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9. Hazrat Yusuf Hamadani h


[ to be translated in English ]

جس طرف اُٹھے نظرآۓ نظر تیرا جمال
[ to be translated in English ] یوسفِ ہمداں حسین ومہ لقا کے واسطے

- Extracts from Sijra-ay-Tayyiba - Shiekh Syed Mahmood Hassan Rizvi (Rehmat'ullah Alaiyh)
حضرت سیدمیاں محمّد حسن محمود رضوی نقشبدی مجددی عزیزی رحمتاالله علیه

Translation to English by Anwar-un-Nabi [please forgive any mistakes]

Hazrat Abū Ya’qūb Khwājā Yūsuf al-Hamadānī quddisa sirruh (440-535 AH) was an exalted shaykh of this noble path, from whom many of the well-known Sufi masters benefited. His deputies founded the Naqshbandiyyah, Yasaviyyah and Bektāshiyyah tariqahs, and founders of the Qadri and Chishti orders also benefited from his company.

He was born in 440 AH (1048) at Būzanjird, near Hamadān (present-day Iran). He received traditional education in Islamic sciences such as jurisprudence, Hadith, Tafsir and philosophy. He was a follower of the great Imam Abū Hanīfā. Later he was trained in the Sufi path by Khwājā Abū Alī Fārmadī, who is also known to be the Sufi master of Imam Ghazali.

Abu Ya`qub Yusuf ibn Ayyab ibn Yusuf ibn al-Husayn al-Hamadani
May Allah Sanctify His Soul

"Think not that there are no travelers on the road,
or that those of perfect attribute leave no trace.
Just because you are not privy to the secrets,
Do you think that no one else is either?"

Rumi, Fihi ma fihi.

He was one of the rarest Knowers of God, a Pillar in the Sunnah of the Prophet and a unique saint. He was an imam (religious leader), an `alim (religious scholar), and a `arif (spiritual knower of God). He was the master of his time in raising the stations of his followers. Scholars and pious people used to flood in huge numbers into his khaniqah (retreat) in the city of Merv, in present-day Turkmenistan, to listen to him.

 "Allāh’s Messenger (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) said: when Allāh loves some person, He sends for Jibrīl and commands him: verily, I love such and such person; you should also love him, so Jibrīl loves him as well. Then Jibrīl proclaims in the heavens that Allāh loves such and such person; you should also love him. Then the residents of the heavens love him as well. Then his love is sent down to the earth (the world)."

Narrated by Abū Hurayrah (Radi Allah Ta'lah Anhu).  Muslim transmitted it in his as-Sahīh, b. of birr was-silah wal-ādāb (virtue, joining of the ties of relationship and good manners) ch.48 (4:2030#157/2637); Bakhārī narrated it at three places in his as-Sahīh: b. of bad’-ul-khalq (beginning of creation) ch.6 (3:1175#3037), b. of adab (good manners) ch.41 (5:2246#5693), and b. of tawhīd (Islamic monotheism) ch.33 (6:2721#7047); Ahmad bin Hambal in Musnad (2:413); Mālik bin Anas in al-Muwattā, b. of sha‘ar (hair) ch.5 (2:953#15); and Khatīb Tabrīzī in Mishkāt-ul-masābīh, b. of ādāb (good manners) ch.16 (3:74#5005). [src: Ch3 of Beseeching for Help, Tahir-ul-Qadri]