Region Islamic scholar/Sufi Name Ghulam Dihlawi | Influenced Muhammad Tahir | |
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Born 1156 AH (1743 C.E) Patiala, Punjab School Sunni Islam, Hanafi, Sufi, Naqshbandi Died October 1824, Delhi, New Delhi Influenced by Abu al-Hassan al-Kharaqani Similar People Ahmad Sirhindi, Shah Waliullah Dehlawi, Muhammad Tahir, Abu Hanifa, Bayazid Bastami | ||
Shah Abdullah alias Shah Ghulam Ali Dehlavi (1743–1824, Urdu:شاہ غلام علی دہلوی) was a very prominent Sufi Shaykh in Delhi during early 19th century. He was a master of the Naqshbandi tradition and also in other major Sufi orders such as Qadri and Chishti.
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Biography
He was born in 1156 AH (1743 C.E) in Patiala, Punjab in current-day India. His father was Shah Abdul-Latif, a scholar and Sufi shaykh belonging to the Qadri tariqah. It is reported in his biographies that his father had a dream before his birth in which he saw Sayyadna Ali who told him to name the baby on his name (Ali). After he grew up, he modified his own name to be Ghulam Ali (literally meaning slave of Ali, a common name in Indian Muslims today). Similarly, his mother had a dream in which she saw Muhammad who told her to name the baby Abdullah. Hence his real name is still known to be Abdullah while his alias is Ghulam Ali.
He is reported to have memorized the Quran in a single month's duration. In 1170 AH he came to Delhi to take the oath of allegiance to Mirza Mazhar Jan-e-Janaan who was a famous Shaykh of Naqshbandi tariqah in Delhi at that time. After getting trained in the major Sufi orders including Naqshbandi for 15 years, he received complete Khilafat (spiritual Ijazah) from his Shaykh.
He had many Khulafa (deputies) who spread the Naqshbandi Sufi order to a vast number of people in the whole Muslim world at that time. His Khulafa went to Bukhara, Baghdad, Madinah and Turkey. His famous khalifa was Mawlana Khalid al-Baghdadi who had hundreds of thousands of followers in his lifetime, and many Naqshbandi's today in Turkey and nearby countries follow him.
He is quoted to have said: "My Faid (spirituality) has reached far off countries. Our Halqa is held in Makkah and our Halqa is held in Madinah. Similarly our Halqa is held in Baghdad, Rome (now Turkey and Cyprus) and Maghrib (Parts of Europe and Africa facing Asia). And Bukhara is our parental home."
He died on 22 Safar 1240 AH (15/16 October 1824) and was buried alongside his Shaykh's grave in Khanqah Mazharia in Delhi.
Writings
He wrote multiple books, the most famous of them is Maqamat Mazhari in Persian, which is a complete biography of his shaykh Mirza Mazhar Jan-e-Janaan Shaheed. His other books are:
Spiritual Chain of Succession
Shah Ghulam Ali Dehlavi received Ijazah in multiple tariqahs of Sufism, mainly the Naqshbandi.
Qadri chain
Extracted from Maqamat Mazhari by Shah Ghulam Ali Dehlavi
- Shah Ghulam Ali Dehlavi
- Mirza Mazhar Jan-e-Janaan
- Muhammad Abid Sanami
- Abdul Ahad
- Muhammad Said
- Ahmed Sirhindi
- Abdul Ahad Faruqi
- Shah Kamal Kethali
- Shah Fuzail
- Gada e Rahman Sani
- Shamsuddin Arif
- Gada e Rahman Awal
- Shamsuddin Sehrai
- Aqeel
- Abdul Wahhab
- Sharfuddin
- Abdur Razzaq
- Abdul-Qadir Gilani
Chishti chain
Extracted from Maqamat Mazhari by Shah Ghulam Ali Dehlavi
- Shah Ghulam Ali Dehlvi
- Mirza Mazhar Jan-e-Janaan
- Muhammad Abid Sanami
- Abdul Ahad Sirhindi
- Muhammad Said
- Ahmed Sirhindi
- Abdul Ahad Faruqi
- Ruknuddin
- Abdul Quddus Gangohi
- Muhammad Arif
- Ahmed Abdul Haq
- Jalaluddin Panipati
- Shamsuddin Turk
- Alauddin Sabir Kaliyari
- Fariduddin Ganjshakar
- Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki
- Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti
His Khulafa
His Khulafa were numerous and many of them were prominent Shaykhs at their times. Following is a list of his most prominent Khulafa as extracted from various sources.
- Mawlana Hafiz Abu Saeed Faruqi Mujaddidi Naqshbandi, his successor (Delhi)
- Mawlana Hafiz Shah Ahmed Saeed Faruqi Mujaddidi, son of Hafiz Abu Saeed (Medina)
- Shah Rauf Ahmed Raaft Faruqi Mujaddidi Rampuri (Bhopal)
- Mawlana Khalid al-Baghdadi al-Kurdi al-Rumi (Turkey)
- Mawlana Ismaeel Madani (Medina)
- Mawlana Ghulam Mohiuddin Qusoori (Qusoor)
- Mawlana Bashartullah Behra'ichi
- Mawlana Shah Gul Muhammad Ghaznavi (Bukhara)
- Mawlana Muhammad Sharif (Sirhind)
- Mawlana Pir Muhammad (Kashmir)
- Mawlana Jan Muhammad (Herat)
- Mawlana Muhammad Jan (Makkah, d.1266 AH), whose Khulafa spread up to Turkey
- Hazrat Shah Saad'ullah Naqshbandi (Hyderabad)