Ghausul Azam, some hundred thousand people would assemble near his
Shergarh
khanqah
to share in these gifts.
17
He was succeeded by his nephew
and son-in-law, Shaykh Abul Ma’ali (d.1554), who was an accomplished
poet, writing under the pen name of Ghurbati. Among his admirers was
Shaykh Abdul Haqq Muhaddis Dihlawi. It was during a short stay in the
khanqah
of Shaykh Abul Ma’ali in Lahore that he completed the Persian
translation of Abdul Qadir Jilani’s,
Futuh al Ghayb
, and furnished it with a
commentary,
Miftah-i Futuh
(‘Key to
Futuh
’).
Shaykh Abdul Haqq (1551-1642) was initiated into the Qadri order by
his
pir
, Shaykh Musa, who was close to Akbar as well as his courtiers, Abul
Fazl and Faizi, but he did not share his
pir’s
liking for life at the imperial
court. He soon left Agra and returned to Delhi. He stayed there for a
while and then travelled to Makkah where he studied under Shaykh Abdul
Wahhab Muttaqi al Qadri al Shazili, who taught him the importance of
strengthening one’s beliefs within the framework of the
shariah
, following
this with an analysis of Sufi works dealing with the concept of
wahdat al
wujud
.This advice seems to have been taken to heart, for all the writings of
Abdul Haqq balance the requirements of the law with the practice of
mysticism. The list of his spiritual friends and mentors include, amongst
others, Shah Abul Ma’ali Qadri and Khwaja Baqi Billah, the Naqshbandi.
He is also credited with writing a letter to his contemporaryAhmad Sirhindi
the Mujaddid, his main opponent on the issue of
wahdat al wujud
.
His devotion toAbdul Qadir al Jilani was proverbial. His work,
Akhbarul
Akhyar
(‘Notes about the Pious’), relating to Indian Sufis, is prefaced by a
long biography of the Shaykh.As already mentioned, he translated his work,
Futuh al
Ghayb
, into Persian. He shared, to a large extent, the world view
17
Abu’l Fazl, Akbarnama, III, Calcutta, 1886, p. 802
Th e Qa d r i Or d e r 126
