Ghulam Ali Dehlavi


Shah Abdullah alias Shah Ghulam Ali Dehlavi was a Sufi Shaykh in Delhi during the early 19th century. He was a master of the Naqshbandi tradition and in other Sufi orders such as Chishti.

Biography

He was born in 1156 AH in Patiala, Punjab, in present-day India. His father was Shah Abdul-Latif, a scholar and Sufi shaykh belonging to the Qadri tariqah. It is reported in his biographies that his father had a dream before his birth in which he saw Sayyadna Ali, who told him to name the baby on his name. After he grew up, he modified his own name to be Ghulam Ali. Similarly, his mother had a dream in which she saw Muhammad, who told her to name the baby Abdullah. Hence his real name is still known as Abdullah while his alias is Ghulam Ali.
He is reported to have memorized the Quran in a single month's duration. In 1170 AH he came to Delhi to take the oath of allegiance to Mirza Mazhar Jan-e-Janaan, who was a famous Shaykh of Naqshbandi tariqah in Delhi at that time. After getting trained in the major Sufi orders including Naqshbandi for 15 years, he received complete Khilafat from his Shaykh.
He had many Khulafa who spread the Naqshbandi Sufi order to a vast number of people in the whole Muslim world at that time. His Khulafa went to Bukhara, Baghdad, Madinah and Turkey. His famous khalifa was Mawlana Khalid al-Baghdadi, who had hundreds of thousands of followers in his lifetime, and many Naqshbandi's today in Turkey and nearby countries follow him. His chief deputy and successor was Hafiz Abu-Saeed-Ahmadi Faruqi Mujaddidi Naqshbandi and his next successor was Hafiz Shah [Ahmed Saeed Faruqi Mujaddidi, son of Hafiz Shah Abu Saeed
He is quoted to have said: "My Faid has reached far off countries. Our Halqa is held in Makkah and our Halqa is held in Madinah. Similarly our Halqa is held in Baghdad, Rome and Maghrib. And Bukhara is our parental home."
He died on 22 Safar 1240 AH and was buried alongside his Shaykh's grave in Khanqah Mirja in Delhi.

Writings

He wrote books, the best known being Mazhari in Persian, which is a complete biography of his shaykh Mirza Mazhar Jan-e-Janaan Shaheed.
His other books are:
#NameBuriedBirthDeath
14Khwaja Azizan Ali RamitaniKhwaarizm, Uzbekistan591 AH
27 Ramadan 715 or 721 AH
15Khwaja Muhammad Baba SamasiSamaas, Bukhara, Uzbekistan25 Rajab 591 AH
10 Jumada al-Thani 755 AH
16Khwaja Sayyid Amir KulalSaukhaar, Bukhara, Uzbekistan676 AH
Wed 2 Jumada al-Thani 772 AH
17Khwaja Muhammad Baha'uddin Naqshband BukhariQasr-e-Aarifan, Bukhara, Uzbekistan4 Muharram 718 AH
3 Rabi al-Awwal 791 AH
18Khwaja Ala'uddin Attar Bukhari, son-in-law of Jafaaniyan, Transoxiana Wed 20 Rajab 804 AH
19Khwaja Yaqub CharkhiGulistan, Dushanbe, Tajkistan762 AH
5 Safar 851 AH
20Khwaja Ubaidullah AhrarSamarkand, UzbekistanRamadan 806 AH
29 Rabi al-Awwal 895 AH
21Khwaja Muhammad Zahid WakhshiWakhsh14 Shawwal 852 AH
1 Rabi al-Awwal 936 AH
22Khwaja Durwesh Muhammad, son of sister of Asqarar, Uzbekistan16 Shawwal 846 AH
19 Muharram 970 AH
23Khwaja Muhammad Amkanaki, son of Amkana, Bukhara, Uzbekistan918 AH
22 Shaban 1008 AH
24Khwaja Muhammad Baqi Billah BerangDelhi, India5 Dhu al-Hijjah 971 or 972 AH
25 Jumada al-Thani 1012 AH
25Shaikh Ahmad al-Farūqī al-Sirhindī, Imām RabbānīSirhind, India14 Shawwal 971 AH
28 Safar 1034 AH
26Imām Khwaja Muhammad Masum Faruqi, 3rd son of Sirhind, India1007 AH
9 Rabi al-Awwal 1099 AH
27Khwaja Muhammad Saifuddin Faruqi, son of Sirhind, India1049 AH
19 or 26 Jumada al-awwal 1096 AH
28Hafiz Muhammad Mohsin DehlaviDelhi, India
29Sayyid Nur Muhammad BadayuniDelhi, India11 Dhu al-Qi'dah 1135AH
30Shaheed Mirza Mazhar Jan-e-Janaan, Shams-ud-Dīn HabībullāhDelhi, India11 Ramadan 1111 AH
10 Muharram 1195 AH
31Khwaja Abdullah Dehlavi, alias Shah Ghulam Ali DehlaviDelhi, India1156 AH
22 Safar 1240 AH

Qadri chain

Extracted from Maqamat Mazhari by Shah Ghulam Ali Dehlavi
  1. Shah Ghulam Ali Dehlavi
  2. Mirza Mazhar Jan-e-Janaan
  3. Muhammad Abid Sanami
  4. Abdul Ahad
  5. Muhammad Said
  6. Ahmed Sirhindi
  7. Abdul Ahad Faruqi
  8. Shah Kamal Kethali
  9. Shah Fuzail
  10. Gada e Rahman Sani
  11. Shamsuddin Arif
  12. Gada e Rahman Awal
  13. Shamsuddin Sehrai
  14. Aqeel
  15. Abdul Wahhab
  16. Sharfuddin
  17. Abdur Razzaq
  18. Abdul-Qadir Gilani

    Chishti chain

Extracted from Maqamat Mazhari by Shah Ghulam Ali Dehlavi
  1. Shah Ghulam Ali Dehlvi
  2. Mirza Mazhar Jan-e-Janaan
  3. Muhammad Abid Sanami
  4. Abdul Ahad Sirhindi
  5. Muhammad Said
  6. Ahmed Sirhindi
  7. Abdul Ahad Faruqi
  8. Ruknuddin
  9. Abdul Quddus Gangohi
  10. Muhammad Arif
  11. Ahmed Abdul Haq
  12. Jalaluddin Panipati
  13. Shamsuddin Turk
  14. Alauddin Sabir Kaliyari
  15. Fariduddin Ganjshakar
  16. Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki
  17. Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti

    His Khulafa

His Khulafa were numerous and many of them were prominent Shaykhs at their times. Following is a list of his most prominent Khulafa as extracted from various sources.
  1. Mawlana Hafiz Abu-Saeed-Ahmadi Faruqi Mujaddidi Naqshbandi, his successor
  2. Mawlana Hafiz Shah Ahmed Saeed Faruqi Mujaddidi, son of Hafiz Shah Abu Saeed
  3. Shah Rauf Ahmed Raaft Faruqi Mujaddidi Rampuri
  4. Mawlana Khalid al-Baghdadi al-Kurdi al-Rumi
  5. Mawlana Ismaeel Madani
  6. Mawlana Ghulam Mohiuddin Qusoori
  7. Mawlana Bashartullah Behra'ichi
  8. Mawlana Shah Gul Muhammad Ghaznavi
  9. Mawlana Muhammad Sharif
  10. Mawlana Pir Muhammad
  11. Mawlana Jan Muhammad
  12. Mawlana Muhammad Jan, whose Khulafa spread up to Turkey
  13. Shah Saad'ullah Naqshbandi