Eid Mubarak to all visitors!

We celebrated our Eid upstate with our teacher and guide Shaykh Abdul Kerim. Shaykh Abdul Kerim showed us today (as always) what it means to be a real guide, more than just academic, philosophical and spiritual, but maintaining in true fashion the traditions of Eid ul Adha in each and every detail.

It was busy day as after praying Fajr together, we got changed for Eid namaz, then afterwards we changed again to work clothes (so many layers to keep out the cold) for the tough job during the day. The mureeds had spent a good amount of time in preparation and it was with Shaykhs guidance and support we managed to sacrifice, clean, and cut four sheep and one bull in only a few hours!

The Eid Khutba was a very important and powerful one

http://www.naksibendi.org/Audio_Files/20061230_1427-DhulHijja-10_
SeyhAbdulKerim_Bayram_Hutbe.wma

Some Pictures below:

BAKHTI

(Sultan Ahmed I)

1026 Hijra [1617 AD]

Buy ersa jan meshammina fasl-i baharden

O THAT a fragant breath might reach the soul from early spring !
O that with warbling sweet of birds the groves once more might ring !
O that in melody the songs anew might rose-like swell !
That fresh in grace and voice the nightingale be heard to sing !
O that the New Year’s Day were come, when minding times gone by, *
Should each and all from Time and Fate demand their reckoning !
In short, O BAKHTI, would the early vernal days were here,
Then, ‘midst the mead, ne’er should we part from brink of limpid spring.

[ Source: Ottoman Poems ]
[ Published: 1882 ]
[ Translated by: E J W Gibb ]

* Nev-Rus, “The New Day”, the first day of the new year with the ancient Persians, is the “New Year’s Day” of the Muslim poets. It is the day when the Sun enters Aries.

Continuing the description of my ancestor, I have provided this excerpt:

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At least twenty to twenty-five Qidwais have been Sufi Saints of very high status; their biographies have appeared in some of the original works on Sufis and Ulemas of Hindustan. The books were written in Persian as far back as the days of Emperor Shahjehan (Mirat-ul-Israr). These Auliyas were descendants ofQazi Qidwa and had settled from one corner of India, i.e., Sind (now in Pakistan) to the other corner, around Bengal. These saints left their marks on the people in the areas they visited, and Urs ceremonies are regularly held at their tombs even today with great reverence and devotion. These sufis could not be distinguished earlier as Qidwais because writing “Qidwai” as a suffix to their names was not the regular practice in the past, even though the first mention of surname of Qidwai appears in Mirat-ul-Israr. Efforts have therefore been made to isolate these saints from other Sufis and bring descriptions of their lives together in one place so that readers may learn some details about their ancestors. This chapter will therefore give biographical sketches of the renowned Qidwai saints.

Qazi Moiz Uddin, also known as Qazi Qidwatud-Din or Qazi Qidwa. Qazi Qidwa’s exploits as a crusader have already been described in Chapter III. The intention here is to bring out his spiritual standing among the sufis of Hindustan. As mentioned earlier, Qazi Qidwa came to India at the behest of Pir Khwaja Usman Harooni. He came with a mission, to spend the rest of his life in the service of Islam and to help the downtrodden in India by preaching the tenets of the dynamic new faith. This is not an easy task to achieve in a single lifetime, unless an individual has a firm conviction of his own faith and the capacity to bear the negative forces that act against people with such convictions. He must have had some supernatural powers, and his contacts with the needy brought certain worthwhile results. This was necessary in those days, when ordinary human beings were ignorant and isolated from the main stream of the society. The average individual did not have any aptitude to grasp things that were told to him but was receptive to occurrences he observe himself and happenings he could register with his own perception. Sufis therefore had to have some powers to perform extraordinary acts, known as Kashf. These powers were mostly exhibited in the form of healing touches and the warding-off of bad influences.

Therefore, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Qazi Qidwa did posses some extraordinary powers. His adventures in subjugating the local Rajas of Avadh was of special significance because the victories in those battles of Jaggaur and Baragaon are attributed to his spiritualism; his army was always very weak compared to the combined enemy forces.

Hazrat Abdul Nabi has said that Qazi Qidwa, being from Sa’dat, had vast influence on the masses around Ayodhya. The people there were Orthodox Hindus, and even then, they used to flock in hundreds to obtain Qazi Sahib’s blessing. No one will ever know the exact number of people who were converted to Islam by his teaching, but the clan became so large that all neo-converts and Qazi Sahib’s descendants settled themselves in a separate locality known as Qidwai Mohalla. This locality was subsequently eroded by the river, and the inhabitants were forced to move to other parts of the town, which later came to be known as Faizabad.

Tariq Sheikh Abul Fazal Arabi (as quoted in Tariq Abu Said) elaborates on the qualities of Hazrat Qazi Qidwa by attributing to him the titles of Maghzan-i-Haqiqt, Anwar ul Hai, Namantaha-ud Dahar and Sultan-ul-Arifin, etc. Maulana Wajih Uddin Ashraf remembers Qazi Qidwa as Umadat-ul-Abrar, Sargarda-i-Akhbar, Sahib-e-Takhat and Makhzan-ul-Auliya. These titles are not merely decorative; they had real meaning–Qazi Sahib was a renowned sufi saint. These titles seem appropriate when we learn that Qazi Qidwa’s saintly disposition has filtered through the next 600 years and produced more eminent sufis throughout the generations. Unfortunately, Qazi Qidwa died within three years of his stay at Ayodhya and did not have time to establish himself with authority. If he would have lived twenty to thirty years preaching Islam, his name would have be listed along with those of famous sufis like Khwaja Moin Uddin Chishti, Baba Farid Shakarganj, Nizam Uddin Auliya and others.

[Biographical sketch of Kidwais of Avadh : with special reference to Barabanki families pub. 1989
by Riaz-ur-Rehman Kidwai, out of print]

Kidwai has an alternative spelling of Qidwai, you will see the two interchanged

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GENEALOGY OF QAZI MOIZ UDDIN :

Available chronicles show that Qazi Qidwa’s lineage (henceforth, this short name, which is more popular, will be used) connects him to Hazrat Adam, and rightly so, since Muslims believe that mankind started its existence on this earth when Adam and his wife were deported from heaven. Thus the available chronicles show the lineage connecting Qazi Qidwa to Hazrat Adam. The accuracy of these Shijras is very difficult to establish. Some of them put Qazi Qidwa in the 54th generation from Hazrat Adam, some at the 57th generation. These Shijras agree with one another until the appearance of Hazrat Yaqub aleh es Salaam, grandson of Hazrat Ibrahim, whose laqab was Israel. Israel is an Arabic word made up of two syllables–’Isra’ and ‘el’. The first syllable refers to the person who travels during the night, and ‘el’ is only a consonant. How this word was coined for Hazrat Yaqub is described in the Bible in Chapter 27 of Genesis and Qasas-ul-Ambia. It has been said that one day Hazrat Ishaq, the father, asked for some food, which was served by one of his sons. Ishaq, being blind in old age, thought that Aes, his elder son, had served the food, and he therefore blessed him by saying, “You will become the next Prophet”. In reality, it was Hazrat Yaqub, the younger son, who served the food and thus received the blessing. Hazrat Aes was distrurbed when he learned of the blessing, since he, being the elder brother, should rightfully have received his father’s blessing. To diffuse the situation, Hazrat Yaqub andhis family left his father’s house and traveled through the night. This act on the part of Hazrat Yaqub gave him the laqab of Israel. Thus, Bani Israel means “a progeny of Hazrat Yaqub” and nothing more, and the notion that all Bani Israelites are Jews is not correct.

The first deviation in the available Shijras takes place when some of them show the lineage of Qazi Qidwa through Hazrat Yaqub’s elder son Yahuda and others through the younger son, Lava. Again, there are two deviations through the two sons of Yahuda, Oman and Farsam. Thus we have three Shijras: one from Lava, one from Farsam and a third from Omar. The two from Lava and Farsam show Alexander the Great at the sixth generation from Hazrat Moosa and carry on through Salim, shown as a son of Alexander. This seems to be incorrect; it is known that Alexander did not have any progeny, and consequently, his empire was distributed between his generals after his death. There is only one Shijra that is from Hazrat Ibrahim through Hazrat Yaqub, Yahuda and Omar, which probably shows Qazi Qidwa’s lineage correctly. However, w e are still not sure about this because the gap between Prophet Muhammad and Qazi Qidwa is only of six generations, while time period elapsed between the two individuals’ lives is about 6000 years. Therefore, the dynastic lineage through Malik Danishmend Ghazi, who was connected to Saiyed Battal, may be taken as the most likely true genealogy of Qazi Qidwa (See Annexure 11).

[Biographical sketch of Kidwais of Avadh : with special reference to Barabanki families pub. 1989
by Riaz-ur-Rehman Kidwai, out of print]

FROM PLURALISM TO SEPARATISM: Qasbas in Colonial Awadh by Mushirul Hasan. Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2004.

“By focusing on individual families of the likes of Wilayat Ali Kidwai (in Arabic Kidwai stands for �elevate�) whose forefathers with Turkish origins came to India in the 13th century, Hasan traces the socio-cultural milieu of one of the oldest Muslim families in North India. Qazi Kidwai reached India in 1205 and was responsible for the conversion of many Hindus to Islam. The Kidwais of Juggaur moved to Barabanki and became well-known as Masauli Kidwais. 1856, a turning point in the history of Awadh, witnessed a series of significant changes when Barabanki and Awadh come under British rule. Hasan argues that �qasbas of Awadh were the sites where religious loyalties were more often than not fused with an emerging pan-Indian identity in a seamless web of symbols and sentiments.� He brings out the role of Maulvi Muhammad Zahiruddin whose productive contribution to society led to the opening of schools for women and children.”

I just ordered the above book to give additional insight to my family history. The note of Turkish background is very interesting, I am often confused for being Turkish. Fate would have also connected me to my Shaykh, who is a Turkish Cypriot.

The next few posts will take us on the adventure of my main ancestor, the great Saint of Islam, Qazi Kidwai (Radiallahtallahanhu).

Found via Acoustics, Health, and Sufism which has Kevin putting some awesome material up lately by the way. I thought this was interesting (don’t see this now a days):

Here is what a master like Kevin can do with the Oud:

Bismimg2

Treat your eyes with kohl, for it nourishes eyes and eyelashes. (Abu Dawud, Tib, 14; Tirmidhi, Tib, 9.)

Sunan Abi Dawood (3837)  Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) related the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The best of your kohl is ithmid (antimony), for it makes the vision clear and makes the hair  grow.”

As is related by Yazeed al-Farsee in Shamaa‘ilut-Tirmidhee, “Chapter of Seeing the Prophet (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) in a Dream,’ who said, ‘Indeed, I saw the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) in a dream.’ So he said, ‘Verily, the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) used to say, “Indeed, the Shaytaan cannot imitate me, so whoever has seen me in a dream has indeed seen me.” Can you describe the person you have seen in the dream?’ I said. ‘Yes. I will describe him between the spectrum of two men. His body and flesh were moderate, complexion was brown-skinned, inclining towards whiteness, eyes were kohl-smeared, smile was pleasant, figure was beautiful and round-like…..