This article originally appeared in Journal of Sufi Studies, Vol. 11 (2022).
Introduction
With an increase in scholarly attention to the history of Islam in Australia, it is becoming evident that Muslims have had a greater involvement in this country than is often recognised. Studies have been published on the various waves of Muslim migration to Australia, the impact of language transmission between Indigenous Australians and Muslims, the contributions that these Muslim migrants made to the development of Australia, and the architecture they left behind. However, little has been written on the practice of the Islamic soteriological discipline known as Sufism within Australia. This is, in part, a result of the private nature of this Islamic discipline and the scarcity of materials to furnish an in-depth study. This article will attempt to rectify the dearth of available materials by providing an analysis and translation of a manuscript from the Broken Hill mosque, and a case will be made for it showing evidence of Sufic influence.
Broken Hill Mosque
The cameleer heritage of Broken Hill is significant. These cameleers “came to Australia on temporary work contacts” and their camels were used “as a major form of transport across much of mainland Australia,”[1] transporting supplies and mail across the country. So numerous were the cameleers and their camels in Broken Hill that there were two camel camps, with “the west camp being at Picton, three miles out; while the north camp, which has no particular name, is in the northern corner, and distant from the municipality some two miles.”[2] The township has since expanded to encompass the sites of both camps such that “traces of the cameleer settlements have been all but lost under modern suburban development” with “only the mosque site at the northern cameleer settlement now marks the location of what was once a fairly substantial camp.”[3] “Between 1870 and 1920, approximately 20,000 camels and 2,000-4,000 cameleers landed at [Australian] ports”[4] and, at its peak, “at the turn of the twentieth century an estimated 400 South Asians were living in Broken Hill.”[5] Australia’s cameleers “mostly arrived from the arid hills and plains of Baluchistan, Afghanistan, and the north-west of what was then British India, today’s Pakistan” and “belonged to four main ethnic groups: Pashtun, Baluchi, Punjabi, and Sindhi.”[6] Thus, a significant number of cameleers came to Australia from diverse areas.
Both camps had dedicated mosques, the larger of the two being in the North camp. The mosque in the West camp was later relocated and is now located directly behind the North camel camp mosque. The North camel camp mosque was built by the cameleers between 1887[7] and 1891.[8] The Northern mosque is a simple building. The mosque itself has two rooms, an entrance area and a larger prayer area. The prayer area has an alcove (miḥrāb) in the middle of the north-western wall that protrudes beyond the main wall, sectioned out for the Imam and indicating the direction of prayer (qibla). Outside the mosque, near the entrance, is an area with water access for ablutions (wuḍūʾ). The building, like most purpose-built mosques around the world, was built so that it faces the direction of prayer.
As reliance on camels lessened, so too did the use of the Broken Hill mosque. A newspaper article notes that the camels, in time, were left untended, commenting “motor lorries are rapidly taking the place of camels at Broken Hill, so they are roaming about the desert ownerless and unwanted now.”[9] It is suggested that the Broken Hill mosque “was deserted in the 1920s,” though local history mentions that there were some who continued to frequent the mosque, until it was recognised as a building of national significance and “was restored in 1968.”[10] For this restoration “the Broken Hill Historical Society, founded in 1965, set up an exhibition in a small room adjacent to the mosque” in which were “gathered small collections of items recalling the camel-driver era.”[11] The manuscript examined and translated within this article is not the first document from amongst those found within the Broken Hill mosque exhibition room to have received renewed academic interest. Samia Khatun identified a book within the exhibition room, previously mislabelled a Qur’an, as “a 500-page volume of Bengali Sufi poetry” titled Kasasol Ambia, corresponding to Stories of the prophets (Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ).[12] While it is difficult to determine how either of these documents arrived at their current location, it is interesting to note that both were found amongst the artefacts of Broken Hill’s cameleers and both show evidence of a connection with Sufism.
There is little available material that documents specific ethnic groups within the camel camps at Broken Hill. This may be a result of the nomadic lifestyle of a cameleer, carting goods throughout the outback, though this would only partly explain the dearth of material. Most frequently, news reports of the time refer to the cameleers of Broken Hill as simply “Afghans,” though there are reports that refer to the group as “coloured aliens,” mentioning that “the workers’ quarrel with the Afghans was not on account of their colour, but because the introduction of coloured aliens always proved fatal to the workers’ aspirations, destructive to their cherished ideals, and a degradation to the white people of the country.”[13] As has been observed, cameleers “maintained their identities through their languages, dialects and customs including the different ways they fashioned their beards and moustaches and tied their turbans” and “such nuances, however, went unnoticed by Caucasian Australians who naïvely added insult to injury by interspersing the usual ham-fisted descriptors.”[14] Newspaper reports from 1921 indicate that at the time there were both “Afghans and Indians”[15] residing at the north camel camp, conflating race and religion by using Indians and “Hindoos” interchangeably.[16] The use of generic terms, common amongst early reports of the cameleers, provide little insight into the diverse origins of the cameleers that lived at Broken Hill and greater attention is needed for understanding the specific ethnic diversity amongst Broken Hill’s cameleers.
The Manuscript
The translation presented here is of MSQ 0039, held at the Broken Hill mosque. It is a small work measuring 10.8 cm wide and 15.7cm tall. The manuscript has a faded yellow cloth cover that covers the card jacket which is loosely stitched with what looks to be hand-sewn binding. There is no indication of missing pages and it appears to be complete. It consists of 15 folios, the first 14 containing text and fol. 15r-v being blank. Each page contains seven lines of text, with the exception of fol. 1v, which has three lines and a faded stamp. The work is written in a clear and readable script and has vowels throughout the manuscript. There are some pencil markings on various pages circling sections of the text that appear to be a later addition. The text is encompassed by a thin red border around the outside. This red border also demarcates the headings on fol. 13r and fol. 13v. The provenance of MSQ 0039 is difficult to trace as there are no local records of it aside from it being from amongst cameleer artefacts.
The manuscript follows the general outline of Burton’s “Specimen of a Murshid’s Diploma, in the Kadiri Order of the Mystic Craft El Tasawwuf,”[17] with some variances. One of the substantial differences between the Broken Hill mosque manuscript and Burton’s Diploma is that the former is in the form of a booklet whereas the latter is described as a scroll that “fits into a cylinder of tin” to facilitate carrying. Within Burton’s Diploma, he notes, “the divisions are in red ink” which, like many Islamic manuscripts, is the case with the Broken Hill mosque manuscript. After the preface Burton notes that as the place of “the living Shaykh’s seal, and is the only one applied to the apprentice’s diploma.”[18] This would make it likely that the faded stamp on fol. 1v is the stamp of Aḥmad al-Qādirī, the manuscript’s author.
The author is identified as Aḥmad al-Qādirī. This is established on fol. 1r where the scribe writes the title al-sayyid in the subjective form, with the author identifying himself as “the master Aḥmad al-Qādirī.” This is further reaffirmed with the genealogy in the manuscript tracing back from Aḥmad al-Qādirī. Little information can be found on the author of the manuscript, except for a few details. From the use of the title al-sayyid and from the genealogy it is evident that Aḥmad al-Qādirī is, allegedly, a direct descendent of the Prophet Muhammad. It is most likely that Aḥmad al-Qādirī was a Sunni. The author specifically refers to Imam Ḥusayn, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, as a “coolness of the eyes of the People of the Prophetic Path (ahl al-sunna)” (fol. 10v) giving strong evidence for Aḥmad al-Qādirī being Sunni. The manuscript was written in response to Aḥmad Akbar Khān al-Afghānī (fol. 6v), “based upon his request” (fol. 7r), in 1322/1901 (fol. 14v).
While far from exhaustive, there is no reference in the available lists of cameleers that lists either an Aḥmad al-Qādirī or an Aḥmad Akbar Khān al-Afghānī amongst them.[19] There is mention of several Akbar Khāns who spent time in Broken Hill. One “retired in Broken Hill where he had a fruit shop after the camels finished.”[20] Another “owned his packstring and lived in Broken Hill for a while, then moved to Maree.”[21] Also one who was born in Punjab, arrived in Australia in 1894, and was “carrier for the Wilcannia, N.S.W., company.”[22] The last of these Akbar Khāns, known popularly as Jack Akbar, fits the timeframe, location, and place of origin to potentially be the recipient of the manuscript. Furthermore, it is possible that the attribution (nisba) “al-Afghānī” is not a geographical reference and is rather occupational reference, as the cameleers were commonly collectively referred to as Afghans. Further research would be needed to determine which, if any, could have been the recipient of this manuscript.
The Contents of the Manuscript
The manuscript begins with the word al-istiqāma, “the steadfastness,” a definite verbal-noun (maṣdar), in the accusative (naṣb) form. An accusative word at the start of a sentence denotes two possibilities: 1) the presence of a preceding verb (fiʿl), rendering the word as the direct object (mafʿūl bihi), which would indicate the likelihood of a previous page(s) that may have been detached or 2) something hidden within the paragraph that is causing the word al-istiqāma to be accusative (manṣūb). The latter is an uncommon way of opening a sentence in Arabic as it begins the sentence with a predicate (khabar) rather than a subject (mubtadaʾ). However, it may demonstrate the author’s eloquence and command of the language.
The first half of the manuscript mostly consists of the author’s genealogy. While there are some sections of the genealogy that will be difficult to trace, there are several sections that can be analysed. This is useful for it can give some indication as to the authenticity of the unverifiable sections of the manuscript. Burton’s Diploma is of only limited use for determining the authenticity of the Broken Hill manuscript because he has deidentified the first two links in the chain, listing “Sayyid A the Kadiri, son of Sayyid B the Kadiri.”[23] While there are differences between the more recent figures, both texts find commonality in Muḥammad Darwīsh (fol. 3r) and are consistent through to Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir (fol. 4r), with the only variation being Muḥammad al-Hannāk (fol. 3r) listed by Burton as Muḥammad al-Hattak.[24] It is possible that these variations refer to the same person as the letter as the Arabic letters ن (n) and ت (t) differ by one dot when in the medial form.
The genealogical section listing those between Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (d. 561/1166) and Imam ʿAlī can be examined against other existing sources. Of those genealogies consulted, there is one primary variation, being the figure mentioned within the manuscript as ʿAbd Allāh al-Maḥḍ (fol. 4v).[25] Other available genealogies list this individual as Abdullah al-Mahaz,[26] Abd Allah al-Mahz al-Mujal,[27] or simply Abd Allah.[28] It is possible that these variations all refer to the same person as the letter ض (ḍ) in the name Maḥḍ is often pronounced with a ز (z) (Maḥz or Maḥaz) in Urdu and Persian. Aside from this variation, these genealogies are otherwise identical. There is one further slight variation in this section, with Ḥasan al-Muthannā (fol. 4v) listed by Burton as Hasan el Musanna.[29] The ث (th) has slight variances in pronunciation depending on locality, which may account for the variance in the transliteration. The manuscript genealogy traces the paternal lineage between Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir and Imam ʿAlī. Other sources that mention the maternal lineage trace from Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir to Imam ʿAlī, through Imam al-Ḥusayn.[30]
Another section of the genealogy that can be examined traces back from Imam ʿAlī. This can be achieved by comparing the manuscript against genealogies of the Prophet Muhammad, as their mutual grandfather was ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib. The genealogical section from ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib to ʿAdnān is consistent with available genealogies of the Prophet Muhammad.[31] The genealogy from ʿAdnān to Adam presents some challenges as “scholars do differ as the names of those who came between ʿAdnān and Ibrāhīm, and those who came between Ibrāhīm and Adam.”[32] “The scholars agreed that ʿAdnān was a descendent of Ismāʿīl”[33] and this is reflected in the manuscript. From the sections of the genealogy that have been examined, the manuscript is, with minor variations, consistent with available lineages from Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī to ʿAdnān.
Another section of consistency between the manuscript and other materials is the section relating the licence (ijāza). While the more recent figures listed are difficult to verify, the lineage of licence from ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī back follows the Qādiriyya spiritual chain (silsila), with only very slight variations.[34] The manuscript mentions Abū al-Ḥasan al-Hakkārī (fol. 9v) who is elsewhere listed as Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī al-Hankārī.[35] Despite the slight variation in name, both figures occur in the same order in both lists. Burton’s Diploma and the Broken Hill manuscript are at slight variance at the beginning of the silsila, perhaps owing to Burton’s preference to deidentify his sources, though both chains are fairly consistent from ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Qādirī. There are a few additions in the Broken Hill manuscript not listed by Burton, with the most significant difference being Shaykh Shahdarwaysh the Kadiri listed by Burton[36] in the place of Muḥammad Darwīsh (fol. 8r). Burton’s silsila diverges from the Broken Hill manuscript at Maʿrūf al-Karkhī (d. 200/815), and instead follows the chain of transmission (sanad) within the Broken Hill manuscript. The importance of a silsila cannot be overlooked as it documents the “continuity in authority and legitimacy” within a Sufi order, tracing an order’s “spiritual pedigree back through a succession of major shaykhs as far back as the Prophet.”[37] In this sense, a silsila can be thought of as “the Sufi counterpart of the isnād (chain of transmitters) that assured the veracity of sayings of the Prophet”[38] for “completeness and authenticity of the initiatic chain is indispensable to the legitimacy of anyone claiming to be a Sufi Shaykh.”[39] While providing another point on which the contents of the manuscript coincide with other materials, the permission (ijāza) section evinces a great weight placed on the Qādirī silsila as a chain of authenticity.
The sections on the licence (ijāza) and the chain of transmission (sanad) comprise of four important aspects of the manuscript (fols. 6v-12v). Firstly, it relates a ḥadīth qudsī (fol. 11r-v), a Divine saying on the tongue of the Prophet Muhammad, emphasising “the word of Divine Oneness” (kalimat al-tawḥīd). It does so with the same wording of the ḥadīth qudsī and the same chain of transmission (sanad) as found elsewhere from Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq to Gabriel, though the manuscript adds a few titles to those within the chain.[40] Of note, Burton’s Diploma omits the ḥadīth qudsī. Secondly, the chain of transmission from Aḥmad al-Qādirī to Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, given the repetition in the manuscript that each subsequent individual was a teacher to the former, provides a sort of spiritual chain (silsila) identifying the author of the manuscript as having authority to transmit both the ḥadīth qudsī and the litany (wird) of “the statement of Divine Oneness” (kalimat al-tawḥīd) on fol. 12r-v. Thirdly, the author provides an alternative chain of transmission (sanad) to the ḥadīth qudsī. Fourthly, the author provides the litany (wird) of “the statement of Divine Oneness” (kalimat al-tawḥīd), being the repetition of this phrase 165 times “after every obligatory prayer” and “during all other times, considering what is easy” (fol. 12r-v). Amongst the Qādiriyya Sufi order as “it appears that there was some latitude in the assignment of forms of recollection and litanies to individual initiates,”[41] it is noted that “the wird of the Qādiriyya, the first to be recorded from the great Sufi orders, … always includes at least one hundred repetitions of the following formulas: (1) the plea for forgiveness (istighfar), (2) the prayer upon the Prophet (ṣalāt ʿala l-nabī), (3) the testimony of faith (shahāda or haylala),”[42] with “the statement of Divine Oneness” (kalimat al-tawḥīd) being contained within the testimony of faith (shahāda or haylala). Burton’s Diploma states “the Saying of Unity” is “ordered [for] its recital 165 times after each Farizah [obligatory prayer], and on all occasions according to his capability.”[43] This indicates the litany (wird) of “the statement of Divine Oneness” (kalimat al-tawḥīd) is found amongst other practitioners of the Qādiriyya Sufi order. The inclusion of the ḥadīth qudsī by Aḥmad al-Qādirī emphasises the significance of “the statement of Divine Oneness” and its salvific value, connecting it to the spiritual practice prescribed within the manuscript.
The list of “Children of our Master Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī” (fols. 13v-14v) is not comprehensive. It has been said that ʿAbd al-Qādir had 49 children, “of whom 27 were sons and 22 were daughters.”[44] It is interesting to note that of the children that are mentioned within the manuscript, and could be mentioned among ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī’s children, the first two listed within the manuscript, namely Shaykh ʿAbd al-Razzāq and Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (fols. 13v-14r), were “the only two of his children who did not pursue a secular career” and “set to work to propagate their father’s Way in all sincerity, temperance and modesty.”[45] The prominence given to these children may be a result of the roles they are seen to have played within the history of the Qādiriyya Sufi order.
It should be noted that throughout the manuscript, while it is predominantly written in Arabic, there are some non-Arabic words. The non-Arabic words within the manuscript are either Urdu or Persian. The most well-known non-Arabic words to occur within the manuscript are associated with ʿAbd al-Qādir’s father, Abū Ṣāliḥ Mūsā Jangī Dost. “Jangī Dost” (fol. 4r) is a Persian term and “it is very unlikely that this was actually the main name of any of Jīlānī’s ancestors but rather the title or a sort of nickname for Jīlānī’s father, meaning ‘somebody who likes fighting’.”[46] The phrase “Gatherer between the Lovers” (al-jāmiʿī bayn al-maʿshūqīn) (fol. 4r), which may also be rendered “one uniting those who love their Creator with their Creator,” is a title attributed to ʿAbd al-Qādir within the genealogy (nasab) section, though it does not reoccur within the honorific titles section toward the end of the manuscript. Although grammatically sound, it may stem from languages such as Urdu or Persian. The remainder of these terms occur within the honorific titles section of the manuscript (fol. 13r-v). Khwāja (fol. 13r), meaning spiritual master, is a Persian word used to name great spiritual masters and often used to refer to Muʿīn al-Dīn Chishtī (d. 633/1236), the great Sufi saint of the Subcontinent, after whom the Chishtiyya Sufi order is named. Firmān (fol. 13v), meaning order, is a Persian word that is equivalent to amr (command) in Arabic. Bādshāh (fol. 13v) is a term used in Persian and Urdu to refer to a great emperor or ruler.
Sufism within the Manuscript
Throughout the manuscript there are many elements of Sufism present. From the aforementioned connections to the Qādiriyya Sufi order to the recipient of the manuscript, Aḥmad Akbar Khān al-Afghānī, being referred to as a “dervish” (fol. 6v), a term that “has commonly been used to denote practitioners of religious poverty”[47] and “more loosely to the generality of Sufis.”[48] The inclusion in the manuscript of a litany (wird) of “the word of Divine Oneness” (kalimat al-tawḥīd) evinces Sufism as they are most often “bestowed on a seeker only on full initiation into an order.”[49] Regarding litanies, for example, Aḥmad Zarrūq (d. 899/1493) stated
they began to appear on the tongues of the Sufi Shaykhs and righteous folk of the Muslim community for the purpose of guiding them to focus in the right place and encourage the idle to work, help the disciples, strengthen the lovers, safeguard the initiates, raise the aspirations of the worshippers, ascetics and people of piety and steadfastness, and to open the door for the masses of believers to enter.[50]
While the material discussed within this section is not exhaustive, it aims to be sufficient to highlight the degree that Sufism permeates the manuscript. Some of the material relevant to this section has been discussed above and, to avoid repetition, will not be restated here.
Throughout the manuscript, great prominence is given to Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī. The author mentions himself as being a “servant of my grandfather, the master Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī” (fol. 1r-v). As is apparent from the genealogy section, “grandfather” is here used in the sense of forefather. The author of the manuscript also devotes an entire section to the honorific titles of ʿAbd al-Qādir (fol. 13r-v), many of which are indicative of the soteriological status of the individual they are attributed to within Sufism. ʿAbd al-Qādir was born in Nīf, the Persian area of Gīlān, in 470/1077.[51] His full name is Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Qādir ibn Abī Sālih al-Jīlānī. He was from “a pious and scholarly family,” with his maternal grandfather being a known scholar and ascetic and his brother being a scholar.[52] ʿAbd al-Qādir was raised by his mother and grandfather, after losing his father at an early age.[53] At the age of seventeen or eighteen, ʿAbd al-Qādir left his native Gīlān to further his education, journeying to Baghdad to achieve this. Many feats of asceticism are attributed to ʿAbd al-Qādir, most of them being prior to his teaching and preaching many of the Islamic sciences in Baghdad. He passed away in 561/1166 and was buried in Baghdad.[54] Much could be said about the life and teachings of ʿAbd al-Qādir, though to do so would take the discussion too far afield. Regarding his teaching, it has been stated that “while propounding his mystical ideas, he never lost sight of their juristic implications, and in explaining juristic principles he underlined their spiritual value,”[55] highlighting an emphasis on the mutual reciprocity of the law (sharīʿa) and gnosis (maʿrifa). Regarding his status, it has been stated that “he is one of the great saints of Islam,”[56] indicating the high status of ʿAbd al-Qādir amongst the Sufis. It would be odd that such focus on an individual known for their connection to Sufism and honorific titles should be included if there was no connection between the manuscript and Sufism.
ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī is seen as the founder of a Sufi order known as the Qādiriyya. The Qādiriyya Sufi order (ṭarīqa) “is commonly viewed as the first of the brotherhoods to emerge in the form of a structured organisation”[57] and is “one of the oldest of all mystical [Sufi] orders.”[58] With regard to the development of this Sufi order, “its organisational structure came into prominence several decades after the death of the saint”[59] and was initially “spread by his sons,”[60] perhaps motivating the mention of some of ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī’s children at the end of the manuscript. Regarding the geographical development of the Qādiriyya, “initially the Qādirī teachings spread in and around Baghdad, but later on Arabia, Morocco, Egypt, Turkestan, and India came under their influence.”[61] The Qādiriyya Sufi order has since spread across the globe, with ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī being mentioned amongst the spiritual chains (silsila) of other Sufi orders.
Tracing the expansion of the Qādiriyya into Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India is important for understanding the possibility of some of the cameleers having formal connections with this Sufi order. It is suggested that the Qādiriyya arrived in India “at the end of the fourteenth and during the fifteenth centuries”[62] though “the order did not make any significant impact before the tenth/sixteenth century.”[63] Over time, in India the Qādiriyya spread throughout Sindh, the Punjab, Kashmir, Gujarat, Malwa, Delhi, and Agra regions,[64] with their lodges (khānaqāhs) “mostly located in Punjab.”[65] The Qādiriyya was introduced into the Kashmir valley “in the second half of sixteenth century” by a student of Muḥammad Darwīsh.[66] The focus of the spread of the Qādiriyya into India is important because, as said before, the cameleers “mostly arrived from the arid hills and plains of Baluchistan, Afghanistan, and the north-west of what was then British India, today’s Pakistan” and belonged to four main ethnic groups: Pashtun, Baluchi, Punjabi, and Sindhi,[67] areas where Urdu and Persian are commonly spoken along with other local dialects and languages. Sufism dominated “the popular practice of Islam in the early nineteenth century north-India,”[68] and has, for the past millennium, “formed an integral part of the religious and cultural landscape of the Kabul and Peshawar valleys.”[69] The Qādiriyya specifically “spread through webs of allegiance among enterprising scholar-saints in the late nineteenth century, in spaces across north-western British India, the princely state of Swat, the tribal agencies, and Afghanistan as far as Ghazni.”[70] This sets a strong foundation for this practice to have been transported, both informally through inherited practice and formally through initiation, when individuals from these locations travelled to other parts of the globe. Given the overlap of the areas where the Qādiriyya flourished and the locations the cameleers arrived from, it is likely that at least some of the cameleers were members of the Qādiriyya and brought their knowledge and practice of Sufism to Australia.
Of note in the sections on the licence (ijāza) (fol. 10r) and the chain of transmission (sanad) (fol. 11v) the ḥadīth qudsī is transmitted in both lineages through Maʿrūf al-Karkhī. He is considered “a pivotal figure in Sufism”[71] and “some sources credit him with offering the earliest explicit definition of Sufism: grasping spiritual realities and rejecting creaturely concerns.”[72] Maʿrūf al-Karkhī “appears in many of the silsilas of the Sufi orders.”[73] The dual lineages of the ḥadīth qudsī transmission both including Maʿrūf al-Karkhī is another point that connects the manuscript with the history of Sufism.
Aḥmad al-Qādirī’s manner of speaking and the terms that he uses for himself are indicative of Sufi orthopraxy and Sufi technical terms. For instance, the author introduces himself as “servant of the poor” (faqīr) (fol. 1r). Within Sufi terminology a faqīr (pl. fuqarāʾ) is used to describe “a Sufi or initiate in a Sufi order” who “aspire to spiritual poverty or detachment”[74] and culminates in “someone who is independent of everything except God and has rejected all that would turn him away from God.”[75] This term arose with “the eastern lands of Islam, as in Iraq and Syria,” to denote “those given to ascetic life and mystical contemplation.”[76] In describing himself as a “servant” of the initiates, Aḥmad al-Qādirī can be read as humbly indicating that he is a Sufi shaykh in that he serves the spiritual needs of those initiated into the Sufi order under his care. On fol. 2v Aḥmad al-Qādirī mentions himself in third person, calling himself “the needy servant,” which is a common practice amongst the Sufis with an aim to displace the centrality of the ego and practice humility. On fol. 12r the author switches to plural form which can either refer to a “We” of majesty or a “We” of humility, the latter being more probable. This manner of self-reference is because the statement “I” is the statement of individuation and ego (nafs), which Sufis strive to avoid. Aḥmad al-Qādirī can be read as performing the practice of Sufism within the text of the manuscript.
For those unfamiliar with Sufism, it may seem odd that someone would make an explicit request for a licence (ijāza) to recite a particular phrase a specific number of times. Every Muslim has the licence to say the statement of Divine Oneness (lā ilāha illā Allāh) by default. The performance of such phrases is known as the remembrance of Allah (dhikr) and is recommended within the Qur’an with statements such as “remember Me; I will remember you” (2:152), amongst others, and “Sufism makes of invocation, which is dhikr in the strict and narrow sense of the term, the central instrument of its method.”[77] It has been described as “the pillar of the Path, the key to realization, the weapon of the seekers, and the unfolding of sainthood.”[78] There are different kinds of licence (ijāza), even with regard to the remembrance of Allah (dhikr). Of these, three are worth mentioning with regard to the manuscript. There is the licence (ijāza) to recite the general litanies (awrād) of a particular Sufi order. There is a specific licence (ijāza) to recite a particular litany (wird) given to the student of a Sufi order (murīd) for a particular purpose. There is also the licence (ijāza) to recite and teach litanies (awrād) of a Sufi order. Given that there is nothing within the manuscript about the instruction of others, it is unlikely that the licence (ijāza) given by Aḥmad al-Qādirī is of the third type. However, the existence of the Broken Hill mosque manuscript is evidence Aḥmad al-Qādirī possessed a licence to instruct others.[79] Given the striking resemblance between the text of the manuscript and the text of Burton Diploma, there is nothing from Burton’s text or comments that provide insight as to which type of licence (ijāza) is contained within the manuscript. Furthermore, Burton’s title, “Specimen of a Murshid’s Diploma,” is ambiguous in that it remains unclear if this is a diploma issued by a teacher (murshid) to a student within the Sufi order or if is it a diploma issued authorising someone as a teacher (murshid) within the Sufi order. It cannot be determined if the licence (ijāza) within the manuscript is part of a general licence within the Sufi order’s general litanies or if it is specific to the soteriological development of Aḥmad Akbar Khān al-Afghānī.
Towards the ends of the manuscript is the verse of Qur’an “Anyone who breaks his pledge does so to his own detriment: God will give a great reward to the one who fulfils his pledge to Him” (48:10) (fol. 12v). The full verse reads
Those who pledge loyalty to you [Prophet] are actually pledging loyalty to God Himself—God’s hand is placed on theirs—and anyone who breaks his pledge does so to his own detriment: God will give a great reward to the one who fulfils his pledge to Him (48:10)
The history and importance of this verse requires elaboration. Historically, this verse refers to “the pact of Ridwan at al-Hudaybiyya” where the companions “swore allegiance to the Prophet of Allah which, among others, entailed giving counsel, help and not running away.”[80] The “Hand of Allah” is seen to represent Allah’s “reward and help”[81] and “His strength.”[82] “Their hands” is seen to represent the “truthfulness, fulfilment and completion”[83] and “their strength (quwwa) and their action (ḥaraka)”[84] of those taking the oath. It is noted that the Prophet’s companions “used to pledge fealty to the Messenger of Allah is different circumstances,”[85] with different points of emphasis regarding the circumstances. Transhistorically, this verse has been utilised within the Sufi practice of allegiance to a Sufi shaykh and marks the initiation into a Sufi order.[86] This practice is known as bayʿa. Within Sufism, the student (murīd) pledges to “the path of discarding bad traits from the self and adorning it with good traits, as well as being actualised in the pillar of ihsān (perfection) and ascending its ranks.”[87] The occurrence of part of this verse may be indicative of Aḥmad Akbar Khān al-Afghānī’s initiation (bayʿa) into the Sufi order or it may be a reminder of his previous acceptance of this initiation. Either way, it is noted that this verse has substantial importance in the orthopraxy of Sufism.
Notes on the Translation
Throughout the genealogical part of the manuscript, as well as the first mention of the author, the names are prefaced with the title al-sayyid. This is repeated before each person up until Imam al-Ḥasan, after which the term is no longer used. To avoid repetition, the translation of this title has been omitted, though it is worth highlighting that al-sayyid is most often used to indicate someone who is a descendent of the Prophet Muhammad. Of note is that the title continues up to and including Imam al-Ḥasan, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, and is not used for Imam ʿAlī. While Imam ʿAlī was the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad and from the same household, he is not a descendent of the Prophet Muhammad.
To facilitate reading and to mark changes in content, section titles have been added by the translators between square brackets. Folio numbers have been included in square brackets at the beginning of each page within the translation.
Conclusion
MSQ 0039 is an interesting and problematic manuscript. It is problematic in as far as its provenance is mostly unknown, as are its author and recipient. Found amongst cameleer artefacts and on display in the exhibition room of the Broken Hill mosque, the manuscript shows strong evidence of Sufism in content, language, and recommended practice. It has long been suggested that, given the origins of the cameleers and the prevalence of Sufism within their native countries, Sufism was practiced and transmitted across Australia by the cameleers. While the aforementioned gaps in our knowledge of this manuscript preclude us from saying this is definitely the case, the Broken Hill mosque manuscript is perhaps the strongest evidence to date suggesting some of the cameleers were formally connected with a Sufi order.
The Broken Hill Mosque Manuscript of Aḥmad al-Qādirī
[Preface]
[1r] The steadfastness in [honouring] the sanctity of Muhammad—may Allah extol him and grant him peace, the one upon whom Divine inspiration and revelation has descended—I have completed [this manuscript] and written it and I am the most deprived of mankind, a servant of the poor, the master (al-sayyid) Aḥmad al-Qādirī, servant of my grandfather, the master Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir [1v] al-Jīlānī, his secret sanctified in Baghdad the Protected [City], may Allah pardon him.
[Introduction]
[2r] In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
Praise be to Allah, the Opener of the locks of the hearts through His remembrance, and the Unveiler of the veils of the Unseen through His devotion and the One who raises the banners of abundance by drawing near to Him through showing Him gratitude. I praise Him for making us among the people of His Oneness (tawḥīdihi) and I thank Him, seeking His favours and increase [in blessings] [2v] and I praise and send salutations upon our master Muhammad, the pre-eminent amongst His prophets and servants, and upon his Family and Companions, the possessors of extended favours and His vast [bounty].
[Genealogy (nasab)]
As for what follows, the needy servant, the one who admits his total incapacity and shortcoming, the one hopeful of the pardon of His Lord the Protector, [3r] Aḥmad al-Qādirī, son of ʿAlī, son of Salmān, son of Muṣṭafā, son of Zayn al-Dīn, son of Muḥammad Darwīsh, son of Ḥusām al-Dīn, son of Nūr al-Dīn, son of Walī al-Dīn, son of [3v] Zayn al-Dīn, son of Sharaf al-Dīn, son of Shams al-Dīn, son of Muḥammad al-Hannāk, son of ʿAbd al-‘Azīz, son of the Master of Masters, the Pole of Existence, the White Pearl, the Possessor of Reins over those with Authority, the Head of the Beloved Ones, the Leader (al-Imām), [4r] the Matchless Jewel, the Devourer (ṣallāb) of Spiritual States, the Axis of Axes, the Supreme Succour, the Gatherer between the Lovers, Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, his secret sanctified, son of Abū Ṣāliḥ Mūsā Jangī Dost, son of ʿAbd Allāh al-Jīlī, son of Yaḥyā al-Zāhid [4v] son of Muḥammad, son of Dawūd, son of Mūsā, son of ʿAbd Allāh, son of Mūsā al-Jūn, son of ʿAbd Allāh al-Maḥḍ, son of Ḥasan al-Muthannā, son of Imam al-Ḥasan, son of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam ʿAlī son of ʿAbū Ṭālib, may Allah be pleased with him, [5r] son of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, son of Hāshim, son of ʿAbd-Manāf, son of Qusayy, son of Kilāb, son of Murrah, son of Kaʿb, son of Luʾayy, son of Ghālib, son of Fihr, son of Mālik, son of al-Naḍir, son of Kināna, son of Khuzayma, son of Mudrika, son of Ilyās, son of Muḍar, son of Nizār, son of Maʿadd, son of [5v] ʿAdnān, son of Add, son of Udad, son of al-Hamaysaʿ, son of Ḥaml, son of Nabt, son of Qaydhār (Kedar), son of Ismāʿīl (Ishmael), son of Ibrāhīm (Abraham), son of Tārikh (Azar), son of Qāṣir, son of Shārigh, son of Arghuwa, son of Fāligh, son of Shālikh, son of Qaynān, son of Arfakhshand, son of Sām (Shem), son of Nūḥ (Noah), son of Yarid, son of [6r] Idrīs (Enoch) son of Mahmaʾīl, son of Qaynān, son of Anūsh, son of Shīth (Seth), son of Adam, the father of humanity, upon him be peace and upon our Prophet with the best of salutations and praises, and Adam is from dust, and dust is from the Earth, and the Earth is from seafoam, and seafoam is from the [breaking of the] wave, and the wave is from water, and water [6v] is from the pearl, and the pearl is from the Power [of Allah], and the Power [of Allah] is from the Will [of Allah], and the Will [of Allah] is from the Knowledge of Allah, the Exalted.
[Spiritual Chain (silsila) and Prophetic Narration (ḥadīth)]
As for what follows, the righteous man, the one turning to his Lord, the one who turns away from everyone except Him, the wilful towards the abode of the Hereafter, the dervish, Aḥmad Akbar Khān al-Afghānī [7r] has written a letter (kitāb) to us requesting us to grant him licence (ijāza) to recite the statement of Divine Oneness (kalimat al-tawḥīd) and based up on his request, I have given him licence through its recitation just as my father and teacher, the master Shaykh ʿAlī al-Qādirī, has given me licence [who has received it] from [7v] his teacher and son of his uncle Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Qādirī, from his father and teacher Abū Bakr, from his father and teacher Ismāʿīl, from his father and teacher ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, from [8r] his father and teacher Nūr al-Dīn, from his father and teacher Muḥammad Darwīsh, from his father and teacher Ḥusām al-Dīn, from his teacher and son of his uncle Abū Bakr, from [8v] his father and teacher Yaḥyā, from his father and teacher Nūr al-Dīn, from his father and teacher Walī al-Dīn, from his father and teacher Zayn al-Dīn, from his father and teacher [9r] Sharaf al-Dīn, from his father and teacher Shams al-Dīn, from his father and teacher Muḥammad al-Hannāk, from his father and teacher ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, from his father and teacher, the Axis of the Gnostics [9v] and the Guide of the Wayfarers, the Master and Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, his secret sanctified, from his teacher Abū Saʿīd al-Mubārak al-Makhzūmī, from his teacher Abū al-Ḥasan al-Hakkārī, from his teacher Abū al-Faraḥ al-Ṭarsūsī, from his teacher ʿAbd al-Wāḥid al-Tamīmī, from his teacher Abū Bakr [10r] al-Shiblī, from his teacher Abū al-Qāsim al-Junayd al-Baghdādī, from his teacher Sarī al-Saqatī, from his teacher Maʿrūf al-Karkhī, from his teacher, the Compass (qibla) of the Inward, Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī, son of Mūsā al-Riḍā, who said: “Abū Mūsā al-Kādhim has narrated to me [who heard it] from his father [10v] Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, from his father Muḥammad al-Bāqir, from his father Zayn al-ʿAbidīn, from his father, the Master of the Youth of Paradise and the Coolness of the Eyes of the People of the Prophetic Path (ahl al-sunna), Imam al-Ḥusayn, from his father, the Leader of the Faithful, Imam ʿAlī son of Abū Ṭālib, may Allah be pleased with him [11r] who said: My beloved and the coolness of my eyes, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah extol him and grant him peace, has related to me that he said: Gabriel, upon him be peace, said: I heard [Allah] the Lord of Exaltedness, Majestic is He, saying: There is no god but Allah (lā ilāha illā Allāh) is My fortress. Whoever says it enters My fortress and whoever [11v] enters My fortress is safe from My punishment.”
[Chain of Transmission (sanad) and Licence (ijāza)]
[This narration] has another following chain of transmission from Maʿrūf al-Karkhī from his teacher Dawūd al-Ṭāʾī from his teacher Ḥabīb al-ʿAjamī from his teacher Ḥasan al-Baṣrī from his teacher, the Leader of the Faithful, Imam ʿAlī son of Abū Ṭālib, may Allah be pleased with him [12r] from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah extol him and grant him peace, from Gabriel, upon him be peace, from [Allah] the Lord of Exaltedness, Majestic is He.
Furthermore, we instructed him regarding the recitation of the statement of Divine Oneness and prescribed him to recite it, following every obligatory prayer (farīḍa) one hundred and sixty five times and [to recite it regularly] during [12v] all other times, taking into consideration what is easy for him. “Anyone who breaks his pledge does so to his own detriment: Allah will give a great reward to the one who fulfils his pledge to Him” (Q. 48:10). May Allah extol our Master Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.
[13r] Remembrance of the Honorific Titles of our Master Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, his secret sanctified, the Illuminated
Master, Reviver of the Religion (muḥyuddīn), the Command of Allah (amrullāh), Shaykh; Reviver of the Religion, Allah’s Favour (faḍlullāh), Saint; Reviver of the Religion, Safety of Allah (amānullāh), Poor (miskīn); Reviver of the Religion, Light of Allah (nūrullāh), Succour (ghawth); Reviver of the Religion, Axis of Allah (quṭbullāh), Sultan; Reviver of the Religion, Sword of Allah (sayfullāh), Spiritual Master (khwāja); [13v] Reviver of the Religion, Order of Allah (firmānullāh), the Served One (makhdūm); Reviver of the Religion, Proof of Allah (burhānullāh), Dervish; Reviver of the Religion, Sign of Allah (ayatullāh), Ruler (bādshāh); Reviver of the Religion, Succour of Allah (ghawthullāh), Ascetic (faqīr); Reviver of the Religion, Witness of Allah (mashāhidullāh).
Remembrance of the Children of our Master Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, his secret sanctified, the Illuminated
Shaykh ʿAbd al-Razzāq and Shaykh [14r] ʿAbd al-ʿ Azīz and Shaykh ʿAbd al-Wahhāb and Shaykh ʿAbd al-Jabbār and Shaykh ʿAbd al-Ghaffār and Shaykh al-ʿAynī and Shaykh Ṣāliḥ and Shaykh Muḥammad and Shaykh Shams al-Dīn and Shaykh Ibrāhīm and Shaykh Yaḥyā and he is the youngest, and his daughter [14v] whose name is Fāṭima, and his mother, whose name is the Mother of Goodness (ummul khayr), the Bondswoman of the Compeller (ammatul jabbār), Fāṭima, daughter of the master ʿAbd Allāh al-Sumaʾī al-Ḥasanī al-Ḥusaynī, may Allah the Exalted’s pleasure be upon them all.
Completed in the year 1322 (ḥijra)
* The authors would like to thank the Broken Hill Historical Society, particularly Jim and Helen Dalay, the President and secretary respectively, for their support of this project, Gary Cook, for first bringing the manuscript to our attention, and Shaykh Abdulkarim Newman, from Daar Ibn Abbas College, Sydney, for his invaluable comments on the paper.
[1] Rebecca Parkes, “Traces of the Cameleers: Landscape Archaeology and Landscape Perception,” Australasian Historical Archaeology 27 (2009): 87.
[2] “The Camel as a Carrier,” Evening News, January 28, 1909, 7.
[3] Parkes, “Traces of the Cameleers,” 90.
[4] Hanifa Deen, “Excavating the Past: Australian Muslims,” The La Trobe Journal 89 (2012): 63–64.
[5] Samia Khatun, Australianama: The South Asian Odyssey in Australia (London: Hurst & Company, 2018), 2.
[6] Joshua Nash, “Linguistic Spatial Violence: The Muslim Cameleers in the Australian Outback,” Refract: An Open Access Visual Studies Journal 1 (2018): 105.
[7] Husnia Underabi, “Mosque Sermons and Audience Receptivity” (PhD Thesis, Western Sydney University, 2018), 40.
[8] Hassan Mourad, “The Development and Land Use Impacts of Local Mosques” (Bachelor Thesis, University of New South Wales, 2006), 15; Nahid Afrose Kabir, “The Culture of Mobile Lifestyle: Reflection on the Past: The Afghan Camel Drivers, 1860–1930,” Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies 23 (2009): 795.
[9] “Broken Hill Camels,” The Sun, March 24, 1929, 2.
[10] May Schinasi, The Afghans in Australia (New York: The Asia Society, 1980), 10. A 1950 newspaper article mentions a funeral of a significant local, “one of the most colorful [sic.] Afghans in the district,” whose service was held at the Broken Hill mosque before proceeding to the cemetery, see “Death of Afghan at 105,” Barrier Daily Truth, August 17, 1950, 1, indicating the mosque was not completely deserted.
[11] Schinasi, The Afghans in Australia, 14.
[12] Samia Khatun, Australianama, 2.
[13] “Broken Hill Afghans,” The Wyalong Star, June 3, 1904, 2.
[14] Hanifa Deen, “Excavating the Past: Australian Muslims,” The La Trobe Journal 89 (2012): 64.
[15] “Afghans and Indians,” The Sun, May 16, 1921, 7.
[16] “Afghans Fight Hindoos,” The Riverine Herald, May 17, 1921, 3.
[17] Richard F. Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah, vol. 2 (London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1855), 341–46.
[18] Ibid., 2:341.
[19] Roberta J. Drewery, Trek, Camps & Camels: Afghan Cameleers, their Contribution to Australia (Rockhampton: R. J. Bolton, 2008); Philip Jones and Anna Kenny, Australia’s Muslim Cameleers (Kent Town: Wakefield Press, 2007).
[20] Drewery, Trek, Camps & Camels, 79.
[21] Ibid., 80.
[22] Jones and Kenny, Australia’s Muslim Cameleers, 169.
[23] Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage, 2:342.
[24] Ibid.
[25] The genealogy listed in ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, The Sublime Revelation, trans. Muhtar Holland (Fort Lauderdale: al-Baz, 1997), 5, is identical to that in the manuscript. Hamza Malik, The Grey Falcon:The Life and Teaching of Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (Leiden: Brill, 2018), 75, does not include Mūsā and ʿAbd Allāh prior to Mūsā al-Jūn, though, side from these omissions, it is otherwise identical.
[26] Muhammad Riaz Qadiri, The Sultan of the Saints (New Delhi: Adam Publishers & Distributors, 2009), 10.
[27] Dilaver Gürer, Abd al-Qadir Jilani, trans. Hanife Oz (Istanbul: Insan Publications, 2008), 19; Abu-Muhammad ‘Abdul Hadi al-Qadiri Radawi Nuri, The Radawi Gift of the Commentary of Qasidah Ghawthiyyah (Faisalabad: Sufi Pages, 2013), 14.
[28] Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, The Onlooker’s Delight, trans. Mokrane Guezzou (Birmingham: HSBT Publications, 2016), 1.
[29] Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage, 2:342.
[30] Qadiri, The Sultan of the Saints, 10–11; Gürer, Abd al-Qadir Jilani, 20; Malik, The Grey Falcon, 75.
[31] Yusuf al-Nabahani, The Virtues of the Prophet and His Nation, trans. Rashad Jameer ([United States of America]: Bukhari Publications, 2014), 73–74; ‘Abdallah Sirajuddin al-Husayni, Our Master Muhammad: The Messenger of Allah, trans. Khalid Williams, vol. 2 (Istanbul: Sunni Publications, 2009), 163–66; Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti and Ishaq ‘Azuz al-Makki, The Pure Ancestry of the Prophet, trans. Amjad Mahmood ([United Kingdom]: Heritage Press, 2016), 40.
[32] Al-Husayni, Our Master Muhammad, 2:168.
[33] Ibid., 2:168.
[34] Nuri, The Radawi Gift, 64–65.
[35] Ibid., 64.
[36] Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage, 2:345.
[37] John Renard, Historical Dictionary of Sufism (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016), 187.
[38] Ibid., 187.
[39] Cyril Glasse, The New Encyclopedia of Islam (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2013), 499.
[40] See Samer Dajani, Reassurance for the Seeker (Louisville: Fons Vitae, 2013), 89–90.
[41] Renard, Historical Dictionary of Sufism, 243.
[42] Jean-Louis Michon, “The Spiritual Practices of Sufism,” in Islamic Spirituality: Foundations, ed. Seyyed Hossein Nasr (New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1987), 278.
[43] Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage, 2:346.
[44] S. A. Salik, The Saint of Jilan (Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, 1991), 80.
[45] Al-Wasiti in J. Spencer Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 42.
[46] Malik, The Grey Falcon, 76.
[47] Alexandre Papas, “Dervish,” in The Encyclopaedia of Islam Three, eds. Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, and Everett Rowson (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 129.
[48] Renard, Historical Dictionary of Sufism, 91.
[49] Ibid., 187.
[50] Ahmad Zarruq, Commentary on Shaykh al-Shadhili’s Hizb al-Bahr, trans. Khalid Williams ([United Kingdom]: Visions of Reality Books, 2013), 4.
[51] Malik, The Grey Falcon, 74.
[52] Ibid., 77.
[53] Ibid.
[54] Qadiri, The Sultan of the Saints, 297; Salik, The Saint of Jilan, 110; Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, The Onlooker’s Delight, 71; Gürer, Abd al-Qadir Jilani, 28.
[55] Khaliq Ahmad Nizami, “The Qadiriyyah Order,” in Islamic Spirituality: Manifestations, ed. Seyyed Hossein Nasr (New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1991), 7.
[56] Glasse, The New Encyclopedia of Islam, 430.
[57] Franklin Lewis, “Tariqa,” in Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. Lindsay Jones (Detroit: MacMillan Reference, 2005), 9007.
[58] Saiyid Athar Abbas Rizvi, A History of Sufism in India, vol. 2, From Sixteenth Century to Modern Century (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 2009), 54.
[59] Nizami, “The Qadiriyyah Order,” 6.
[60] Qadiri, The Sultan of the Saints, 27.
[61] Nizami, “The Qadiriyyah Order,” 8.
[62] Rizvi, A History of Sufism in India, 2:54. This time frame is reinforced by Muhammad Touseef and Alexandre Papas, “The History of Sufism in Multan: New Data from the Urdu Tadhkirah Tradition,” Islamic Studies 58 (2019): 482.
[63] Nizami, “The Qadiriyyah Order,” 9. An indication of the extent to which the Qādiriyya took prominence within India can be found to the numerous references to ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī within the various texts translated in Scott Kugle, ed., Sufi Meditation and Contemplation: Timeless Wisdom from Mughal India (New York: Suluk Press, 2012).
[64] Rizvi, A History of Sufism in India, 2:57–108.
[65] Damsaz Ali, “Sheikh Adul Qadir Jilani Epitome of Islamic Propagation and Tasawuf,” International Multidisciplinary Research Journal 1.5 (2011): 18.
[66] Ali, “Sheikh Adul Qadir Jilani Epitome of Islamic Propagation and Tasawuf,” 18.
[67] Nash, “Linguistic Spatial Violence,” 105.
[68] Sana Haroon, “Reformism and Orthodox Practice in Early Nineteenth-Century Muslim North India: Sayyid Ahmed Shaheed Reconsidered,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 21.2 (2011): 180.
[69] Waleed Zaid, “Transporting Knowledge in the Durrani Empire,” in Afghanistan’s Islam: From Conversion to the Taliban, ed. Nile Green (Oakland: University of California Press, 2017), 108.
[70] James Caron, “Sufism and Liberation across the Indo-Afghan Border: 1880–1928,” South Asian History and Culture 7 (2016): 138.
[71] Glasse, The New Encyclopedia of Islam, 352.
[72] Renard, Historical Dictionary of Sufism, 202.
[73] R.A. Nicholson and R.W.J. Austin, “Maʿruf al-Karkhī,” in The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition (Leiden: Brill, 1989), vol. VI, 614.
[74] Glasse, The New Encyclopedia of Islam, 154.
[75] Ahmad Ibn ‘Ajiba, The Book of Ascension to the Essential Truths of Sufism, trans. Mohamed Fouad Aresmouk and Michael Abdurrahman Fitzgerald (Louisville: Fons Vitae, 2011), 69.
[76] Alexander Knysh, Islamic Mysticism: A Short History (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 7.
[77] Titus Burckhardt, Introduction to Sufism, trans. D. M. Matheson (Hammersmith: Thorsons, 1995), 100.
[78] ‘Abdallah Ibn ‘Alawi al-Haddad, The Book of Assistance, trans. Mostafa al-Badawi(Louisville: Fons Vitae, 2003), 28.
[79] An example of this third kind of licence (ijāza) can be found in Nuh Ha Mim Keller, Invocations of the Shadhili Order (Amman: al-Fath, 2007), 4.
[80] Ibn Abbas, Tafsir Ibn Abbas, 685.
[81] Ibid., 686.
[82] Ibid.
[83] Ibid.
[84] Ibid.
[85] ‘Abd al-Qadir ‘Isa, Realities of Sufism, trans. Suraqah Abdul Aziz ([The Netherlands]: Sunni Publications, 2009), 69.
[86] For an example of the details of this practice within the Qādiriyya Order, see Isma’il Muhammad Sa’id al-Qadiri, Emanations of Lordly Grace, trans. Muhtar Holland (Fort Lauderdale: al-Baz, 2000), 49–53.
[87] ‘Abd al-Qadir ‘Isa, Realities of Sufism, 64.