Urs of Pious Predecessors in Muharram

Our Pious Predecessors

Mawlana Abu Majid Muhammad Shahid Attari Madani

Muharram is the first month of the Islamic year. Across previous editions, we were introduced to 77 blessed individuals from the Companions, saints, and ulema who passed in this sacred month. Adding to the list, here are 11 more such luminaries:

Honourable Companions عَـلَيْهِمُ الرِّضْوَانْ:

1.   Sayyidunā Abū ʿUbayda ʿĀmir ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Jarrāḥ رَضِىَ الـلّٰـهُ عَـنْهُ is a Companion who hailed from Quraysh and accepted Islam early on. He also had the privilege of migrating twice, to Abyssinia and then Madina, for Allah’s sake. He was a skilled military commander, a sedulous worshipper, and a man of remarkable character. Despite his high lineage, knowledge, piety, beauty, and status as one of the 10 Companions explicitly promised Paradise, he remained extremely humble. He participated in all battles and was appointed as the commander in several of them. The Muslim forces were under his command during the Conquest of Syria. During the Plague of Amwas in 18 AH, at the age of 58 years, he passed away. The beloved Prophet صَلَّى الـلّٰـهُ عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم said:

اِنَّ لِكُلِّ اُمَّةٍ اَمِينًا وَاِنَّ اَمِينَنَا اَيَّتُهَا الاُمَّةُ اَبُو عُبَيْدَةَ بْنُ الجَرَّاح

“Every ummah has a custodian, and the custodian of my ummah is Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ.”

His resting place is located in Ghawr Bīsan.^[1]

Martyrs of the Battle of Khaybar

The Expedition of Khaybar occurred in Muharram and Safar, 7 AH, in Khaybar, 150 km north of Madina. Although the small force of 1600 was vastly outnumbered by 10,000 Jewish belligerents, the Muslims emerged victorious. As well as Khaybar, all forts were captured, and 15 Muslims were martyred. It was after this conflict that the Messenger of Allah صَلَّى الـلّٰـهُ عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم married the mother of the believers, Sayyidatunā Ṣaffiya bint Huyay رَضِیَ الـلّٰـهُ عَنْهَا.^[2]

Saints رَحِمَهُمُ الـلّٰـهُ:

2.   Zinda Pīr, Sayyid Abū al-Maḥāsin Fuḍayl Qadirī Thattwī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه was born in Sindh, on 14 Safar 871 AH, and he passed away on 17 Muharram 934 AH, in Thatta, Sindh. His resting place is a few yards from Dargah Sayyid ʿAbd Allah Shah Ashābi رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه. He was a high-ranking saint who travelled extensively and performed many miracles.^[3]

3.   Respected by people from all walks of life, Khwaja Darwesh Muhammad رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه was born on 16 Shawwal, 846 AH, and passed away on 19 Muharram, 970 AH. His shrine is in Kitab, Uzbekistan.  He was the nephew and spiritual heir of Khwaja Muhammad Zāhid رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه. As a god-fearing ascetic, he preferred to adopt precautionary legal opinions.^[4]

4.   Khwaja Muhammad Ṣādiq Gangohī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْهthe acclaimed master and shaykh of the Chishtī Ṣābirī order—was born on 17 Rabi al-Akhir, 987 AH and passed away on 19 Muharram, 1053 AH. His mausoleum is in Gangoh, Ambala District (Eastern Punjab, India). He was a man of deep spiritual unveilings and miracles and an embodiment of sincere devotion to Allah, spirituality, asceticism, and piety.^[5]

5.   The Naqshbandī master, Khwaja Mirza Mazhar Jān-e-Jāna ʿAlawī Dihlawī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه—known as the “Sun of the Faith” (Shams al-Dīn)—was born on 11 Ramadan, 1110 AH. He held expertise in religious and secular sciences, was a prolific poet in Persian and Urdu, and renowned for his unwavering commitment to Islamic teachings. He was wounded in an assassination attempt and was martyred on 10 Muharram 1195 AH. His mausoleum is in Khanqah Shah Abu al-Khayr, Delhi. He authored six books, including Diwan-e-Mazhar in Persian.^[6]

6.   Mawlana Muhammad Zayn al-Dīn Makhdawī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه was born in Angah, Khushab District, and he passed away on 13 Muharram, 1295 AH, in Makhad (Jand Township, Attock District). He had expertise in various sciences, memorised the textbooks used to train scholars, and became a central figure for seekers of knowledge across South Asia and surrounding regions. He was the teacher of teachers, a lover of Islamic books, a man of spiritual insight, and the second custodian of Darbar Mawlana Muhammad Ali Makhdawi.^[7]

7.   The foremost gnostic, Sayyid Shah Mansab ʿAlī Kichochwi رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه was the son of Makhdoom Shah Qalandar Bakhsh رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه. He was a man of patience, contentment, and had complete trust in Allah Almighty. Despite a difficult family situation, he remained committed to propagating the spiritual path. He passed away in Muharram 1307 AH, in Kichocha, and was buried by the pond of Neer Sharif, close to the masjid.^[8]

Noble Scholars رَحِمَهُمُ الـلّٰـهُ الـسَّـلَام:

8.   Shaykh Shahāza al-Yamani al-Shāfiʿī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه was the shaykh of the Quran reciters in his time. He was born at the start of the 10^th century Hijri, in Kafr al-Yaman, Qalyubia, Egypt. He was a hafiz and an expert reciter of the Quran, a seasoned jurisconsult, and a senior lecturer at al-Azhar University. Devoted to teaching and propagating the science of Quranic recitation, he emerged as a celebrated teacher of the Quran, highly regarded for his piety and good nature. After completing Hajj, he visited Madina and passed away there in Muharram 978 or 987 AH. He was laid to rest in al-Baqīʿ cemetery.^[9]

9.   The renowned scholar and central figure of Islamic scholarship in South Asia, Shah Wali Allah Ahmad Dihlawī Fārūqī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه was born in 1110 AH, in Delhi and passed away there on 29 Muharram, 1176 AH. He was an erudite scholar, the pivotal link in hadith transmission in that part of the world, and a gnostic with deep spiritual insight. His better-known works include al-Fawz al-Kabīr, , al-Intibāh fī Salāsil Awliyāʾ Allah, Hamaat, and Hujjat Allah al-Bāligha.^[10]

10.   Khalifa of Ameer al-Millah Mawlana Hafiz Zafar Ali Pasrūrī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه was born to a Hashmi family in 1290 AH, in Pasroor (Sialkot District, Punjab). He passed away on 24 Muharram, 1337 AH and was laid to rest in the cemetery near Darwaza District. He had memorised the Qurʾān and was an eloquent orator and poet. He would accompany Ameer al-Millah Pir Sayyid Jama’at Ali Shah Muhaddith Alipur Sayyidan رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه in order to propagate the religion, and he would punctually recite the litanies prescribed to him by his spiritual guide.^[11]

11.   Mawlana Qadi Abū al-Ḥaqāʾiq ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq Hashimī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه was born in 1334 AH, and he passed away on 4 Muharram, 1414 AH. He was buried in Qutbal (Fateh Jang, Attock District). As an accomplished scholar affiliated with Dargah Ghawthiyya Golra Sharif, he penned 14 books and epistles. He served Jami’ Masjid Qutbal and then Masjid Malkan as an imam. He was also a preacher for the Pakistan armed forces, and served in the government’s education department.^[12]