The Great and Splendid Gnostic: Shaykh Imdad Allah al-Faruqi al-Thanawi<\/b>
\nMarch 8, 2009
\nAn original Deoband.org article
\nBy ‘Allama Sayyid ‘Abd al-Hay ibn Fakhr al-Din al-Hasani
\nTranslated by Ismaeel Nakhuda
\n[Also known as\u00a0Haji Imdadullah Muhajir Makki]<\/b>
\nThe\u00a0Shaykh<\/i>, the Great and Splendid Gnostic (\u2018Arif<\/i>), the Migrant to the blessed city of Makkah Imdad Allah ibn Muhammad Amin al-\u2019Umari al-Thanawi was from amongst the saints, spiritual travellers (saliks<\/i>) and gnostics.\u00a0<\/i>Tongues are united in praising and exalting him.
\nHe was born on Monday when there were eight days left till the end of Safar in the year 1233AH in the village of Nanautah in the district of Saharanpur. He studied the books of Persian, as was the norm. He studied\u00a0Al-Hisn al-Hasin\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0Al-Mathnawi al-Ma\u2019nawi\u00a0<\/i>under Mawlana Qalandar Baksh al-Jalalabadi, who had studied\u00a0Al-Mathnawi\u00a0<\/i>under Mufti Ilahi Baksh al-Kandehlawi. He then travelled to Delhi and remained in the company of Shaykh Nasir al-Din al-Shafi\u2019i, the\u00a0mujahid<\/i>,\u00a0<\/i>and studied\u00a0tasawwuf\u00a0<\/i>under him.<\/i>\u00a0After his martyrdom, he returned to Thana Bhawan and remained there for some time. He then went to Lohari and stayed in the company of Shaykh Nur Muhammad al-Janjhanawi and studied\u00a0tasawwuf\u00a0<\/i>under him.\u00a0<\/i>Allah Most High opened for him the doors of\u00a0ma\u2019rifa\u00a0<\/i>(gnosis) and made him from amongst the\u00a0\u2018ulama\u00a0<\/i>who are grounded in knowledge. At the orders of his\u00a0shaykh\u00a0<\/i>he proceeded to spiritually guide and instruct people.<\/i>
\n[The Muslims and the people of the country revolted against the English in the year 1274AH. A group of\u00a0‘ulama<\/i>, the pious and the people of zeal from amongst the Muslims arose in the districts of Saharanpur and Muzaffarnagar, and announced war against the English. They selected Shaykh Imdad Allah as their\u00a0amir\u00a0<\/i>(leader).\u00a0<\/i>The two sides came to war on the plain of Shamli, a village in the district of Muzaffarnagar, where Hafiz Muhammad Damin was martyred. The wheel turned against the Muslims and the feet of the English became firm. They were ruthless with anyone accused of participating in the revolt, the earth became narrow for the passionate and practicing\u00a0‘ulama<\/i>, and the field of activity in India became restricted. Some of them spent time hiding and in secrecy; others were forced to migrate (hijra<\/i>) and abandon the land. Shaykh Imdad Allah chose to migrate to Makka al-Mukarrama. He entered the blessed city in the year 1276AH and settled down there. His first place of residence was the Al-Safa area of Makkah, after which he moved to the Harat al-Bab area where he remained for the rest of his life and met his Lord.
\nFor a long time he lived in great hardship, poverty and destitution, as was the condition of the saints\u00a0<\/i>of the earlier times; he bore patience in search of reward and was content with the condition that Allah had decided for him until He brought him relief and replaced hardship with ease, and the Earth came to him in spite of its submissively. He remained preoccupied with spiritual struggle (mujahadat<\/i>) and worship, and with heart and soul he would be attentive towards Allah. He would constantly remain in\u00a0dhikr\u00a0<\/i>and meditation, and his heart and interior overflowed with knowledge and light. He himself remained patient and on the threshold of worship. He would always humble himself in front of people, and was high-aspiring and noble. He would honour knowledge and the\u00a0‘ulama<\/i>, and revere the\u00a0Shari’at\u00a0<\/i>and the\u00a0Sunna<\/i>, until Allah embedded his love in the hearts of His slaves, and, so, the hearts of the great\u00a0‘ulama\u00a0<\/i>and the revered\u00a0shaykhs\u00a0<\/i>became attached to him and benefited from him, and seekers of\u00a0ma’rifa\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0yaqin\u00a0<\/i>headed towards him from distant lands. Allah blessed his method of\u00a0tarbiyya\u00a0<\/i>(spiritual training) and his\u00a0tariqa\u00a0<\/i>whose light spread to faraway countries. He renewed the Chishti-Sabri\u00a0tariqa,<\/i>\u00a0and great\u00a0‘ulama\u00a0<\/i>and learned individuals became affiliated to it and entered it.] Through him, Allah benefited many people whose numbers cannot be enumerated. The greatest of them is Shaykh Qasim (al-Nanotwi), Shaykh Rashid Ahmad (al-Gangohi), Mawlana Ya\u2019qub (al-Nanautwi), Molwi Ahmad Hasan (al-Amrohi), Molwi Muhammad Husayn and Molwi Ashraf \u2018Ali (al-Thanawi). All of them became\u00a0shaykhs\u00a0<\/i>and many people benefited from them.
\n[Shaykh Imdad Allah was of medium height, inclining towards being tall. He was of fragile build, brown skinned and had a large head. He had a wide brow with beautiful arched eyebrows and wide eyes. He was of pleasant speech and friendly. He would always be smiling, and would sleep and eat little. The love of Allah had made him weak, and\u00a0mujahadat\u00a0<\/i>and spiritual exercises had made him thin. He was extremely patient, had a big heart and possessed diverse qualities; people who were different in inclination and\u00a0mashrab\u00a0<\/i>(methodology) would unite in love for him and they would all benefit from him. He was tolerant of people, open with regards to subsidiary\u00a0fiqh\u00a0<\/i>issues (juz’i masa’il<\/i>)\u00a0<\/i>and the differences among themadhhabs<\/i>. He was not fanatical (or bigoted) [to his school of thought] nor did he hold an overly stern viewpoint. He was passionately fond of the\u00a0Al-Mathnawi al-Ma\u2019nawi\u00a0<\/i>and would always be preoccupied with it by way of contemplation, teaching, dictation or slowly reading it with enjoyment \u2014 he would also advise his companions to read it and to contemplate its contents.
\nHe has several literary works to his name, all of them regarding the love of Allah,\u00a0m\u2019arifa\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0tasawwuf.\u00a0<\/i>Among them isDhiya al-Qulub\u00a0<\/i>in Persian, and\u00a0Irshad-e-Murshid, Gulzar-e-M\u2019arifa, Tuhfat al-Ushshaq, Jihad-e-Akbar, Ghidha-e-Ruh\u00a0<\/i>andDardnama-e-Gumnak\u00a0<\/i>in Urdu. The majority of these are in poetry form.]
\nHe died on Wednesday, 12 Jumada al-Ukhra, 1317AH, in Makka al-Mukarrama. He was laid to rest in\u00a0Al-Ma\u2019lat\u00a0<\/i>at the side of Shaykh Rahmat Allah al-Kiranwi.
\nTranslator\u2019s note<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 The biography of Shaykh Imdad Allah al-Faruqi al-Thanawi is in the eighth volume of \u2018Allama Sayyid Abd al-Hay ibn Fakhr al-Din al-Hasani\u2019s\u00a0magnum<\/i>\u00a0opus<\/i>,\u00a0Al-I\u2019lam bi man fi Tarikh al-Hind min al-A\u2019lam\u00a0<\/i>(also known as aNuzhat al-Khawatir wa Bahjat al-Masami wa \u2018l-Nawadhir<\/i>), a historical eight-volume record of the biographies of significant individuals from the Indo-Pak subcontinent.
\nShaykh Sayyid Abu \u2018l-Hasan \u2018Ali al-Hasani al-Nadwi, the author\u2019s accomplished son, writes in the preface to the final volume that since his father died before its completion, he carefully undertook the task of finishing the biographies using the same methodology and writing style of his illustrious father.
\nHe adds that the eighth chapter comprised 559 biographies, and that 350 biographies had been left completely or partially blank, or important details had been missed, as the biographer died before the person whose biography was recorded. In order to separate his additions and the writings of his father\u2019s, the\u00a0shaykh<\/i>\u00a0used brackets, which have been preserved in the translation above.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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