Lovers Of Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani R.A

Childhood Of Hadhrat Shaikh Abd al-Qadir Al-jilani (ra)

Hadhrat Shaikh Abd al-Qadir Al-jilani (ra) realised that he was a wali (friend of Allah – exalted is he) at the age of 10. When he used to leave the house in Jilan, to go to elementary school, he could see angels walking around him. When he used to arrive in school, the angels would say: “Clear a space for the saintly friend (wali) of Allah, so that he can sit himself down”.

One day a man passed by Hadhrat Shaikh Abd al-Qadir Al-jilani (ra) on the road, who he did not recognise. Hadhrat Shaikh Abd al-Qadir Al-jilani (ra) heard the angels saying something to him and the man asked the angels: “Who is that boy?”. So one of the angels replied: “This is a member of the house of the nobles for whom a role of tremendous importance lies in store. This is someone who will give and not withhold, who will enable and not raise obstacles, who will be close (to the truth) and not prone to being cheated or deceived”. Forty years later, Hadhrat Shaikh Abd al-Qadir Al-jilani (ra) realised that the man on the road was one of the spiritual deputies (abdal) of that historical time.

Whenever Hadhrat Shaikh Abd al-Qadir Al-jilani (ra) went outside, as a child, intending to play with other children, he heard a voice telling him: “(come) towards me, o blessed one (ilayya ya mubarak)”. Hadhrat Shaikh Abd al-Qadir Al-jilani (ra) would run away in a panic and hurl into his mother’s lap.

As a youngster Hadhrat Shaikh Abd al-Qadir Al-jilani (ra) once went out to the rural area of Jilan on the day of Arafat (climax of Hajj – pilgrimage). He followed a cow which was plowing the fields. Another cow turned to Hadhrat Shaikh Abd al-Qadir Al-jilani (ra) and said: “O Abd al-Qadir, it is not for this that you have been created”. Hadhrat Shaikh Abd al-Qadir Al-jilani (ra) ran back to the house, feeling utterly terrified, and climbed onto the roof of the house. Once on the roof, Hadhrat Shaikh Abd al-Qadir Al-jilani (ra) could actually see the people performing the pilgrim rite of standing at Arafat (thousands of miles away, in the neighbourhood of Mecca). Hadhrat Shaikh Abd al-Qadir Al-jilani (ra) then went to see his mother and said to her: “Give me as a present to Allah (almighty and glorious is he), and grant me your permission to make the journey to Baghdad, where I shall strive to acquire knowledge, and where I shall visit with the righteous”.

His mother enquired the reason for this request, and when Hadhrat Shaikh Abd al-Qadir Al-jilani (ra) told of what had occurred on that day, she burst into tears. She fetched eighty dinars (gold coins), which Abu Salih (ra) had left her as an inheritance. She placed forty Dinars in the lining of Hadhrat Shaikh Abd al-Qadir Al-jilani’s (ra) coat, and gave permission for him to leave Jilan for Baghdad. Hadhrat Shaikh Abd al-Qadir Al-jilani’s (ra) mother asked him to promise to commit to truthfulness (sidq), in whatever circumstances and conditions. When she bid farewell to Hadhrat Shaikh Abd al-Qadir Al-jilani (ra) she said: “O my son, away you go, for I have detached myself from you for the sake of Allah (almighty and glorious is he), knowing that I shall not see this face of yours again, until the day of resurrection (yawm al-qiyaama).