hadith
as well as mysticism in a
madrasa
and for a while lectured also at the
Nizamiya. He wrote a work in Arabic,
Adab al Muridin
(‘The Etiquette of the
Disciple’), which a number of Indian Sufis subsequently translated into
Persian. He had numerous disciples, one of whom, Shihabuddin Suhrawardi,
his nephew, went on to give an organizational form to his teachings and
doctrines.
Shaykh Shihabuddin Suhrawardi
ShihabuddinAbu Hafs al Suhrawardi (1145-1235) was born in Suhraward
and came to Baghdad as a youth. He studied theology under Shaykh Abdul
Qadir Jilani, but also attended the lectures of other prominent scholars,
including those given by his uncle, Abu Najib, both at the Nizamiyya and at
the latter’s
ribat
(hospice) on the bank of the Tigris . It was his uncle who
initiated him into Sufism.After his uncle’s death in 1168, he withdrew from
the world and began to teach in the
ribat
. His teachings generated great
interest and he started to give lectures at other places in the city as well. He
was a great orator and could hold the attention of the audience for hours,
bringing many to the state of spiritual awakening. He maintained friendly
relations with many known Sufis of the day and knew, among others,
Muinuddin Chishti, the founder of the Chishti centre inAjmer and Najmuddin
Kubra, the great Sufi of the Kubrawiya order. Legendary accounts speak of
his meeting in Baghdad with Ibn ‘Arabi and Ruzbihan al Baqli.
Shihabuddin Suhrawardi became very close to the Abbasid caliph, al
Nasir, who founded a beautiful
khanqah
for him. He acted as the court
theologian and was elevated to the position of
Shaykh al Shuyukh
within the
Sufi circles of Baghdad . On a number of occasions he acted as the caliph’s
envoy to the courts of contemporary rulers. This association gave rise to
The Suh r awa r d i Or d e r 134
