Naqshbandi

Hadhrat Imam-i Rabbani Mujaddid-i Alf-i Sani Shaykh Ahmad Faruqi Sirhindi (971-1034 AH) radiyAllahu anhu is the reformer of Islam for the second millenium.

He was born on 14th Shawwal 971 AH at Sirhind, India. He was son of Shaykh Abdul Ahad Sirhindi quddisa sirruhu, who was not only a great scholar but also a Sufi master in the Chishti, Qadri, Suhrawardi and other orders.

Imam Rabbani was 28th greatgreatgrandson of the second caliph of Islam Amir al-Mu’mineen Sayyidina Umar al-Faruq radiyAllahu anhu, so is called Faruqi in his last name.

He studied all the classical sciences of knowledge and Islamic Sharia, including Fiqh, Hadith, Tafsir, logic, etc. from some of the finest scholars of his age.

Later, he received spiritual training in the Chishti order from his father, and then in the Qadri order from Shaykh Sikander Kethali. While traveling for Hajj, he met the great Naqshbandi master Hadhrat Khwaja Baqi Billah quddisa sirruhu in Delhi, and received the Naqshbandi tariqah from him.

Imam Rabbani left this world and met his beloved on the 28th Safar 1034 AH, after reviving the Din and Sharia, and spreading the Naqshbandi Order throughout the Muslim world. His lifespan was 63 years, in conformity with the Sunnah of the Final Prophet sallAllahu ta’ala alaihi waSallam. His was buried besides his eldest son in Sirhind, and his tomb is a place of visit by Muslims of India as well as from around the world.

His pious ancestors

The family lineage of Imam-i Rabbani is as follows:

1. Imām Rabbānī Shaikh Aḥmad Sirhindī (971-1034H)
2. Shaikh ʿAbd al-Aḥad Fārūqī (d.1007H)
3. Shaikh Zain al-ʿĀbidīn Fārūqī
4. Shaikh ʿAbd al-Ḥayy Fārūqī
5. Shaikh Muḥammad Fārūqī
6. Shaikh Ḥabīb-Allāh Fārūqī
7. Imām Rafīʿ ad-Dīn Fārūqī. He was a great scholar and Sufi, and a murīd of Makhdūm Sayyid Jalāl ad-Dīn Bukhārī.
8. Shaikh Naṣīr ad-Dīn Fārūqī
9. Shaikh Sulaimān Fārūqī
10. Shaikh Yūsuf Fārūqī
11. Shaikh Isḥāq Fārūqī
12. Shaikh ʿAbd-Allāh Fārūqī
13. Shaikh Shuʿaib Fārūqī
14. Shaikh Aḥmad Fārūqī, martyred in a war against the forces of Genghiz Khan
15. Shaikh Yūsuf Fārūqī
16. Shaikh Shahāb ad-Dīn ʿAlī alias Farrukh Shāh Kābulī. He was a well reputed leader and minister of the then sultān. He is also a great-grandfather of Shaikh Farīd ad-Dīn Ganjshakar Chishtī.
17. Shaikh Naṣīr ad-Dīn Fārūqī
18. Shaikh Maḥmūd Fārūqī
19. Shaikh Sulaimān Fārūqī
20. Shaikh Masʿūd Fārūqī
21. Shaikh ʿAbd-Allāh Wāʿiẓ Asghar Fārūqī
22. Shaikh ʿAbd-Allāh Wāʿiz Akbar Fārūqī
23. Shaikh Abul-Fatḥ Fārūqī
24. Shaikh Isḥāq Fārūqī
25. Shaikh Ibrāhīm Fārūqī
26. Shaikh Nāṣir Fārūqī
27. Sayyidinā ʿAbd-Allāh ibn ʿUmar (d.73H)
28. Sayyidinā Amīr al-Muʾminīn ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (d.23H)

His descendants

Imam Rabbani had seven sons and three daughters. His grandsons and greatgrandsons are numerous and were all saints of the highest status, who preached the noble path of the Naqshbandi order to millions of people across the world. His children are the following.

1. Hadhrat Khwāja Muhammad Sādiq Fārūqī Sirhindī quddisa sirruhu (1000-1025 AH). He was the eldest son of Imam-i Rabbani, and died in a plague during young age and was buried in Sirhind.
2. Hadhrat Khwāja Muhammad Sa’eed Fārūqī Sirhindī quddisa sirruhu (1005-1070 AH), buried in Sirhind.
3. Hadhrat Khwāja Muhammad Ma’sūm Fārūqī Sirhindī quddisa sirruhu (1007-1079 AH), buried in Sirhind. He was the spiritual successor of his father.
4. Hadhrat Muhammad Īsā Fārūqī Sirhindī quddisa sirruhu, died in a plague during childhood (1024 AH)
5. Hadhrat Muhammad Farrukh Fārūqī Sirhindī quddisa sirruhu, died in a plague during childhood (1024 AH)
6. Hadhrat Muhammad Ashraf quddisa sirruhu, passed away in infancy.
7. Hadhrat Khwāja Muhammad Yahyā Fārūqī Sirhindī quddisa sirruhu
8. Hadhrat Ruqayya quddisa sirruha, daughter of Imam-i Rabbani, passed away in infancy.
9. Hadhrat Umm-i Kulthūm quddisa sirruha. She passed away on 8th Rabī al-Awwal 1025H at the age of fourteen in a plague. Her heart had permanentdhikr and she did not forget the dhikr for a single moment. Even in childhood, she was blessed with a powerful inner vision with which she could know the spiritual status of others.
10. Hadhrat Khadījah Bāno quddisa sirruha. She was married to Shaikh Abd al-Qādir Fārūqī (nephew of Imām-i Rabbānī) and they had three sons and seven daughters. Her sons are: Shaikh Ghulām Muḥammad, Shaikh Abd al-Laṭīf, Shaikh Faḍl-Allāh.

Deputies

Deputies of Imam-i Rabbani are uncountable as each and every one of his murids was a saint of sublime status. Some names of his deputies found in his biographies are listed below.

1. Khwāja Muḥammad Ṣādiq Fārūqī Sirhindī, eldest son of the Mujaddid, born in 1000 AH and died in young age at 25 years in 1025 AH. [1,3]
2. Khwāja Muḥammad Saʿīd Fārūqī Sirhindī, 2nd son of the Mujaddid. Born in Shaʿbān 1005 AH and died in 1070 AH, buried in Sirhind. [1,2,3]
3. Khwāja Muḥammad Maʿṣūm Fārūqī Sirhindī, 3rd son of the great Mujaddid and his successor. Born on 11 Shawwāl 1007 AH and passed away on 9 Rabīʿ al-Awwal 1079 AH, buried in Sirhind. [1,2,3]
4. Sayyid Mīr Muḥammad Nuʿmān, alias Mīr Bulbul, born in 977 AH in Samarqand (now in Uzbekistan). Initially a murīd of Khwāja Bāqībillāh, later of the Mujaddid. Settled in Burhānpur, India. Died in 1058 AH. Author of Risālah Sulūk. [1,2,3]
5. Shaykh Muḥammad Ṭāhir Lāhorī (984-1040H), teacher of the sons of Imām Rabbānī, buried in Lahore. [2,3]
6. Shaykh Badīʿuddīn Sahāranpurī [2,3]
7. Shaykh Nūr Muḥammad Patnī [2]
8. Shaykh Ḥamīd Bangālī [2,3]
9. Shaykh Muzammil Sūratī [1,2]
10. Shaykh Muḥammad Ṭāhir Badakhshī (d.1047H) [2,3]
11. Mawlānā Yūsuf Samarqandī, murīd of Khwāja Bāqībillāh, received deputyship from Imām Rabbānī [2]
12. Mawlānā Aḥmad Barkī (d.1026H), from Afghānistan, received deputyship in only a week [2,3]
13. Shaykh Hasan Barkī, from Afghānistan, who succeeded Mawlānā Aḥmad Barkī [1,2,3]
14. Mawlānā Muḥammad Siddīq Kishmī (d.1051H), from Badakhshān (Afghānistan) [2,3]
15. Shaykh ʿAbd al-Ḥayy Shādmānī Ḥiṣārī Patnī (d.1070H), originally from Iṣfahān (Iran), settled in Patnā (India) by the orders of Imām Rabbānī [2,3]
16. Mawlānā Yār Muḥammad Qadīm al-Ṭāliqānī [2,3]
17. Mawlānā Yār Muḥammad Jadīd al-Ṭāliqānī [1]
18. Mawlānā Shaykh ʿAbd al-Hādī Fārūqī Badāyūnī (d.1041H) [2,3]
19. Ḥājī Khiḍr Khān Afghān (d. 1035 AH) [2,3]
20. Shaykh Aḥmad Dībanī, from Sahāranpur (India), later went to Bengal [2,3]
21. Shaykh Karīmuddīn alias “ʿAbd al-Karīm” Bābā Ḥasan-Abdālī (d.1050H), from Ḥasan Abdāl (Pakistan) [2,3]
22. Mawlānā Amānullāh Lāhorī [2]
23. Shaykh Sayyid Ādam Binnorī, one of the well known deputies of Imām Rabbānī [2,3]
24. Salīm Khān, who was a soldier and few people knew that he was also a deputy of Imām Rabbānī [2]
25. Mawlānā Ḥamīduddīn Aḥmadābādī [1]
26. Mawlānā Farrukh Ḥusain Lāhorī [1]
27. Mawlānā ʿAbd al-Wāḥid Lāhorī [1]
28. Sayyid Muḥibullāh Mānakpurī [1]
29. Shaykh Zain ad-Dīn Tabrīzī Shāfiʿī al-Makkī [1]
30. Shaykh ʿAlī Tabrīzī Shāfiʿī al-Makkī [1]
31. Shaykh Ṣūfī Qurbān Arkanjī [1]
32. Mawlānā Qāsim ʿAlī [1]
33. Shaykh Yūsuf Barkī (d.1034H) [1,3]
34. Shaykh Muḥammad Ibn Ḥajar Ḥaythamī al-Makkī [1]. He might be the son or grandson of the famous Imām Ibn Ḥajar Ḥaythamī who died in 974 AH [1]
35. Mawlānā Ṣafar Aḥmad Rūmī al-Samāwātī (d.1040H) [1,5]
36. Mawlānā Ghāzī Gujarātī [1,5]
37. Shaykh ʿAbd ar-Raḥīm Barkī [1,5]
38. Khwāja Muḥammad Ashraf Kābulī [1,5]
39. Khwāja Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ Nīsh­āpurī [1]
40. Shaykh Badruddīn Sirhindī [1,3]
41. Mawlānā ʿAbd al-Ḥakīm Siyālkotī [1]
42. Shaykh Khiḍr Bahlūl Sūratī [1]
43. Shaykh Sayyid Shāh Muḥammad Sahāranpurī [1]
44. Khwāja Muḥammad Ṣādiq Kābulī (d.1018H) [3,5]
45. Sayyid Ḥājī Shāh Ḥusain [4,5]
46. Khwāja ʿUbaid-Allāh ibn Khwāja Bāqī Billāh quddisa sirruhuma (1010-1073H)
47. Khwāja ʿAbd-Allāh ibn Khwāja Bāqī Billāh (1010-1074H)
48. Ḥāfiẓ Maḥmūd Lāhorī Gujarātī [5]
49. Khwāja Muḥammad Hāshim Kishmī Burhānpurī [3]
50. Mawlānā Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ Kūlābī (d.1038H), author of Bidāyat at-Tālibīn
51. Shaikh Salīm Binnūrī
52. Shaikh Salīm Khān
53. Shaikh Muḥammad Chitrī
54. Shaikh Dāʾūd Sālikī
55. Shaikh Muḥammad Tihārī
56. Shaikh Ḥāmid Tihārī [5]
57. Ṣūfī Qurbān Qadīm [5]
58. Ṣūfī Qurbān Jadīd [5]
59. Mawlānā Hāshim Khādim [5]
60. Sayyid Bāqir Sārangpurī [5]
61. Mawlānā Farrukh Ḥusain Harwī (d.1068H) [5]
62. Mawlānā Ḥājī Muḥammad Zakī [5]
63. Mawlānā ʿAbd al-Ghaffūr Samarqandī [5]

The next in the Naqshbandī Mujaddidī Tāhirī spiritual golden chain is Imām Muhammad Ma’sūm Sirhindī.

References

1. ʿUmdat al-Maqāmāt
2. Zubdat al-Maqāmāt
3. Ḥaḍrāt al-Quds, by Shaykh Badruddīn Sirhindī
4. Silsiḻa Mashāikh Mohrā Sharīf
5. Rauḍat al-Qayyūmiya (volume 1), by Shaykh Muhammad Iḥsān Mujaddidī