Shaykh Abdul Qādir Jilāni Life and Teachings

In Shaykh Abdul Qādir Jilāni: Life and Teachings, Abdul Kader Choughley, a reputed South African scholar, with over a dozen classics published in various fields of Islamic studies, delves deep into the life and teachings of the medieval Sufi master par excellence, Abdul Qādir Jilāni (1077-1166). The Shaykh is widely known in the Muslim world as Muhiyuddin (reviver of the religion), denoting his enormous contribution to the revival of the true spirit of Islam and its teachings in the crucial post-classical age of Islam, by freeing Sufism from superstitious and syncretic practices, thus making it in accordance with the teachings of the Qur’ān and the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him). The eponym of the Qādiriyya, one of the oldest Sufi orders, Shaykh Jilāni was also an insightful jurist, author, deeply involved himself in the quest for justice and building of social and political system based on the principles of Islam. Choughley’s study, deeply analytical and objective, covers all these multifaceted aspects of the Shaykh’s life, along with introductory analyses of his works such as Futuh Al-Ghaib (Secrets of the Unseen), Al-Fatḥ ar-Rabbānī (The Sublime Revelation), Ghunyat al-Ṭālibin (Treasure for Seekers) and Jila’ Al-Khatir (The Purification of heart). A very unique feature of the volume is a detailed study of Tafsir Jilāni, the manuscript of which was found approximately eight hundred years after the Shaykh’s death.

Abdul Kader Choughley, the author of the volume, has contributed enormously to the revival of South Asian Muslim scholarship, during the past decade or so, with several valuable studies on Islam in South Asia, focusing on Islamic revivalism. And he deserves accolades for his insightful works such as Fazlur Rahman Ansari Aligarh Years: 1933-1947, Tradition of Tafsir (Qur’ānic Exegesis) in the Indian Subcontinent and the two-volume Dr Ansari Series: Moral and Spiritual Transformation in Islam (Selected Writings and Lectures, Vol.1), Moral and Spiritual Transformation in Islam (Muhammad Fazlur Rahman Ansari’s Lectures in South Africa: Reflections, Vol. 2), published by Tawasul International, Rome, 2024. One of Ansari’s works, Islam: An Introduction (2019), edited by Choughley, has been recently translated into Portuguese. An upcoming work, The Qur’ānic Revelation, is an overview of Dr Ansari’s comprehensive study in the genre of Quranic studies.