Qazi Akhi Jamshed (I/10) He was from the village of Rahra Mau, about 6 km from Baragaon, where his great-grandfather, Qazi Abdul Latif, son of Qazi Jalal Uddin, had settled. Qazi Jamshed left his home at a very early age and went to attend on Makhdoom Jalal Uddin Jahania Jahangasht, one of the most revered sufis of his times. After spending about 12 years in this service, Qazi Jamshed became his Murid. His association with his Pir was so close that Makhdoom Jahania Jahangasht called him Akhi, or friend, which became a permanent prefix to Qazi Jamshed’s name. One Makhdoom Sahib was so impressed with Qazi Akhi’s knowledge and perfection that he gave him a Khirqa and advised him to go and settle at Kannauj. Qazi Jamshed left Uchch and stayed at Kannauj for sometime. But due to congestion and unhealthy surroundings of the area, he shifted to a suburb of the town known as Rajgir, which is at the banks of the river Ganga.

Qazi Akhi Jamshed was of very pure habits and did not have any superficiality or worldly feelings. His virtues were his exhaustive devotion to the Almighty, his high ideals, complete contentment with the surroundings and extensive powers of enacting miraculous deeds. Due to his extreme holiness and piety, Kings, Nawabs and other elites used to visit him for fulfillment of their desires. A few of them became his murids as well. Khwaja-i-Jahan, who established an independent Kingdom of Jaunpur, visited Qazi Jamshed frequently, and it is said that due to blessings of Qazi Jamshed, he was able to carve out an empire for himself. The story goes that Khwaja Jehan, when he was at Delhi, visited Makhdoom Jahania Jahangasht and asked for his blessings. Makhdoom Sahib, in turn, told his disciple Qazi Jamshed to request these blessings. Qazi Sahib asked Khwaja Jehan to raise his hands for prayers and asked him to say what he wanted. While listening to his desires, Qazi Jamshed blessed him to become an independent King.

Qazi Akhi Jamshed was very popular in the masses. People living around Rajgir loved him. It is mentioned in Mirat-ul-Israr that once during Holi, a festival observed with vigor and enthusiasm in the whole of northern India, a crowd of village folk came to Qazi Akhi and started dancing and singing in front of him. Qazi Sahib also got into the mood of ‘Jazb’, (trance) and joined in dancing. He kept on dancing for about three days without any break and without taking food or water. This activity was not appreciated by his disciples, who considered dancing and singing with infidels to be against the tenets of their religion. They reported this matter to the King of Jaunpur, who did not pay any heed to it and took it lightly, saying that possibly it was a way of expressing one’s gratitude to God at the time of Holi. His stature could also be judged by the fact that Sheikh Kamal Uddin Laharpuri, himself a very renowned Auliya, used to receive instructions in his dreams from Qazi Akhi Jamshed. Once he was told to build an apartment for his wife, and he complied. This place became Sheikh Kamal’s resting place when he died.

Sheikh Noor Uddin, a nephew (son of his sister, Sakina) of Qazi Akhi became his Khalifa. The exact date of Qazi Sahib’s demise is not known. Sheikh Abdur Rehman Chishti says that he could not find out the date of his death, but it is definite that Akhi Jamshed was alive through the reign of Sultan Ibrahim Sharqi, who died in 844 H. Therefore, the date of Qazi Sahib’s death could be somewhere around 860 H. Other sources mention the date as 11 Shawwal 801 H, which seems incorrect. There is an interesting story mentioned in Mirat-ul-Kaunain about the day of his death. It says that Akhi Jamshed died on Monday, the 10 Shawwal, and when the body was being taken for burial, an old woman who lived nearby stated wailing “how Akhi Jamshed, being such a perfect saint, could die on Monday, which was supposed to be inauspicious day”. Hearing this, Akhi Jamshed peeked through the ‘Kafan’ and said “Alright if this day is inauspicious for you, then I will live for one more day”. Akhi Jamshed remained alive that day and died the next day. How far it is true is left to the readers to ponder. He is buried at Rajgir, in the district of district Kannauj.

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

TurbanTip to Sister Aaminah

Father of modern calculators and computing, Blaise Pascal, said:

We know the truth; not only by reason, but also by the heart.

MashAllah, coming from a mathematics-loving fellow such as him, this carries a lot of weight.

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

–

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

–

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]

Isn’t it odd when you actually speak to scholars of great import, who have contributed so much to the world, how nervous and inadequate you feel?

I plan to visit Shaykh Muhtar Holland within the next few weeks. If anyone has any questions for him IM me or comment here. I call him Shaykh not only because he has translated some of the most in-depth spiritual books the Muslim ummah has known, but also because he is very old. Please make dua for him and Shaykh Ruslan they contribute and have contributed much to this ummah.

If you don’t know he is the translator of all the books of al-baz publishing (link)

I will be taking my books to be signed inshahallah.

Muslims need to return to Islamic principles to destroy the racism/nationalism which the European colonization and conquest has introduced in our communities.

Letter from Malcolm X to his people in America:

“Never have I witnessed such sincere hospitality and overwhelming spirit of true brotherhood as is practiced by people of all colors and races here in this ancient Holy Land, the home of Abraham, Muhammad and all the other Prophets of the Holy Scriptures. For the past week, I have been utterly speechless and spellbound by the graciousness I see displayed all around me by people of all colors.

“I have been blessed to visit the Holy City of Mecca, I have made my seven circuits around the Ka’ba, led by a young Mutawaf named Muhammad, I drank water from the well of the Zam Zam. I ran seven times back and forth between the hills of Mt. Al-Safa and Al Marwah. I have prayed in the ancient city of Mina, and I have prayed on Mt. Arafat.”

“There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blondes to black-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe never could exist between the white and non-white.”

“America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked to, and even eaten with people who in America would have been considered white - but the white attitude was removed from their minds by the religion of Islam. I have never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all colors together, irrespective of their color.”

“You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to rearrange much of my thought-patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions. This was not too difficult for me. Despite my firm convictions, I have always been a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth.”

“During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and slept on the same rug - while praying to the same God - with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the words and in the deeds of the white Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan and Ghana.”

“We were truly all the same (brothers) - because their belief in one God had removed the white from their minds, the white from their behavior, and the white from their attitude.”

“I could see from this, that perhaps if white Americans could accept the Oneness of God, then perhaps, too, they could accept in reality the Oneness of Man - and cease to measure, and hinder, and harm others in terms of their ‘differences’ in color.”

“With racism plaguing America like an incurable cancer, the so-called ‘Christian’ white American heart should be more receptive to a proven solution to such a destructive problem. Perhaps it could be in time to save America from imminent disaster - the same destruction brought upon Germany by racism that eventually destroyed the Germans themselves.”

“Each hour here in the Holy Land enables me to have greater spiritual insights into what is happening in America between black and white. The American Negro never can be blamed for his racial animosities - he is only reacting to four hundred years of the conscious racism of the American whites. But as racism leads America up the suicide path, I do believe, from the experiences that I have had with them, that the whites of the younger generation, in the colleges and universities, will see the handwriting on the walls and many of them will turn to the spiritual path of truth - the only way left to America to ward off the disaster that racism inevitably must lead to.”

“Never have I been so highly honored. Never have I been made to feel more humble and unworthy. Who would believe the blessings that have been heaped upon an American Negro? A few nights ago, a man who would be called in America a white man, a United Nations diplomat, an ambassador, a companion of kings, gave me his hotel suite, his bed. Never would I have even thought of dreaming that I would ever be a recipient of such honors - honors that in America would be bestowed upon a King - not a Negro.”

“All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all the Worlds.

Sincerely,

Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X)