Who is Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gillani and What is 11 Shareef?

المدد یا غوثِ اعظم

Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jillani, King of Jinns and leader of the Saints, was a prominent saint in Baghdad Iraq. He was born on 1st Ramadan in a city called Jilan; hence his last name Jillani. He is a descendant of the family of Prophet Muhammed (Peace Be Upon Him). He is from the family of Imam Hussain and Imam Hassan; thus linking to the family tree of the noble Prophet. Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jillani passed away on 11 Rabi Ul Akhir, also known as Rabi Ul Ghouse to signify the importance of the month.

Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gillani’s parents were really old when he was born, and his father died when he was young. He was brought up by his grandfather, who taught him the Quran and about Islam. From his childhood, Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jillani wanted to learn about Islam. At a young age, he asked his mum permission to go to Iraq and learn about Islam. His mum allowed him to go with the promise that he will always tell the truth and she gave him some money for his expenses. In the caravan Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jillani was travelling in, it was stopped on its way by bandits. The bandits looted the whole caravan, and when they came to this young boy they asked him if he had anything Having promised his mum to always tell the truth, Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jillani gave everything to the bandits. The bandits were surprised and said everyone else hid their valuable items from us, why did you not hide the money like the rest of the people? When Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jillani revealed that he has promised his mum to always tell the truth, the bandits felt ashamed of themselves. They claimed that they are Muslims and they can’t even keep their promise to Allah to be good humans, but this young boy will give all his valuables to us as not to break the promise he made to his mum. The bandits fell in prostrate and asked for forgiveness from Allah. They returned all the looted items and promised Allah to be good Muslims. This incident was the first of many in which Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jillani tuned bad Muslims into good Muslims.

Many years ago, when I was a Wahabi, I was against Milad, Rabi Ul Awwal, and all these Mazars. One day a jinn entered my body and my life became hell. Evil spirits used to haunt me daily. I felt helpless and went everywhere for solution. I went to Golra Sharif in Islamabad, and the peers over there were helpless; justifying my belief against peers. I was referred to a Molvi near Peer Wadhai, close to Khaiban Sir Syed. He did dum on me which brought some relief. He recited Quranic Ayats which forced the Jinn to leave my body. However, the evil spirits continued to haunt me. I was then referred to Faizan E Madina in Adyala Road Rawalpindi where they gave me water to drink in which Holy Quran Ayats had been recited. After drinking the water I felt relief and they told me that whenever evil spirits haunt you just say Ya Ghouse Azam Dastaghir and I’m a Mureed of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gillani. After that day till today, no evil spirits haunted me again. It did lead me to explore who is Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gillani and why should I ask him for help and not Allah when Allah is the sole provider and the One to ask from.

Upon reading books on Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gillani, I came upon an incident where jinns had kidnapped a young girl in Iraq. The girl had gone to the market to buy items and never returned. Her father got worried and went looking for her. When he couldn’t find her in the market, he went to the Masjid and asked Molvi for help. He told the man to go to a particular location outside the city where a jinn will meet him and tell him the details about his daughter. Worried about his daughter, the father followed the advice of the Molvi and went to that particular place. He was received by a jinn, and he told everything to the jinn. The jinn told him to stay here while he goes and inquires about it from fellow jinns. When the leader of the jinns was told about the situation, he became angry and asked his fellow jinns how can they kidnap a girl from the city of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gillani? He told them to immediately return the girl to her father. This was the respect of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gillani the jinns had, and even bad jinns respected him and never harmed his followers. Jinns also attended Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jillani’s sermons and became Muslims and his Mureed by listening to the sermons.

Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gillani was well respected in the Arabian region. Whenever anyone had an issue or question about Islam, they would come to Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jillani for an answer. He always spoke the truth and helped others. He used to visit the shrines of Saints just to receive their blessings. Whenever he met a Saint he would ask for blessings and religious knowledge. It was this humbleness that made Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gillani the leader of all the saints in the world. If you visit any peer today, the first thing they ask is how much money you have brought. The fatter the wallet, the greater the service peers provide; which is quite unfortunate.

Ghiyarwein sharif or 11 sharif is observed to mark the Urs of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gillani since he passed away on 11 Rabi Ul Akhir. Muslims worldwide observe this day by reciting Fatiha and feeding the poor. Feeding the poor is always a good deed and distributing food that has Fatiha recited over it is beneficial for both the giver and the eater. Even today, people worldwide celebrate the birth of prophets and remember the Pious people. No one celebrates the birthday or hold memorials of dead presidents, celebrities, or rich people. If only the blind can open their eyes. May Allah bless us all and enable us to love the Prophet and his Companions and all the Pious Muslims and the Saints.