World of Tasawwuf

Shaykh al Islam Taj al-Din al-Subki [d. 771] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Shaykh al-Islam Taj al-Din al-Subki, the son of Shaykh al-Islam al-hafiz Taqi al-Din al-Subki (d. 756) who was a student of IBN ATA' ALLAH, mentioned in his book 'Mu'id al-Ni'am' under the chapter entitled Sufism:

Shaykh Abu Muhammad al-Juwayni (Imam al-Haramayn's father) said: They are among Allah's people and His elite. His mercy is sought through their remembrance of Allah, and rain descends with their invocation. May Allah be pleased with them and may Allah be pleased with us for their sake.(2)

Muhammad Baha 'al-Din Uways al-Bukhari Shah Naqshband [d.791h] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Muhammad Baha 'al-Din Uways al-Bukhari Radi Allahu anhu, known as Shah Naqshband, the Imam of the Naqshbandi Tariqat without peer. He was born in the year 1317 C.E. in the village of Qasr al-'arifan, near Bukhara. After he mastered the shari'ah sciences at the tender age of 18, he kept company with the Shaykh Muhammad Baba as-Samasi Radi Allahu anhu, who was an authority in hadith in Central Asia. After the latter's death, he followed Shaykh Amir Kulal Radi Allahu anhu who continued and perfected his training in the external and the internal knowledge.

The students of Shaykh Amir Kulal Radi Allahu anhu used to make dhikr aloud when sitting together in association, and silent dhikr when alone. Hadrat Shah Naqshband Radi Allahu anhu, however, although he never criticized nor objected to the loud dhikr, preferred the silent dhikr. Concerning this he says, "There are two methods of dhikr; one is silent and one is loud. I chose the silent one because it is stronger and therefore more preferable." The silent dhikr thus became the distinguishing feature of the Naqshbandiyya among other tariqats.

Shah Naqshband Radi Allahu anhu performed  Hajj (Pilgrimage) three times, after which he resided in Merv and Bukhara. Towards the end of his life he went back to settle in his native city of Qasr al-'Arifan. His teachings became quoted everywhere and his name was on every tongue. Visitors from far and wide came to see him and to seek his advice. They received teaching in his school and mosque, a complex which at one time accommodated more than five thousand people. This school is the largest Islamic center of learning in Central Asia and still exists in our day. It was recently renovated and reopened after surviving seventy years of Communist rule.

Shah Naqshband's Radi Allahu anhu teachings changed the hearts of seekers from darkness to light. He continued to teach his students the knowledge of the Oneness of God in which his precedessors had specialized, emphasizing the realization of the state of ihsan (excellence) for his followers according to the hadith of the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu Ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam, "Ihsan is to worship God as if you see Him."

When Shah Naqshband Radi Allahu anhu died he was buried in his garden as he requested. The succeeding Kings of Bukhara took care of his school and mosque, expanding them and increasing their religious endowments (awqaf).

Succeeding Shaykhs of the Naqshbandi Tariqat wrote many biographies of Shah Naqshband Radi Allahu anhu. Among them are Mas'ud al-Bukhari and Sharif al-Jarjani, who composed the Awrad Baha 'al-Din which describes him and his life's works including his fatawa (legal decisions). Shaykh Muhammad Parsa, who died in Madinah in 822 H. (1419 C.E.) wrote Risala Qudsiyya in which he talks of Shah Naqshband's Radi Allahu anhu life, his virtues, and his teachings.

Shah Naqshband's Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu literary legacy included many books. Among them are Awrad an-Naqshbandiyyah, the Devotions of Shah Naqshband. Another book is Tanbih al-Ghafilin. A third book is Maslakul Anwar. A fourth is Hadiyyatu-s-Salikan wa Tuhfat at-Talibin. He left many noble expressions praising the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu Ta'ala 'alyhi wa Sallam and he wrote many legal rulings. One of his opinions was that all the different acts and kinds of worship, whether obligatory or voluntary, were permitted for the seeker in order to reach reality. Prayer, fasting, zakat (paying the poor-tax), mujahadat (striving) and zuhd (self-denial) were emphasized as ways to reach Allah Almighty.

Shah Naqshband Radi Allahu anhu built his school on the renewal of the teachings of the Islamic religion. He insisted on the necessity of keeping the Qur'an al-kareem and the teachings of the Sunnah. When they asked him, "What are the requirements of one who follows your way?" he said, "To follow the Sunnah of the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alyhi wa Sallam." He continued saying: "Our way is a rare one. It keeps the 'Urwat ul-Wuthqa, the Unbreakable Bond, and it asks nothing else of its followers but to take hold of the Pure Sunnah of the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu Ta'ala 'alyhi wa Sallam and follow the way of the Sahaba (Companions of the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu Ta'ala 'alyhi wa Sallam in their ijtihad (efforts for Allah).

Ghawth al 'Alam Mahboob-i Yazdani Sultan Sayyad Makhdoom Ashraf Jahangir Simnani [d.807H] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Abu'l-Fadl Ahmad ibn Hajar's family originated in the district of Qabis in Tunisia. Some members of the family had settled in Palestine, which they left again when faced with the Crusader threat, but he himself was born in Egypt in 773, the son of the Shafi'i scholar and poet Nur al-Din 'Ali and the learned and aristocratic Tujjar. Both died in his infancy, and he was later to praise his elder sister, Sitt al-Rakb, for acting as his 'second mother'. The two children became wards of the brother of his father's first wife, Zaki al-Din al-Kharrubi, who entered the young Ibn Hajar in a Qur'anic school (kuttab) when he reached five years of age. Here he excelled, learning 'Surat Maryam' in a single day, and progressing to the memorization of texts such as the 'Mukhtasar' of Ibn al-Hajib on usul. By the time he accompanied al-Kharrubi to Makkah at the age of 12, he was competent enough to lead the Tarawih prayers in the Holy City, where he spent much time studying and recalling God amid the pleasing simplicity of Kharrubi's house, the Bayt al-'Ayna', whose windows looked directly upon the Black Stone. Two years later his protector died, and his education in Egypt was entrusted to the hadith scholar Shams al-Din ibn al-Qattan, who entered him in the courses given by the great Cairene scholars al-Bulqini (d.806) and Ibn al-Mulaqqin (d.804) in Shafi'i fiqh, and of Zayn al-Din al-'Iraqi (d.806) in hadith, after which he was able to travel to Damascus and Jerusalem, where he studied under Shams al-Din al-Qalqashandi (d.809), Badr al-Din al-Balisi (d.803), and Fatima bint al-Manja al-Tanukhiyya (d.803). After a further visit to Makkah and Madina, and to the Yemen, he returned to Egypt.

When he reached 25 he married the lively and brilliant Anas Khatun, then 18 years of age. She was a hadith expert in her own right, holding ijazas from Zayn al-Din al-'Iraqi, and she gave celebrated public lectures in the presence of her husband to crowds of ulema among whom was Imam al-Sakhawi. After the marriage, Ibn Hajar moved into her house, where he lived until his death. Many noted how she surrounded herself with the old, the poor and the physically handicapped, whom it was her privilege and pleasure to support. So widely did her reputation for sanctity extend that during her fifteen years of widowhood, which she devoted to good works, she received a proposal from Imam 'Alam al-Din al-Bulqini, who considered that a marriage to a woman of such charity and baraka would be a source of great pride.

Once ensconced in Egypt, Ibn Hajar taught in the Sufi lodge (khaniqah) of Baybars for some twenty years, and then in the hadith college known as Dar al-Hadith al-Kamiliyya. During these years, he served on occasion as the Shafi'i chief justice of Egypt.

It was in Cairo that the Imam wrote some of the most thorough and beneficial books ever added to the library of Islamic civilization. Among these are al-Durar al-Kamina (a biographical dictionary of leading figures of the eighth century), a commentary on the Forty Hadith of Imam al-Nawawi (a scholar for whom he had particular respect); Tahdhib al-Tahdhib (an abbreviation of Tahdhib al-Kamal, the encyclopedia of hadith narrators by al-Mizzi), al-Isaba fi tamyiz al-Sahaba (the most widely-used dictionary of Companions), and Bulugh al-Maram min adillat al-ahkam (on Shafi'i fiqh).

In 817, Ibn Hajar commenced the enormous task of assembling his Fath al-Bari. It began as a series of formal dictations to his hadith students, after which he wrote it out in his own hand and circulated it section by section to his pupils, who would discuss it with him once a week. As the work progressed and its author's fame grew, the Islamic world took a close interest in the new work. In 833, Timur's son Shahrukh sent a letter to the Mamluk sultan al-Ashraf Barsbay requesting several gifts, including a copy of the Fath, and Ibn Hajar was able to send him the first three volumes. In 839 the request was repeated, and further volumes were sent, until, in the reign of al-Zahir Jaqmaq, the whole text was finished and a complete copy was dispatched. Similarly, the Moroccan sultan Abu Faris 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Hafsi requested a copy before its completion. When it was finished, in Rajab 842, a great celebration was held in an open place near Cairo, in the presence of the ulema, judges, and leading personages of Egypt. Ibn Hajar sat on a platform and read out the final pages of his work, and then poets recited eulogies and gold was distributed. It was, says the historian Ibn Iyas, 'the greatest celebration of the age in Egypt.'

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Hajar departed this life in 852 Hijri. His funeral was attended by 'fifty thousand people', including the sultan and the caliph; 'even the Christians grieved.' He was remembered as a gentle man, short, slender, and white-bearded, a lover of chess and calligraphy, much inclined to charity; 'good to those who wronged him, and forgiving to those he was able to punish.' A lifetime's proximity to the hadith had imbued him with a deep love of the Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), as is shown nowhere more clearly than in the poetry assembled in his Diwan, an original manuscript of which has been preserved at the Egyptian National Library. A few lines will suffice to show this well:

Source: Mas'ud Khan's Ahl as-Sunnah Website

copyright: Abdal Hakim Murad

His full name was Abu Abdullah Muhammad, son of Sulayman, son of Abi Bakr al-Jazuli al-Simlali. He was a descendant of Prophet Muhammad, praise and veneration be upon him, via his grandson Hasan, son of Ali, may Allah be pleased with them. 

Imam al Jazuli alayhir rahman belonged to the Berber tribe of Jazula that settled in the Sus area of Morocco which lies between the Atlantic ocean and the Atlas mountains. When he was young he studied in Sus, then continued his studies in the Madrassa as-Saffareen in Fez. Al-Jazuli was ''frequent in reciting litanies (awrad), observant of Allah most High in all his states, not exceeding the boundaries Allah established, and exerting himself in following the Book of Allah and the example of his beloved Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace).” He founded the Shadhiliyya Jazuliyya order, with Dala'il al-Khayrat [Guidance to Righteousness] at its core, and its disciples received spiritual training (tarbiya) at his hands. After the completion of his studies in the Madrassa he left Fez and spent the next forty years between Makkah, Madina and Jerusalem. It was after this period that he returned to Fez where he was blessed to complete his great work of the 'Dala'il ul Khayrat'.

Imam al Jazuli alayhir rahman was a very pious man and the foremost Judge of his town. One day, while on a journey he became very thirsty and also needed to renew his ablution but his water skin was empty and there was no water in sight. In his search for water he found a well, however the well had neither a bucket nor a rope with which to draw the water. Al Jazuli was very distressed by the situation, the water was so near and yet so far, and he did not know what to do. Shortly after finding the well a young girl approached and upon realizing al Jazuli’s dilemma spat dry air into the well and the water miraculous rose to the top. Imam al Jazuli alayhir rahman was astounded by this miracle and asked the girl how such a miracle was possible. To this she replied "I was able to do this through my asking Allah for 'peace and blessings upon' Prophet Muhammad."

Having witnessed the blessed benefit of asking for blessings upon the Prophet, may Allah praise and venerate him, and give him peace. Al Jazuli decided to compose 'Dala'il ul-Khayrat' by gathering and selecting material from a multitude of authentic Islamic references that praise and supplicate for blessings upon the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam. When one reads these supplications on the Prophet, praise and veneration be upon him, Allah showers not only His Prophet with blessings but also its reader.

This great work has been, and still is acclaimed by all the lovers of Prophet Muhammad, praise and veneration be upon him, as being the foremost book to praise him. Dalail was later explained by Imam Al-Fasi and subsequently all authentic references were added at the end of each statement in his famous explanation of Dalail. However, one must not suppose that this work contains all the authentic prayers that praise the Beloved Prophet, they are so numerous that they would exhaust volumes of writing; but they are the most precious.

The Sufi Shadhili Path:

Nur al-Din Abd 'ar-Rahman Jami [d.897H - 1492CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Jami poetry at www.chishti.ru

In his biography of the famous men of his time entitled al-Daw' al-lami' al-Sakhawi reveals that his father Zayn al-Din 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad (d. 874) was a Cairo-born Sufi of great piety, and a member of the Baybarsiyya Sufi community where Ibn Hajar, Sakhawi's teacher, taught for forty years.(1)

In the section of his 'al-Jawahir al-mukallala fi al-akhbar al-musalsala' devoted to the transmission of hadith through chains formed exclusively of Sufi narrators, al-Sakhawi states that he himself had received the Sufi path from Zayn al-Din Ridwan al- Muqri' in Cairo.(2) In the same work Sakhawi also mentions several of his teachers and students of hadith who were Sufis. Here are the names of some of them, together with the words used by him to describe them in his biographical work al-Daw' al-lami':

* Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad al-Hishi al-Halabi al-Shafi'i (b. 848) the head of the Bistamiyya Sufis in Aleppo, the mother trunk of the Naqshbandi Sufi order affiliated with BISTAMI, ABU YAZID. He spent two years in Makkah with Sakhawi, who wrote him an ijaza or permission to teach. In this ijaza Sakhawi calls him: 'Our master, the masterful Imam of merits and guidance, the Educator of Murids (students in the Sufi path), the Mainstay of Wayfarers in the Sufi path, the Noble Abu Bakr al-Hishi al-Halabi, may Allah preserve him and have mercy on his gracious predecessors (i.e. the chain of his shaykhs in the Sufi path), and may Allah grant us and all Muslims their benefits.'(3)

* Badr al-Din Hussayn ibn Siddiq al-Yamani al-Ahdal (d. 903): al-Sakhawi gave him a comprehensive ijaza granting him permission to teach all of his books.(4)

* Abu al-Fath Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Madani al-Maraghi (d. 859): Sakhawi took hadith from him. He was head of two Sufi khaniqas in Cairo, the Zamamiyya and the Jamaliyya. He led a life of seclusion for the most part, and wrote a commentary on Nawawi's manual of Law Minhaj al-talibin, and an epitome of IBN HAJAR ASQALANI 'Fath al-bari' because of his defense of SHAYKH IBN AL 'ARABI, he was murdered in front of the Ka'ba by a fanatic.(5)

* Taqi al-Din Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad al-Qalqashandi (d. 867), also called 'Abd Allah. He received the Sufi khirqa or cloak of authority in Cairo. He is said to have read the whole of Sahih al-Bukhari in three days while in Makkah. He lived in al-Quds, where al-Sakhawi met him and took hadith from him.(6)

* Thiqat al-Din Abu al-'Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-'Uqbi (d. 861). He taught hadith and tajwid in Makkah, where Sakhawi studied under him.(7)

* Kamal al-Din Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahid al-Sikandari al-Siwasi (d. 861). He was a master of all sciences and taught at the Madrasa al-Ashrafiyya in Cairo, after which he headed the Shaykhuni Sufi khaniqa. He authored many books.(8)

* Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn 'Ali al-Husayni al-Qahiri al- Shafi'i al-Sufi (d. 876). Munawi's deputy judge in Cairo, a student of `Izz al-Din ibn Jama'a, Jalal al-Din al-Bulqini and many others, and a student and friend of Sakhawi's teacher Ibn Hajar whose work Fath al-bari he copied twice. A teacher of fiqh and hadith, he wrote an epitome of Ibn al-Athir's Kitab al-ansab. He was an old acquaintance of Sakhawi's father, and consequently treated Sakhawi himself 'with indescribable respect.' He was one of the ten students to whom Ibn Hajar gave his authority in teaching hadith after him.(9)

* Abu Khalid Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Jibrini (d. 860). He was a writer, archer, horseman, and Sufi shaykh at the zawiya (alcove-mosque) of Jibrin, where al-Sakhawi met him and took hadith from him. Sakhawi says of him: 'He was handsome, modest, generous, courageous, and endowed with spiritual strength and virility after the shaykhs of true majesty.'(10)

* Zaki al-Din Abu al-`Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Ansari al- Khazraji al-Sa'di al-Muqri' al-Sufi (d. 875). An associate of Ibn Hajar and a prolific writer, he wrote an autobiography in more than fifty volumes, although Sakhawi said he was unaffected, congenial, readily given to tears, and quick of repartee.(11)

* Thiqat al-Din Abu 'Ali Mahmud ibn 'Ali al-Sufi al-Khaniki (d. 865). Born and raised in Cairo's Khaniqa al-Siryaqusiyya where he taught late in life. He died while at Makkah the pilgrimage.(12)

* Abu al-Faraj 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Khalil al-Dimashqi al-Sufi (d. 869). He was a muhaddith. Al-Sakhawi studied under him in Cairo and at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.(13)

notes;

(1) al-Sakhawi, al-Daw' al-lami' (Beirut: dar maktabat al- hayat, 1966) 4:124-125. (2) A.J. Arberry, Sakhawiana: A Study Based on the Chester Beatty Ms. Arab. 773 (London: Emery Walker Ltd., 1951) p. 35. (3) al-Sakhawi, al-Daw' al-lami' 11:96-97, 74-75. (4) Ibid. 3:144-145. (5) Ibid. 7:162-165. (6) Ibid. 11:69-71. (7) Ibid. 2:212-213. (8) Ibid. 8:127-132. (9) Ibid. 8:176-178. (10) Ibid. 7:197. (11) Ibid. 2:146-149. (12) Ibid. 10:140-141. (13) Ibid. 4:76.

Reproduced with permission from Shaykh M. Hisham Kabbani's _The Repudiation of 'Salafi' Innovations_ (Kazi, 1996) p. 382-385.

Imam Jalal al-Din al-Misri al-Suyuti [d. 911H] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

'Abd al-Rahman ibn Kamal al-Din Abi Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Sabiq al-Din, Jalal al-Din al-Misri al-Suyuti al-Shafi'i al-Ash'ari, also known as Ibn al-Asyuti (d. 849-911), the mujtahid imam and renewer of the tenth Islamic century, foremost hadith master, jurist, Sufi, philologist, and historian, he authored works in virtually every Islamic science.

Born to a Turkish mother and non-Arab father and raised as an orphan in Cairo, he memorized the Qur'an at eight, then several complete works of Sacred Law, fundamentals of jurisprudence, and Arabic grammar; after which he devoted himself to studying the Sacred Sciences under about a hundred and fifty shaykhs. Among them the foremost Shafi'i and Hanafis shaykhs at the time, such as the hadith master and Shaykh al-Islam Siraj al-Din Bulqini, with whom he studied Shafi'i jurisprudence until his death; the hadith scholar Shaykh al-Islam Sharaf al-Din al-Munawi, with whom he read Qur'anic exegesis and who commented al-Suyuti's al-Jami' al-Saghir in a book entitled Fayd al-Qadir; Taqi al-Din al-Shamani in hadith and the sciences of Arabic; the specialist in the principles of the law Jalal al-Din al-Mahalli, together with whom he compiled the most widespread condensed commentary of Qur'an in our time, 'Tafsir al-Jalalayn'; Burhan al-Din al-Biqa'i; Shams al-Din al-Sakhawi; he also studied with the Hanafi shaykhs Taqi al-Din al-Shamni, Shihab al-Din al-Sharmisahi, Muhyi al-Din al-Kafayji, and the hadith master Sayf al-Din Qasim ibn Qatlubagha.

He travelled in the pursuit of knowledge to Damascus, the Hijaz, Yemen, India, Morocco, the lands south of Morocco, as well as to centers of learning in Egypt such as Mahalla, Dumyat, and Fayyum. He was some time head teacher of hadith at the Shaykhuniyya school in Cairo at the recommendation of Imam Kamal al-Din ibn al-Humam, then the Baybarsiyya, out of which he was divested through the complaints of disgruntled shaykhs which he had replaced as teachers. He then retired into scholarly seclusion, never to go back to teaching.

Ibn Iyas in 'Tarikh Misr' states that when al-Suyuti reached forty years of age, he abandoned the company of men for the solitude of the Garden of al-Miqyas by the side of the Nile, avoiding his former colleagues as though he had never known them, and it was here that he authored most of his nearly six hundred books and treatises. Wealthy Muslims and princes would visit him with offers of money and gifts, but he put all of them off, and when the sultan requested his presence a number of times, he refused. He once said to the sultan's envoy: "Do not ever come back to us with a gift, for in truth Allah has put an end to all such needs for us." Blessed with success in his years of solitude, it is difficult to name a field in which al-Suyuti did not make outstanding contributions, among them his ten-volume hadith work Jam' al-Jawami' ("The Collection of Collections"); his Qur'anic exegesis Tafsir al-Jalalayn ("Commentary of the Two Jalals"), of which he finished the second half of an uncompleted manuscript by Jalal al-Din Mahalli in just forty days; his classic commentary on the sciences of hadith 'Tadrib al-Rawi fi Sharh Taqrib al-Nawawi' ("The Training of the Hadith Transmitter: An Exegesis of Nawawi's 'The Facilitation'"); and many others.

A giant among contemporaries, he remained alone, producing a sustained output of scholarly writings until his death at the age of sixty-two. He was buried in Hawsh Qawsun in Cairo. In the introduction to his book entitled 'al-Riyad al-Aniqa' on the names of the Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam he said: "It is my hope that Allah accept this book and that through this book I shall gain the Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam's intercession. Perhaps it shall be that Allah make it the seal of all my works, and grant me what I have asked Him with longing regarding the Honorable One."

The editors of the 'Dalil Makhtutat al-Suyuti' ("Guide to al-Suyuti's Manuscripts") have listed 723 works to al-Suyuti's name.1 Some of these are brief fatwas which do not exceed four pages, like his notes on the hadith "Whoever says: 'I am knowledgeable,' he is ignorant"2 entitled 'A'dhab al-Manahil fi Hadith Man Qala Ana 'Alim'; while others, like the 'Itqan fi 'Ulum al-Qur'an' or 'Tadrib al-Rawi', are full-fledged tomes.

 

Shaykh al-Islam al-Suyuti, the Renewer of the Eighth Islamic century and Mujtahid Imam said in his book entitled Ta'yid al-haqiqa al-'aliyya wa-tashyid al-tariqa al-shadhiliyya (The upholding of the lofty truth and the buttressing of the Shadhili path):

 

Tasawwuf in itself is a most honorable knowledge. It explains how to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet and to leave innovation, how to purify the ego... and submit to Allah truly...

 

I have looked at the matters which the Imams of Shari'a have criticized in Sufis, and I did not see a single true Sufi holding such positions. Rather, they are held by the people of innovation and the extremists who have claimed for themselves the title of Sufi while in reality they are not...

 

Pursuit of the science of the hearts, knowledge of its diseases such as jealousy, arrogance and pride, and leaving them are an obligation on every Muslim.

His chain of transmission in tasawwuf goes back to SHAYKH 'ABD AL-QADIR AL-GILANI, and al-Suyuti belonged to the Shadhili tariqa, which he eulogized in his brief defense of tasawwuf entitled 'Tashyid al-Haqiqa al-'Aliyya'. In the latter book he states: "I have looked at the matters which the Imams of Shari'a have criticized in Sufis, and I did not see a single true Sufi holding such positions. Rather, they are held by the people of innovation and the extremists who have claimed for themselves the title of Sufi while in reality they are not." In the Tashyid he also produces narrative chains of transmission proving that AL HASAN AL-BASRI did in fact narrate directly from 'Ali ibn Abi Talib - Allah be well-pleased with him. This goes against commonly received opinion among the scholars of hadith,3 although it was also the opinion of IMAM AHMAD IBN HANBAL.4

When one of his shaykhs, Burhan al-Din Ibrahim ibn 'Umar al-Biqa'i (d. 885), attacked Ibn 'Arabi in a tract entitled Tanbih al-Ghabi ila Takfir Ibn 'Arabi ("Warning to the Dolt That Ibn 'Arabi is an Apostate"), al-Suyuti countered with a tract entitled Tanbih Al-Ghabi fi Takhti'a Ibn 'Arabi ("Warning to the Dolt That Faults Ibn 'Arabi"). Both epistles have been published.5

In his reply al-Suyuti states that he considers Ibn 'Arabi a Friend of Allah whose writings are forbidden to those who read them without first learning the technical terms used by the Sufis. He cites from Ibn Hajar's list in Anba' al-Ghumr, among the trusted scholars who kept a good opinion of Ibn 'Arabi or counted him a wali: Ibn 'Ata' Allah al-Sakandari (d. 709), al-Yafi'i (d. 678), Ibn 'Abd al-Salam after the latter's meeting with al-Shadhili, Shihab al-Din Abu al-'Abbas Ahmad ibn Yahya al-Malwi al-Tilimsani (d. 776), Siraj al-Din Abu Hafs 'Umar ibn Ishaq al-Hindi al-Hanafi (d. 773) the author of Sharh al-Hidaya and Sharh al-'Ayni, Najm al-Din al-Bahi al-Hanbali (d. 802), al-Jabarti (d. 806), the major lexicographer al-Fayruzabadi (d. 818), Shams al-Din al-Bisati al-Maliki (d. 842), al-Munawi (d. 871), and others. Of note with regard to the above is the abundant use of Ibn 'Arabi's sayings by al-Munawi in his commentary of al-Suyuti's Jami' al-Saghir entitled Fayd al-Qadir, and by Fayruzabadi in his commentary on Bukhari's Sahih.

Al-Suyuti was Ash'ari in his doctrine as shown in many of his works. In 'Masalik al-Hunafa fi Walidayy al-Mustafa' ("Methods Of Those With Pure Belief Concerning the Parents of The Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam") he says:

The Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam's parents died before he was sent as Prophet and there is no punishment for them, since: (We never punish until We send a Messenger (whom they reject)( (17:15 ). Our Ash'ari Imams among those in kalam, usul, and fiqh agree on the statement that one who dies while da'wa has not reached him, dies saved. This has been defined by Imam al-Shafi'i.. . . Some of the fuqaha' explained that the reason is, such a person follows fitra or Primordial Disposition, and has not stubbornly refused nor rejected any Messenger.6

Source: Shaykh Gibril F. al-Haddad

Imam Abd al-Wahhab al-Sharani [d. 973AH / 1566CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

^{Dr G.F.Haddad}

¹ al-Tabaqat al-kubra al-musamma bi Lawaqih al-anwar fi tabaqat al-akhyar (1374/1954) (Reprint, Beirut: dar al-fikr, n.d.) 1:4. In Reliance of the Traveller p. 863-864.

Sayyad Shah Ahmad Wajih al-Din Alvi Gujerati [d. 998H -1590CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Shah Wajihuddin Alvi rahmatullahi 'alayh was the son of Sayyad Shah Nasrullah rahmatullahi 'alayh. He was born at Champanar, Muhammadabad on the 22^nd of Muharram ul-Haram 910 Hijri [1504 Common Era]. He became Hafidh al Qur'an by the tender age of seven and went onto become educated at the renowned Madrassa Aliya Alviya & Dars-e-Muhammadi in Ahmedabad. Shah Wajih al-Din Alvi excelled under his specialist teachers, in Logic, Hadith and Tafsir.  It was Sultan Muzaffar Halim who became the Sultan of Gujarat who persuaded Shah Nasrullah rahmatullahi 'alayh to settle in the Badhr Fort area of Ahmedabad city; the capital of Gujerat state in India. Shah Wajih al-Din Alvi went onto become a renowned sufi scholar, writer and poet. In fact he has written explanatory short notes [hashiya] on over 260 books and publications of the earlier scholars. Shah Wajih al-Din Alvi rahmatullahi 'alayh was also a khalifa of Makhdoom Ashraf Jahangir Semnani alayhir ar-rahman.

Ancestors of Shah Wajih al-Din Alvi 

1. Sayyad Kabir-ud-Din: The ancestor of Sayyad Ahmad known as Shah Wajih al-Din Alvi belonged to the Hadramount province of Arabia. Sayyad Kabir-ud-Din was the great grandfather of Shah Wajih-ud-Din Alvi. After moving & settling in the sacred city of Makkah Mukarrama, Sayyad Kabir al-Din was also then therefore referred as 'Makki'.



2. Sayyad Baha-ud-Din : He was the son of Sayyad Kabir-ud-Din Makki. He had a vision in which he was asked to go to India [Gujarat] by the Prophet Muhammad Peace & Blessings upon him. So Sayyad Baha-ud-Din Makki came to India at Patdi, in Gujarat in 799 Hijri [1396 Common Era]. Sayyad Baha-ud-Din Makki and his family had to endure severe prejudice from the native King, whose soldiers had killed two of his men. So he left for Patan [or Pattan] which was the seat of 'Shuba' the Governor appointed by the Muslim King of Delhi. At that time Zafar Khan Ahmad was the Governor Suba of Patan, he was also the ancestor of Sultan Ahmad Shah; the actual Founder of the City of Ahmadabad.


Sayyad Baha-ud-Din Makki had captured the fort of Patdi with the help of Zafar Khan's soldiers. He lived there in peace all of his life and was buried in Patdi near to Viramgam. The good character and nature of Sayyad Baha-ud-Din impressed upon the people of Patdi, as soon many locals and those from the surrounding areas wholeheartedly embraced Islam.



3. Sayyad Muin-ud-Din: He was the son of Sayyad Baha-ud-Din. He was appointed Chief Justice of Patdi by the then Sultan of Gujarat, Muzaffar. Sayyad Moin-ud-Din was also a very pious and upright man. Thus attracted by his demeanour and good nature, many people also entered into the fold of Islam.



4. Sayyad Ata-ud-Din: He was the son of Sayyad Moin-ud-Din. He was a scholar and had the blessing of Sayyad Ganj Ahmad Maghrebi [Qutb al Aqtab]. Sayyad Ata-ud-Din was also appointed the Chief Justice of Patdi by Sultan Ahmad Shah of Gujarat.



5. Sayyad Emad-ud-Din : He was the son of Sayyad Ata-ud-Din. He was also appointed Chief Justice of Khambhat by the Sultan; Muhammad Baig of Gujarat (whom some prejudiced hindu historian referred as 'Begda' instead of 'Baig'). In his role as a Chief Judge Sayyad Emad-ud-Din had gained a lot of respect and his reputation had spread far and wide for his fair & impartial verdicts. He was fortunate to have had the blessing of Sayyad Ala-ud-Din Qazan Chisti Rahmatullahi alaih who had bestowed him with the khilafat of the Chisti Order [permission to lead the Chistiya Silsila]. Sayyad Emad-ud-Din is buried at Patdi in the precinct of his parents.



6. Sayyad Nasr-ul-lah : He was appointed Chief Justice of Champanar Mehmoodabad which is now known as Mahemdawad. This was during the time of Khalil Khan IV, son of Sultan Muhammad Baig adopting the title of Sultan Muzaffar II, better known as Sultan Muzaffar Halim who became the Sultan of Gujarat. It was Sultan Muzaffar who persuaded Sayyad Nasr-ul-lah to come and settle in Ahmadabad, the capital of Gujarat thus Shah Nasr-ul-lah, the father of Shah Wajih al-Din Alvi came to live at the Khanpur area, near to Bhadr-Fort in the city of Ahmadabad.



7. Shah Wajih al-Din: He was the son of Sayyad Nasr-ul-lah.  The present Janasheen [spiritual successor] is Sayyad Ahmed Alvi, and his father was Pir Sayyad Bada Saheb Alvi Rahmatullahi alayh also known as (Shah Wajih al-Din II) was also a great and pious saint.

Genealogy of Pir Sayyad Bada Saheb Alvi [Shah Wajih al-Din II]



Sayyad Shah Wajih al-Din Alvi
Sayyad Mawlana Abd'al Haq Alvi
Sayyad Mawlana Ghulam Wajih-ud-Din
Sayyad Mawlana Siraj-ud-Din
Sayyad Mawlana Ala-ud-Din
Sayyad Mawlana Hamid Alvi
Sayyad Abd'allah Alvi
Sayyad Hafiz Abd'al Haq
Sayyad Hafiz Abd'allah 
Sayyad Waji al-Din II (sani) [Pir Bada Saheb Alvi]

Ridwanallahi ta'ala alayhim'ajmain


Sayyad Ahmed Alvi [Sajjad Nashin]

Shah Wajih al-Din Alvi alayhir rahman was laid to rest at Khanpur, Ahmedabad in 998 Hijri. [1590 Common Era]