His father (or perhaps grandfather) had the Iranian name of Jangi Dust, which indicates that al-Jilani was of Persian stock. His nisba means "from Jilan (Gilan)," an Iranian region located on the southwestern coast of the Caspian Sea. During his stay in the city of Baghdad, al-Jilani was called ajami (non-Arab), which according to B. Lawrence may be because he spoke Persian alongside Arabic. According to the al-Nujūm al-ẓāhira by the 15th-century historian Ibn Taghribirdi (died 1470), al-Jilani was born in Jil in Iraq, but this account is questioned by French historian Jacqueline Chabbi. Modern historians (including Lawrence) consider al-Jilani to have been born in Gilan. The region was then politically semi-independent and divided between local chieftains from different clans.

Al-Jilani is claimed to have been an descendant of Hasan ibn Ali, the grandson of the prophet Muhammad (died 632), which is generally considered to have been genuine by the Muslim community, including the Qadiriyya. Lawrence questions this claim due to al-Jilani's suggested Persian background, and considers it to have been "traced by overzealous hagiographers".

Biography

In 1095/96 or 1097/98, when al-Jilani had completed his basic education and was eighteen or twenty years old, he went to Baghdad to study hadith and Hanbali jurisprudence. Although city was then part of the Seljuk Empire, it was under the control of its representatives, Iranian bureaucrats and Turkic troops. Al-Jilani was then part of the caliphal party, which under the influence of the caliphs themselves, attempted to gain independence from the Seljuks. From 1127, al-Jilani started to distinguish himself as a preacher of a movement which was generally indistinguishable to that of local Hanbalis, who were known for their dislike of the Shafi'i-Ash'ari school that was usually favoured by the Seljuks. The latter did so by sending Shafi'i-Ash'ari teachers, usually of Iranian background, to Baghdad, as well by constructing high quality educational centres, such as the Madrasa al-Nizamiyya and some vast urban ribats (fort-like Sufi monasteries).

Al-Jilani died in 1166 and was buried in Baghdad. His urs (death anniversary of a Sufi saint) is traditionally celebrated on 11 Rabi' al-Thani.

Sources

• Anwar, E. (2009). "Jīlānī, ʿAbd al-Qādir al-". The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World.
• Chabbi, Jacqueline (2009). "ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830.
• Lawrence, B. (1982). "ʿAbd-al-Qāder Jīlānī". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume I/2: ʿAbd-al-Hamīd–ʿAbd-al-Hamīd. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 132–133. ISBN 978-0-71009-091-1.
• Jonathan, Allen; Karamustafa, Ahmet T. (2014). "`Abd al-Qadir al Jilani (Gilani)". Oxford Bibliographies. doi:10.1093/OBO/9780195390155-0100.
• Madelung, Wilferd (2001). "Gīlān iv. History in the Early Islamic Period". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume X/6: Germany VI–Gindaros. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 634–635. ISBN 978-0-933273-55-9.

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