Monday, June 18, 2012

Shaykh Abul Qasim Gurgani (380-450 AH)



Hazrat Shaykh Abul-Qāsim bin Ali bin Abdullāh Gurgāni (380-450 AH), may Allah sanctify his soul, was a glorious Sufi master and gnostic of the secrets of Almighty. He is one of the grand shaykhs of Naqshbandi Sufi tariqah as well as some other Sufi orders.
Shrine of Khwaja Abul Qāsim Gurgāni (rahmatAllah alaih), in Gurgan, Iran
He was born in Gorgan (situated in northern Iran) in 380 AH. He received the spiritual secrets from the master of Sufis Khwaja Abul Hasan Kharaqāni (352-425 AH), and with few intermediaries from Imam Junaid al-Baghdādi (218-298 AH).
He was one of the shaykhs of Sayyid Ali Hujweri (Data Ganj Bakhsh) of Lahore, who has mentioned him in his book Kashf al-Mahjūb, the first ever Persian treatise on Sufism. He mentions him as a Qutb, the highest rank among the living saints at any time. He introduces this great master in the following words:
In his time he was unique and incomparable. His beginning (Ibtidā) was very excellent and strong, and his journeys were performed with punctilious observance (of the sacred law). At that time the hearts of all initiates (ahl-i dargāh) were turned towards him, and all seekers (tālibān) had a firm belief in him. He possessed a marvellous power of revealing the inward experiences of novices (kashf-i wāqi’a-i murīdīn), and he was learned in various branches of knowledge.
At one place in the book, he writes:
Now I, who am ‘Ali b. ‘Usmān al-Jullābī, asked the Grand Shaykh, Abu ‘l-Qāsim Gurgānī at Tūs, saying: “What is the least thing necessary for a dervish in order that he may become worthy of poverty?” He replied: “A dervish must not have less than three things: first, he must know how to sew on a patch rightly; second, he must know how to listen rightly; third, he must know how to set hist foot on the ground rightly”.

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