A Digital Atlas of Sacred Geography
1113 records · Page 31/47
Saints whose death anniversary falls this Hijri month (sourced).
A Walisongo saint, said to be the son of Sunan Kalijaga, who settled on the slopes of Mount Muria and called villagers, farmers and fishermen to Islam through a gentle, gradual approach, continuing guidance via tembang. He died in the mid-16th century; his tomb is on Mount Muria. (Sources: Wikipedia; NU Online.)
One of the great shaykhs of the Chishtiyya in India; deputy of Nizam al-Din Awliya and heir to his Delhi lodge. His full name is Shaykh Nasir al-Din Mahmud b. Yahya ; he is known by the epithet Chiragh-i Dehli (the Lamp of Delhi). He was born in 673 (1274) or 675 (1276) at Awadh in northern India. His family was of Iranian origin. At the age of nine he lost his father, a wealthy wool merchant; his mother took great care over his education. He studied the religious sciences with Mawlana Abd al-Karim Shirwani and Mawlana Iftikhar al-Din Gilani. From his youth he preferred to devote himself to asceticism, self-discipline and worship rather than to scholarship. At twenty-five he withdrew from the world and lived for some fifteen years in the forests outside Awadh, fasting continually. At forty or forty-three he left the Awadh region for Delhi and joined the disciples of Nizam al-Din Awliya , the most celebrated Chishti shaykh, known as "sultan al-mashayikh". He soon became his master's favourite disciple and received the khilafa in 724 (1324). Regarding the sama so beloved of the Chishtis as contrary to the Sunna, he did not attend Nizam al-Din's sama gatherings, and his shaykh accepted this attitude with goodwill. After some time in Delhi he asked his shaykh's leave, through another disciple, the poet Amir Khusraw Dihlawi, to withdraw once more to the forests and mountains; Nizam al-Din advised him instead to remain in Delhi and bear the hardships he met there. On Nizam al-Din Awliya's death (725/1325) he took charge of the lodge his master had founded; all the Chishtis of Delhi began to gather around him, and it was for this reason that he received the epithet "Chiragh-i Dehli". He was subjected to the pressures of the Sultan of Delhi, Muhammad b. Tughluq, long hostile to the Chishtis: whereas Chishti principles required distance from rulers, the sultan demanded their service, took him by force as keeper of the robes on several campaigns, and once had him imprisoned. Bearing these trials with great patience, Chiragh-i Dehli played a major part, after Muhammad b. Tughluq's death (752/1351), in Sultan Firuz's accession to the throne of Delhi. Sultan Firuz treated him and the other Chishtis with great respect and endowed his lodge with great wealth. In 754 (1353), while worshipping alone in his retreat cell, he was stabbed by a Qalandar named Turab; he survived, and with his customary patience and resignation prevented the assailant's punishment, even giving him a sum of money. He died on 18 Ramadan 757 (14 September 1356) . By his will his body was washed by his disciple Sayyid Muhammad Gisudaraz; also by his will, the cloak and rosary he had received from Nizam al-Din Awliya were buried with him. His Circle of Influence — As the shaykh who gathered the Chishtis of Delhi under one roof, he represents the continuity of the order in northern India. Among his disciples was Sayyid Muhammad Gisudaraz , regarded as the founder of Deccan Chishtism; the source notes that it is not certain he appointed him his deputy. Another disciple, Hamid Qalandar, compiled his master's discourses. His Poetry and Sufi Line — He was a shaykh who set no store by poetry and even held that composing verse could harm a dervish; for this reason he left no work. As a method of remembrance he laid great weight on recollecting God with every breath ( pas-i anfas ); regarding the sama as contrary to the Sunna, he represents a distinct line within the Chishti tradition. His sayings in assembly ( malfuzat ) were compiled by his disciple Hamid Qalandar in the book Khayr al-majalis . His Tomb and Complex — His tomb was built by Firuz Shah. The source records that the tomb is today in a ruined state and that the inhabitants of the quarter where it stands are mostly Hindu; Muslims visit the tomb on the anniversaries of his death.
One of the shaykhs of the Chishtiyya in Mughal India; the source gives his full name as Shaykh Salim b. Baha al-Din Chishti . His name is linked with the birth of Jahangir, son of Akbar, and with the founding of the city of Fatehpur Sikri. There is no separate TDV article on him; what follows is the information given about him in the articles on the city, the mosque and the emperor. He lived in a cave near the village of Sikri, south-west of Agra. When Akbar visited him (1569), the shaykh gave the sultan, who had no son, the good news that a son would soon be born to him. Akbar thereupon had a palace built there. His son was born at Sikri on 30 August 1569, and Akbar gave him the name of the shaykh he loved dearly, Salim . At court the prince was called Shaykhu Baba ; he would later ascend the throne as Jahangir. After the prince's birth Akbar ordered further buildings around the palace and founded a city there, which he named Fatehpur on returning victorious from the Gujarat campaign in 1574. According to the article on Akbar, Salim Chishti played a large part in the emperor's turn towards a mystical outlook. These articles do not give the date of his death; his grave is at Fatehpur Sikri. His Tomb and Complex — The Great Mosque of Fatehpur Sikri, one of the city's most important buildings, completed in 979 (1571-72), stands near Akbar's palace and the hospice of Salim Chishti. On the western side of the mosque's courtyard are two tombs, of Salim Chishti and of his grandson Islam Khan. Salim Chishti's tomb, entirely of white marble, is remarkable for the carved marble lattice screens with geometric patterns that enclose its veranda and windows.
A 13th-century Sufi regarded as the founder of the Sabiriyya branch of the Chishti order. Tradition holds he was the nephew and successor of Baba Farid, earning the name 'Sabir' (the patient). His dargah at Piran Kaliyar near Roorkee, Uttarakhand, is among the most venerated in India after Ajmer. (Sources: TDV; Wikipedia.)
A Sufi who lived in India and is known by the nisba Simnani; in the sources he appears as Sayyid Ashraf Jahangir Simnani , and in one place as Sayyid Muhammad Ashraf Jahangir Simnani. He has no entry of his own in the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam; the information below is compiled from four separate entries that mention him. He is counted among the well-known disciples of 'Ala' al-Dawla Simnani, founder of the Rukniyya branch of the Kubrawiyya. According to the entry on the Chishtiyya, however, he was one of the two outstanding disciples of Shaykh 'Ala' al-Din b. As'ad (d. 801/1398), who had been trained by Akhi Siraj, the propagator of the Chishtiyya in Bengal. He went to India and settled near Awadh (Oudh); the Ashrafiyya branch of the Kubrawiyya is attributed to him. Together with the other outstanding disciple, Sayyid Nur Qutb-i 'Alam (d. 813/1410), he played a very important part in making the Chishtiyya known in Bengal, Bihar and the eastern part of the united provinces. Badi' al-Din Qutb al-Madar, founder of the Madariyya order, made his first pilgrimage together with him; it is reported that Shaykh Ashraf praised him in some of his treatises and called him an "Uwaysi." He is also named among the well-known saints with whom the Chishti shaykh Gisudaraz had contact. He died in 808 (1405); the sources do not state where. His Works — His letters, under the title Maktubat-i Ashrafi , are counted among the main examples of the letter genre in the Chishti tradition. That he wrote some treatises is clear from the entry on Badi' al-Din Qutb al-Madar. Nizam al-Din Yamani's Lata'if-i Ashrafi (Delhi 1395) appears in the bibliographies of the entries on the Chishtiyya and on Gisudaraz.
A Sufi author known for his work Kashf al-mahjub ; in the Indian subcontinent he is known by the title Data Ganj Bakhsh , "the great saint who bestows treasure". His full name is Abu al-Hasan Ali b. Uthman b. Abi Ali al-Jullabi al-Hujwiri . According to Ghulam Sarwar, the first to use this title for him was the founder of the Chishtiyya, Mu'in al-Din Hasan al-Chishti (d. 633/1236), who addressed him so while praying for him after completing a spiritual retreat in his tomb. He was born in Ghazna; on the basis of what he says about the Sufis he met, he can be said to have been born at the beginning of the XI. century. When his family, of Iranian or Indian origin, settled in Ghazna is unknown. In his book he used both the nisbas Hujwiri and Jullabi, and in time became famous as Hujwiri; the old name of the Arbabha locality near Ghazna, where the grave of his father Shaykh Uthman lies, was probably Jullab or Hujwir. His mother's grave is in Ghazna, beside that of her other son, Shaykh Taj al-Awliya. He received his first religious knowledge from his father, and the Kashf al-mahjub shows that he studied law according to the Hanafi school. Following the custom of the scholars of his time he undertook long journeys; he appears to have travelled through Syria, Turkestan, Qazvin, India, Iraq, Khuzistan, Azerbaijan, Jurjan, Khurasan and Transoxiana, though when these journeys took place is not known. He relates that in Baghdad he saw a group of heretics posing as Sufis, that in Farghana he visited Bab Farghani, that whenever a difficulty arose he went to Bistam to visit the tomb of Bayazid Bistami, that each of the 300 Sufis he saw in Khurasan was worth the whole world, and that in Bukhara he met Shaykh Ahmad-i Samarqandi. Although he writes about the pilgrimage, there is no record in his book that he went to the Hijaz. He lived mostly in lands under Ghaznavid rule; he took part in the learned gatherings held before Mahmud of Ghazna and in one of them silenced an Indian sage in debate. When he set out on his first journey he had probably not yet entered Sufism. He met his true guide, Abu al-Fadl al-Khuttali , near Damascus, went with him to Azerbaijan and did not leave him until his death. He says that al-Khuttali knew exegesis well, adopted the views of Junayd al-Baghdadi in Sufism, and opposed scholars and Sufis who valued outward form. He also benefited from Sufis such as Abu al-Abbas al-Shaqqani, Abu al-Qasim al-Jurjani and Muzaffar b. Ahmad b. Hamdan. After his guide's death, in accordance with his will, he went to India with his friends Ahmad b. Hammad al-Sarakhsi and Abu Sa'id Hujwiri, and began teaching students and spreading Islam in the mosque he had built west of the city of Lahore on the bank of the Ravi. Through his activity many Indians, above all the deputy governor of Lahore, Rai Raju, became Muslims. He must have gone to Lahore during the unrest in Ghazna that followed the Ghaznavid Sultan Mas'ud's defeat by the Seljuqs, probably in 431 (1039). While he was busy writing the Kashf al-mahjub , three Indian rajas joined forces, besieged Lahore and took many Muslims captive (435/1043); Hujwiri was among the 5000 Muslims freed by Sultan Mawdud b. Mas'ud. The date of his death is not certain; the date the source considers correct is 465 (1072). His grave is in the precinct of his mosque in Lahore. His Poetry and Sufi Line — He is a conscious representative of Junayd al-Baghdadi's understanding of Sufism. While giving reason as much weight as al-Muhasibi, he loves Sufis such as Bayazid Bistami and al-Hallaj with all his heart, yet is sober enough to advise that al-Hallaj, whom he admires, should not be followed or taken as a model. He used rational and logical measures as widely as possible to express the depths of the Sufi life; the source notes that in this he can be said to have surpassed al-Sarraj, al-Kalabadhi, al-Sulami and al-Qushayri. He sees Abu Hanifa not only as a jurist but as an ascetic who was the master of many Sufis such as Ibrahim b. Adham, Dawud al-Ta'i and Bishr al-Hafi. His interpretation of the 238 verses and 138 hadiths he quotes in his book shows his mastery of exegesis and hadith. He himself reports that his diwan was lost. His Works — His most famous work is the Persian Kashf al-mahjub , which he probably began writing in 435 (1043) in Lahore; it is the first book to treat the theoretical and practical questions of Sufism systematically. It was written at the request of Abu Sa'id Hujwiri. Relating that a fraud had claimed his work Minhaj al-din as his own, the author mentioned his own name twenty-eight times in various places of the book so that it would not meet the same fate. The first part treats knowledge, poverty, the nature of Sufism, the Sufi cloak and blame, then gives biographies of the first four caliphs, the imams of the Prophet's family and the Sufis; next comes the most original section, a study of twelve Sufi schools (Muhasibiyya, Qassariyya, Tayfuriyya, Junaydiyya, Nuriyya, Sahliyya, Hakimiyya, Kharraziyya, Khafifiyya, Sayyariyya, Hallajiyya, Hulmaniyya), the last two of which the author calls outside the Sharia. The second part, in eleven sub-sections each opening with "Kashf al-hijab" , treats knowledge of God, divine unity, faith, the acts of worship, companionship and Sufi terms. The work was first printed in 1903 in Lahore; Zhukovsky's critical edition appeared in Leningrad in 1926, and it was translated into English by Nicholson (London 1911), into Arabic by Is'ad Abd al-Hadi Qandil and into Turkish by Süleyman Uludağ (Istanbul 1982). Other books he names in it: Minhaj al-din , Kitab al-Fana wa'l-baqa , a commentary on the sayings of al-Hallaj, Kitab al-Bayan li-ahl al-iyan , Nahw al-qulub , Asrar al-khiraq wa'l-mulawwanat , al-Ri'aya bi-huquq Allah , Kitab al-Iman . His Tomb and Complex — His grave lies in the precinct of his mosque in Lahore and is known as the Data Ganj Bakhsh Shrine . The Ghaznavid Sultan Ibrahim b. Mas'ud had a building erected beside the grave, new buildings were added in the time of Akbar Shah, and in 1861 Hajji Nur Muhammad Sado built a domed tomb over the grave. Later Miyan Ghulam Gilani built a new mosque in place of the one Hujwiri had built in his lifetime, and the site became a complex. On the inner walls of the tomb are three poems by Mu'in al-Din al-Chishti, Abd al-Rahman Jami and Muhammad Iqbal whose chronogram lines correspond to the date of his death. The shrine is today one of the places most visited by the Muslims of Pakistan; though the name Hujwiri is hardly known in the region, no one is ignorant of the name Data Ganj Bakhsh, and every year commemorations lasting seven days are held in his name.
The Sufi who established the Suhrawardiyya in India; the greatest shaykh of Multan. His full name was Abû Muhammad Bahâ' al-Dîn Zakariyyâ b. Wajîh al-Dîn b. Kamâl al-Dîn al-Multânî . He was born in the village of Kot Karur near Multan in the Punjab. After a course of study lasting fifteen years he went to Khurâsân and Bukhara, and thence to the Hijaz, where he stayed five years. At Medina he received authorisation from Shaykh Kamâl al-Dîn Muhammad al-Yamanî. He completed his spiritual course at Baghdad with Shihâb al-Dîn 'Umar al-Suhrawardî ; the source records that this training was completed in seventeen days. In this way he entered the Suhrawardiyya. He then settled at Multan and founded his lodge there. His Circle of Influence — His successor was his son Sadr al-Dîn 'Ârif . His most famous student was the poet and mystic Fakhr al-Dîn al-'Irâqî , to whom he married his daughter. The Bahâ'iyya branch is named after him; the spread of the Suhrawardiyya in India is largely his work. His Works — He compiled a collection of hadith, but that work has been lost; his Wasâyâ , preserved in later sources, and the Munâjât-i Pîr Dastgîr have come down to our day. His Tomb and Complex — His shrine within the old fortress of Multan is still today a place of visitation.
A leading 13th–14th-century Suhrawardi Sufi of Multan who succeeded his grandfather Bahauddin Zakariya. His tomb is among the earliest and grandest examples of Tughlaq architecture and is on the UNESCO tentative list. He died 735/1335. (Sources: Wikipedia; Punjab Auqaf.)
A Persian Sufi, poet and qalandar dervish born in Marwand (Sistan) in 1177 to a Sayyid family, associated with the Suhrawardi tradition and the wandering Qalandariyya. He settled in Sehwan (Sindh) and became the region's most venerated saint, drawing millions of pilgrims yearly. He died 673/1274. (Sources: Wikipedia; JASB vol.68, 1899.)
The greatest classical poet of the Sindhi language and a Qadiri Sufi; his mystical verse, compiled posthumously as 'Shah Jo Risalo', recasts Sindhi folk romances as Sufi allegory. He spent his later years on the hill of Bhit, where his shrine was built by the Kalhora ruler Ghulam Shah. He died 1165/1752. (Sources: Wikipedia; BhittaiPedia.)
The best-known, native-Javanese Walisongo saint, who turned traditional arts — shadow puppetry (wayang), gamelan and tembang — into vehicles of Islamic preaching, reaching vast audiences. He is also linked to the building of Demak Mosque. He died c. 1000/1592; his tomb is at Kadilangu (Demak). (Sources: Wikipedia; NU Online.)
A Walisongo saint whose school on the hill of Giri near Gresik and his 'Giri Kedaton' polity built a wide missionary network reaching eastern Indonesia (Maluku, Sulawesi, Lombok). He is known for teaching Islam through children's games and tembang. He died c. 912/1506. (Sources: Wikipedia; NU Online.)
Born Abdul Wahab, a Qadiri Sufi poet of the Darazi school who wrote ecstatic verse in seven languages. Nicknamed 'Sachal' (truth-speaker) and 'Sarmast' (intoxicated in divine love), a proponent of wahdat al-wujud called the 'Second Mansur'. He died 1242/1825. (Sources: Wikipedia; Darazi School study, 2009.)
A semi-legendary 8th-century mystic and warrior-saint venerated as the spiritual protector of Karachi; tradition holds he arrived by Arab vessel on the Sindh coast. His historicity cannot be firmly established (Maclean), but his hilltop shrine in Clifton predates the modern city and draws huge crowds. (Sources: Wikipedia; D. N. Maclean, Brill 1989.)
A Walisongo saint who founded the town of Kudus (named after Jerusalem/al-Quds) and built the famous Menara Kudus mosque blending Hindu-Javanese (Majapahit) architecture. He is emblematic of culturally sensitive preaching (e.g., refraining from cattle slaughter). He died c. 958/1550. (Sources: Wikipedia; NU Online.)
Another son of Sunan Ampel, a Walisongo saint known for preaching centred on social justice, mutual aid and care for the poor. He spread Islam in the Lamongan area and taught ethics through tembang (Javanese verse). He died c. 928/1522. (Sources: Wikipedia; NU Online.)
Son of Sunan Ampel, a Walisongo saint who spread Islam through Javanese art, literature and gamelan music (the 'bonang' instrument is attributed to him), adapting Sufi teaching to local culture. He died c. 931/1525; his tomb is in Tuban. (Sources: Wikipedia; NU Online.)
A central figure of the Walisongo; of Champa origin, he founded an important Islamic school in the Ampel quarter of Surabaya. He is regarded as teacher or kin to most of the other saints and was influential in founding the Sultanate of Demak. He died 886/1481. (Sources: Wikipedia; NU Online.)
Regarded as the eldest and pioneer of the nine saints (Walisongo) who spread Islam in Java; likely of Hadhrami/Persian origin, he reached East Java late in the 14th century and settled at Gresik, winning the people through trade, agriculture and compassionate guidance. He died 822/1419; his dated tombstone survives. (Sources: Wikipedia; NU Online.)
One of the greatest Punjabi Sufi poets (c. 1680–1757), a disciple of Shah Inayat Qadiri of Lahore. His kafis, expressing ecstatic divine love and sharp social-religious critique, remain central to Punjabi and Sufi devotional music. He lived and died in Kasur in 1757. (Sources: Wikipedia; Dawn.com.)
A leading 13th-century saint of the Chishti order, successor of Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki and master of Nizamuddin Auliya. Among the earliest and most revered figures of Punjabi Sufism; verses attributed to him were later included in the Sikh Guru Granth Sahib. He died 679/1266. (Sources: Wikipedia; Punjab Auqaf.)
Abu Shayba al-Khudri, a Companion whom early sources record as having died before the walls of Constantinople; per Dr. Mehmet Efendioğlu, one of only two Istanbul Companion graves with a genuine historical basis. A maqam attributed to him stands in the Toklu Dede and Companions cemetery in Ayvansaray; the physical presence of his body is uncertain (maqam). (Sources: İstanbul Ansiklopedisi; Kültür Envanteri.)
The Sufi regarded as the most important exponent of Istanbul Nakşibendî-Müceddidism in the eighteenth century. He was born in 1075 (1664) at Tokat. He belonged to a Nakşibendî family: his father Hasan Efendi was a tailor and a disciple of Azîz Mahmûd-ı Urmevî. After Urmevî's execution in 1048 (1639) the family settled at Tokat, where Mehmed Emin passed the years of his youth, and in 1110 (1698) he went to Istanbul. In Istanbul he entered the Pîrî Paşa Medrese at Zeyrek and studied the religious sciences under Şeyhülislâm Mirzazâde Şeyh Mehmed Efendi. He practised the sülüs, nesih and ta'lîk scripts under Hâşimîzâde Seyyid Abdullah Efendi; he afterwards studied music at Edirne with such masters as Buhûrîzâde Mustafa Itrî Efendi, Küçük Müezzin Mehmed Efendi and Yahyâ Nazîm Çelebi. In Rajab 1114 (November 1702) he met at Mecca Ahmed Yekdest-i Cüryânî, who was leading a circle of remembrance beside the Kaaba; he became his disciple and remained in his service about three years. Later, at Medina, he received investiture in the Nakşibendiyye-Müceddidiyye through Abdürrahîm-i Buhârî. He returned to Istanbul around 1117 (1706); he served as secretary to Kımıl Mehmed Bey and taught at the Şehzade Mosque. After the death of his patron he held for a short time, in 1132 (1719-20), the custodianship of the tomb of Eyüp Sultan. For decades he occupied himself with spiritual guidance without being attached to any lodge. In 1156 (1743) he was appointed by Şeyhülislâm Mustafa Efendi as sheikh of the Emîr Buhârî lodge at Ayvansaray; he accepted this office on the condition of not residing in the lodge . He died on 15 Sha'bân 1158 (12 September 1745) and was buried in the graveyard of the Pîrî Paşa (Soğukkuyu) Mosque at Zeyrek in Istanbul. His Circle of Influence — The most visible channel of his influence is his disciple Müstakimzâde: it was through him that the ground was prepared for the translation of Imâm-ı Rabbânî's Mektûbât into Turkish. The relation he formed with Lâ'lîzâde Abdülbâki of the Bayramî-Melâmî circle points to an independent conception of Sufism that did not close itself within a single circle. His Poetry and Sufi Line — He stands on the Nakşibendî-Müceddidî line; he rejects ostentation in the practices of the lodge. What is striking about him is that he defended the devrân , a contested practice — this runs counter to the established Nakşibendî understanding and is the subject of one of his treatises. His Works — What he wrote consists essentially of treatises on the Nakşibendî path: İrşâdü's-sâlikîn , Risâle fî sülûki't-tarîkati'n-Nakşibendiyye , Sıyânet-i Dervîşân der Bahs-i Deverân-ı Sûfiyân (a defence of the devrân), Şerh-i Kelimât-ı Hâcegân and Vasiyyetnâme . He also rendered into Turkish such works as Ibn al-Jazarî's introduction to the readings of the Qur'an and Ubeydullah Ahrâr's Risâle-i Vâlidiyye . His Tomb and Complex — His grave is in the graveyard of the Pîrî Paşa (Soğukkuyu) Mosque at Zeyrek. The inscription on his gravestone was written in the ta'lîk script by Kâtibzâde Mehmed Refî and contains the chronogram composed by his disciple Müstakimzâde.
A scholar known for his commentary on the Prophet's biography, the al-Rawd al-unuf ; he is counted one of the seven saints of Marrakesh. His full name was Abu'l-Qâsim 'Abd al-Rahmân b. 'Abdillâh b. Ahmad al-Khath'amî al-Suhaylî al-Mâlaqî . He was born in 508 (1114) at Suhayl near Málaga, in the south of al-Andalus. Although it is reported that he lost his sight, notes in his own hand are found in copies of the al-Rawd al-unuf , which points either to his having kept part of his sight or to the blindness having come late in life. At Málaga, Cordoba and Seville he studied under scholars of Qur'anic recitation, grammar and jurisprudence; he took hadith, exegesis and legal theory from Ibn al-'Arabî. He distinguished himself in the Prophet's biography, in hadith, exegesis, jurisprudence, grammar and Arabic letters. He died at Marrakesh on 26 Sha'bân of the year 581 (22 November 1185). His Circle of Influence — In his scholarly person the learned traditions of al-Andalus and of the Maghrib come together. In the tradition of visitation that recounts the seven renowned figures buried at Marrakesh (the sab'atu rijâl ) his name appears as one of those seven. His Works — The al-Rawd al-unuf is the most comprehensive commentary written on the biography of Ibn Hishâm. The Natâ'ij al-fikar is on grammar; the al-Ta'rîf wa'l-i'lâm is the first separate work written on the unnamed persons of the Qur'an. His Tomb and Complex — He was buried in the cemetery of Jabbânat al-Shuyûkh at Marrakesh, and the place became an important site of visitation.
