Sultan of Saints

Relationship with the Prophet

Sheikh Sayyiduna Abdul Qadir Jilani [May Allah be well pleased with him] is the apex of
spiritual authority next only to the beloved Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). He is
the Ghaus, or the Qutb (Axis or Pole), on whom the government of the world is believed to
depend. Alahazrat Imam Ahmad Riza Khan [May Allah be well pleased with him] explained the
invincible hierarchy of saints as follows:

Every Ghaus has two ministers. The Ghaus is known as Abd Ullah. The minister on the
right is called Abd ur-Rab, and the one on the left is called Abd ul-Malik. In this
[spiritual] world, the minister on the left is superior to the one on the right. The reason is
that this is the Sultanat of the heart and the heart is on the left. Every Ghaus has a special
relationship with the beloved Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). Ghaus-ul-
Azam [May Allah be well pleased with him] is one of the four intercessors concerning
the life that is now. He occupies a pre-eminent position in the hierarchy of Saints and in
some of the prayer manuals that Padwick (Muslim Devotions) translated, it is claimed
that Almighty Allah gave Ghaus-ul-Azam a seat 'with the spirits of the Prophets' between
this world and the next, between the Creator and the created. According to Padwick this
is very remarkable, because entrance to that rank [of prophets] has been regarded as
closed, since the coming of the beloved Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give
him peace). In this respect Imam Ahmad Raza’s [May Allah be well pleased with him]
view on Sheikh Sayyiduna Abdul Qadir’s Jilani [May Allah be well pleased with him]
status vis-à-vis the Holy Prophet and the other saints of the Sufi hierarchy were very
clear. He definitely ranked him below the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give
him peace), but exalted him above all other Saints.

In one of his poems he addressed Sheikh Sayyiduna Abdul Qadir’s Jilani [May Allah be
well pleased with him] with these words:

Except for divinity and prophethood

You encompass all perfections, O Ghaus
(uluhiyyat nubuwwat ke siwa tu
tamam afzal ka qabil hai ya ghaus)

And elsewhere he describes how spiritual authority flows from Almighty Allah to the
Shaikh:

From Ahad to Ahmad, from Ahmad to you

In this order the divine command ‘Be’ or Don’t Be’ is followed, O
Ghaus
(ahad se ahmad aur ahmad se tujh ko
kun aur sab kun makun hasil hai y ghaus)
In Alahazrat Imam Ahmad Khan’s (may Allah be pleased with him) writings (Malfuzat)
he mentions that there would be three Ghausul Azam till the Day of Judgment. They
would have their subordinate in each time that would be called as Ghaus. The first
Ghaus-ul-Azam (Ghausiyat-e Kubra) is the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)
followed by the four rightly-guided Caliph’s [Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiqui (may Allah be
pleased with him), Hazrat Ummar (may Allah be pleased with him), Hazrat Usman (may
Allah be pleased with him) and Hazrat Ali (may Allah ennoble his face)], each of whom
was in turn the minister of the left hand to the current Ghaus, and at the latter’s death,
replaced him in that position. They were followed by Hazrat Imam Ali (may Allah
ennoble his face) son’s, Hazrat Imam Sayyid Hassan (may Allah be pleased with him)
and Hazrat Imam Sayyid Hussain (may Allah be pleased with him), down to the second
Ghaus-ul-Azam, he was Hazrat Sheikh Sayyiduna Abdul Qadir’s Jilani (may Allah be
pleased with him) and he will remain Ghaus-ul-Azam until the time of Hazrat Imam
Sayyid Mahdi (may Allah be pleased with him). Hazrat Sheikh Sayyiduna Abdul Qadir`s
Jilani (may Allah be pleased with him) was the last occupant of the "Ghausiyat-e Kubra"
and those who have followed have been, and will continue to be, deputies (na’ib).

Ultimately Hazrat Sayyid Imam Mahdi (may Allah be pleased with him) will receive the
Ghausiyat-e Kubra. It is noted that in this hierarchy, the beloved Prophet (Allah bless him
and give him peace) and the first four Companions (Caliphs) stand at the head of the
spiritual hierarchy, which end in Sheikh Sayyiduna Abdul Qadir’s Jilani (may Allah be
pleased with him). In this way the lines of succession by which spiritual, Gnostic
knowledge is handed down coincide with the ultimate sources of authority for knowledge
of Sharia, which, of course, culminates with the beloved Prophet (Allah bless him and
give him peace). Alahazrat Imam Ahmad Raza Khan (may Allah be pleased with him)
explicitly made this connection in one of his poems addressing the Shaikh:

You are Mufti of the shar’, qazi of the community

And expert in the secrets of knowledge, ‘Abd al-Qadir
(mufti-e shar’ bhi hai qazi-e millat hai
ilm-e asrar se mahir bhi hai abd al-qadir)

The following prayer taken from the book 'Muslim Devotions - a study of Prayer
Manuals in Common Use' by Padwick, shows this hierarchy under the leadership of the
Qutb of his age, the Pole-saint, pivot of the world, of who’s kind only one at a time is on
earth:

Peace be to you, ye men of the mysterious other world! Ye lieutenant saints (muqaba), ye
overseeing saints (ruqaba), ye saints of permutation (budula). Ye pillars of the earth, four
pillars (awtad), ye two Imams, thou Pole-saint (qutb) thou unique! Ye faithful ones, aid
me with succor, turn to me a glance, be merciful to me, bring me my desire, my aim. Rise
up to fulfill my need with our Prophet Muhammad, May God most high greet you with
peace in this world and in the next! [al-Fuyudatu r-rabbiniyya, pg. 104 ( Qadiriyya)]. This
prayer which was taken from Sayyiduna Abdul Qadir Jilani’s (may Allah be pleased with
him) Ghunya had a note appended to it explaining the Saints are on different days of the
month at different points of the compass, matter, which, with knowledge and care, can be
arranged for in addressing these Saints. Few prayers are as definite as this concerning the
hierarchy, but many are clear that that Almighty Allah has His Friends everywhere on
earth and in heaven. Wali Awliya, combining the idea of nearness, protection and
friendship of these Saints.

Padwick also explains that the claim to a seat among spirits of the Prophets is remarkable,
because entrance to that rank has been regarded as close, since the coming of the beloved
Prophet Muhammad Mustapha (Allah bless him and give him peace), and Ghaus-ul-
Azam (may Allah be pleased with him) could not without legal penalties have claimed it.
The manuals in Padwick’s possession give only a few aurad of the first three Sheikhs
[Sayyid Ahmad ar-Rifai (may Allah be pleased with him), Sayyid Ahmad al-Badawi
(may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyid Ibrahim ad-Dasuqi (may Allah be pleased
with him)] whom have been given the office of universal and accepted intercession, but
many details concerning Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (may Allah be pleased with him) as
Succourer (al-Ghauth) and Intercessor. They tell [quoting from Shaikh Ibn al-Qasim ibn
Bakr Ahmad (may Allah be pleased with him) in Bahjatu’l-asar] of his heavenly
ordination to the universal ministry of intercession:

And the Truth Most High said to him in the language of mysterious ecstasy, "Verily
today art thou firmly installed before us and trusted". And he caused him to sit with the
spirits of the beloved Prophets on a seat between this world and the next, between the
Creator and the created, between the visible and the spiritual, between the perceptible and
the imperceptible. And he gave him four countenances, one to look towards the earth, one
to look towards the other world, one to look towards the created beings, and one to look
towards the Creator.