Hazrat Khwājā Hājī Dost Muhammad Qandahārī Naqshbandī (1801-1868), may
Allah sanctify his soul, was the chief deputy and spiritual successor to
Shāh Ahmad Saeed Mujaddidi Faruqi (d. 1860), and lived in the 19th
century in areas currently in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
He was born to Khwājā Mullā Alī of Durrānī family in 1216 AH
(1801/1802 C.E) near Kandahar, Afghanistan. Starting his early education
in his parental village, he later moved to Kabul to seek further
education in Islamic sciences.
While studying, he also developed a strong love and passion for the
way of Sufism and the love of Awliya. Once he went to the shrine of Baba
Wali along with other students. On the way there, they met a Majzūb (a
saint) who told something for everyone. When his turn came, the majzūb
said: “This student will be a man of perfection and among the saints,
and will become a perfected walī (saint), as the signs of Marifah are evident in his forehead.”
Later, he went to the Haramain (the holy cities of Makkah and
Madinah) and stayed there for many years. There, he would perform the
Hajj and afterwards go to the illuminated city of Madinah and study
there. He had heard about the great saint and shaykh of that time Shah
Abdullah alias Ghulam Ali Dehlavi Naqshbandi who lived in Delhi. Thus he
left for Delhi, traveling through Kandahar, Ghazni and Kabul. When he
reached Peshawar, he heard about the demise of the shaykh. This news
saddened his heart and he turned back from there to Kandahar and Kabul
to seek further education.
During this time, his heart had been alighted in the love of Allah
and he would often cry and weep for long times. Sometimes, he would fall
unconscious for many days. His heart was burning and his soul was
restless. To extinguish his spiritual thirst, he went to Baghdad to the
holy shrine of Ghaus al-Azam Sayyidina Abdul Qadir Jilani, may Allah be
pleased with him. Later he went to Herat in the presence of Shaykh
Abdullah Herati, a khalifa of Mawlana Khalid al-Baghdadi al-Kurdi who
was one of the most important deputies of Shah Abdullah Dehlavi. After
spending there three months, he came back to Baghdad and stayed in the
company of Shaykh Muhammad Jadeed, another khalifa of Mawlana Khalid.
But considering that his spiritual restless could not be calmed down
anywhere, he finally set out for the company of Shah Abu Saeed Dehlavi,
the chief khalifa and successor of Shah Abdullah Dehlavi.
He reached in Mumbai in 1834 and met the shaykh who was waiting for
the ship to leave for the pilgrimage of Hajj. The shaykh advised him to
go to his son Hazrat Shah Ahmad Saeed Faruqi Mujaddidi (who was also a
khalifa of Shah Abdullah Delhavi) and receive spiritual training and
Fayd from him. Thus he journeyed to his final destination Delhi and came
to the presence of Shah Ahmad Saeed, the leading shaykh of the
Naqshbandi tariqa there. When he looked at the shining face of his
shaykh for the first time, all his restlessness and burning of heart was
extinguished and all his worries came to an end.
He received Fayd and blessings and Sufi training from his master and
shaykh Shah Ahmad Saeed and was awarded absolute khilāfah after 14
months (in 1836). He was trained and perfected in the Naqshbandi
Mujaddidi tariqa, the golden Sufi order, but also received authority of
seven other Sufi orders, namely Qadri, Chishti, Suhrawardi, Qalandari,
Kubravi, Maddari and Shattari tariqas.
The complete chains of these orders are listed in biographical works
of the masters of this tariqa. The golden chain of the Naqshbandi order
up to Imam Rabbāni Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi is presented here:
- Hazrat Khwājā Dost Muhammad Qandahārī
- Hazrat Shāh Ahmad Saeed Mujaddidī Fārūqī
- Hazrat Shāh Abū Saeed Mujaddidī Fārūqī
- Hazrat Shāh Ghulām Alī Dehlavī
- Hazrat Mirzā Mazhar Jān-e-Jānān
- Hazrat Sayyid Noor Muhammad Badāyūnī
- Hazrat Hāfiz Muhammad Mohsin Dehlavī
- Hazrat Khwājā Saif ad-Dīn Sirhindī
- Hazrat Khwājā Muhammad Ma’soom Sirhindī
- Hazrat Imām Rabbānī Mujaddid Alf Sānī Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindī Fārūqī
His shaykh sent him back to Afghanistan to teach the Mujaddidi tariqa
to the people. He soon got famous and thousands of people turned to him
for spiritual guidance, including the scholars and Sufi shaykhs. He
established three permanent khanqahs where he would stay in different
parts of the year. His final khanqah which also became his burial place
was at Mūsā Zaī Sharif, in district Derā Ismāīl Khān, present-day
Pakistan.
His shaykh once said that Hājī Dost Muhammad is to me as Mawlana
Khalid Baghdadi was to my shaykh. He had hundreds of deputies even
within the life of his shaykh who spread the tariqa to many areas in
Afghanistan and present-day Pakistan. His chief khalifa and spiritual
heir was Hazrat Khwāja Muhammad Usmān Dāmāni (d. 1897).
A few names among his prominent khulafa are:
- Hazrat Khwāja Muhammad Usmān Dāmāni (d. 1897)
- Hazrat Mawlana Amān-Allah Herāti
- Hazrat Mawlana Muhammad Ãdil, Zhob, Balochistan
- Hazrat Mawlana Rahīm Bakhsh Ajmeri
- Hazrat Mawlana Ghulam Hasan, Derā Ismāīl Khān
- Hazrat Mawlana Sher Muhammad, Kulāchi
- Hazrat Shaikh Mulla Qitār Akhundzādā (d.1300 AH)
He passed away on 22 Shawwal 1284 AH (16/17 February 1868) and was
buried in Mūsā Zaī sharīf, the noble khānqāh established by him , in
district Derā Ismāīl Khān, now in Pakistan.
His letters (Maktūbāt), written in Persian, have been published, and
their Urdu translation is also available with the name
Tuhfa-e-Ibraheemiya.
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