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The Great and Splendid Gnostic: Shaykh Imdad
Allah al-Faruqi al-ThanawiMarch 8, 2009An original Deoband.org
articleBy 'Allama Sayyid 'Abd al-Hay ibn Fakhr al-Din
al-HasaniTranslated by Ismaeel Nakhuda[Also known as Haji
Imdadullah Muhajir Makki]
The Shaykh, the Great and Splendid Gnostic (Arif), the Migrant
to the blessed city of Makkah Imdad
Allah ibn Muhammad Amin al- Umari al-Thanawi was from amongst
the saints, spiritual travellers (saliks)
and gnostics. Tongues are united in praising and exalting
him.
He was born on Monday when there were eight days left till the
end of Safar in the year 1233AH in the
village of Nanautah in the district of Saharanpur. He studied
the books of Persian, as was the norm. He
studied Al-Hisn al-Hasinand Al-Mathnawi al-Manawiunder Mawlana
Qalandar Baksh al-Jalalabadi, who
had studied Al-Mathnawiunder Mufti Ilahi Baksh al-Kandehlawi. He
then travelled to Delhi and remainedin the company of Shaykh Nasir
al-Din al-Shafii, the mujahid,and studied tasawwufunder him. After
his
martyrdom, he returned to Thana Bhawan and remained there for
some time. He then went to Lohari and
stayed in the company of Shaykh Nur Muhammad al-Janjhanawi and
studied tasawwufunder him.Allah
Most High opened for him the doors ofmarifa (gnosis) and made
him from amongst the ulama who are
grounded in knowledge. At the orders of his shaykhhe proceeded
to spiritually guide and instruct people.
[The Muslims and the people of the country revolted against the
English in the year 1274AH. A group
of'ulama, the pious and the people of zeal from amongst the
Muslims arose in the districts of Saharanpur
and Muzaffarnagar, and announced war against the English. They
selected Shaykh Imdad Allah as
theiramir(leader). The two sides came to war on the plain of
Shamli, a village in the district of
Muzaffarnagar, where Hafiz Muhammad Damin was martyred. The
wheel turned against the Muslims and
the feet of the English became firm. They were ruthless with
anyone accused of participating in the revolt,
the earth became narrow for the passionate and practicing
'ulama, and the field of activity in India
became restricted. Some of them spent time hiding and in
secrecy; others were forced to migrate (hijra)
and abandon the land. Shaykh Imdad Allah chose to migrate to
Makka al-Mukarrama. He entered the
blessed city in the year 1276AH and settled down there. His
first place of residence was the Al-Safa area
of Makkah, after which he moved to the Harat al-Bab area where
he remained for the rest of his life and
met his Lord.
For a long time he lived in great hardship, poverty and
destitution, as was the condition of the saints of
the earlier times; he bore patience in search of reward and was
content with the condition that Allah had
decided for him until He brought him relief and replaced
hardship with ease, and the Earth came to him in
spite of its submissively. He remained preoccupied with
spiritual struggle (mujahadat) and worship, and
with heart and soul he would be attentive towards Allah. He
would constantly remain in dhikrand
meditation, and his heart and interior overflowed with knowledge
and light. He himself remained patientand on the threshold of
worship. He would always humble himself in front of people, and was
high-
aspiring and noble. He would honour knowledge and the 'ulama,
and revere the Shari'atand the Sunna,
until Allah embedded his love in the hearts of His slaves, and,
so, the hearts of the great 'ulamaand the
revered shaykhsbecame attached to him and benefited from him,
and seekers ofma'rifaand
yaqinheaded towards him from distant lands. Allah blessed his
method oftarbiyya(spiritual training) and
histariqawhose light spread to faraway countries. He renewed the
Chishti-Sabri tariqa, and great
'ulamaand learned individuals became affiliated to it and
entered it.] Through him, Allah benefited many
people whose numbers cannot be enumerated. The greatest of them
is Shaykh Qasim (al-Nanotwi),
