Suhrawardy redirects here. For the East Bengali politician and Prime Minister of Pakistan, see Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. The well-known Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi "the Executed" (1153 - 1191CE), the Shia founder of Illuminationism, is unconnected.
The Suhrawardiyya () is a Sufi order founded by the Iranian Sufi Diya al-din Abu 'n-Najib as-Suhrawardi (1097 – 1168 CE). It is a strictly sufi order, guided by the Shafi`i school of Islamic law (madhab), and, like many such orders, traces its spiritual genealogy (silsila) to Hazrat Ali ibn Abi Talib through Junayd Baghdadi and al-Ghazali. It played an important role in the formation of a conservative ‘new piety’ and in the regulation of urban vocational and other groups, such as trades-guilds and youth clubs (see Futuwwa), particularly in Baghdad..
Origin
The order originated in
Iraq though it spread all over the Islamic world under its founder's nephew,
Abu Hafs Umar al-Suhrawardi (1145 – 1234 CE), who was sent by the
Caliph in Baghdad as an ambassador to the
Ayyubid Sultan
Al-Adil I of Egypt, to
Khwarezm-Shah Muhammad of
Bukhara and to
Kayqubad I,
Sultan of Rûm.
The order's founder was a disciple (murid) of Ahmad Ghazali, brother of the noted thinker Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, who taught Shafi'i jurisprudence (fiqh) at Al-Nizamiyya of Baghdad Academy. His surviving work is called Kitab Adab Al-Muridin - "The Book of Duty of Disciples".
Umar al-Suhrawardi
The founder's nephew
Abu Hafs Umar al-Suhrawardi, author of
Awarif al-Ma’arif, ("The Heights of the Gnostics"), renounced reclusiveness and austerity in favour of an active life in society, maintaining close contact with the civil authorities and undertaking diplomatic missions and the political settlement of conflicts. His luxurious cloister in Baghdad, with gardens and bath houses, was built for him by Caliph
an-Nasir.
India
Sheikh Umar directed his disciple
Baha-ud-din_Zakariya to make
Multan in present-day
Pakistan the centre of his activity.
Iltutmish appointed him "Sheikh ul-Islam" after the invasion of Multan and the overthrow of its ruler
Nasir-ud-Din Qabacha. During the
Mongol invasion he became the peace negotiator between the invaders and the Muslim army. Bukhari, known as
Makhdum Jahaniyan, the world traveller, was a puritan who strongly objected to Hindu influence on Muslim social and religious practices.
The order became popular in India owing to the work of Bukhari and his successor Baha-ud-din_Zakariya. Zakariya’s successor was his son Shaikh Sadruddin ‘Arif. His disciple Amir Husayn, the author of Zad- al-Musafirin, wrote several works on the doctrine of the oneness of being. Shaikh Arif’s son and successor Ruknuddin was highly respected by the Delhi Sultans from Alauddin Khilji to Muhammad Ibn Tughlaq.
After the death of Shaikh Ruknuddin the Suhrawardiyya declined in Multan but became popular in other provinces like Uch, Gujarat, Punjab, Kashmir and Delhi. The Suhrawardiyya order also became popular in Bengal.
Notable acolytes
The poet
Fakhr-al-Din Iraqi, buried at
Konya, Turkey near
Ibn Arabi's tomb and the popular Pakistani saint
Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (1177 - 1274 CE) were connected to the order.
Shaikh Sharfuddin Yahya Manairi (d. 1380 AD) belonged to the Firdausia order, a branch of Suhrawardiyya. He compiled several books, i.e. “Fawaid al-Muridin”, “Irshadat al-Talibin”,”Rahat al-Qulub”, etc.
References
Further reading
Anna Suvorova,
Muslim Saints of South Asia, Routledge Curzon, 2004
See also
Mausoleum of Sheikh Zaynudin
External links
History of the Order
Category:Sufi orders
Category:Religion in Iraq
