d. 1300 H. in Damascus
© bmk
Al-Amir Abdul Qadir al-Jazairi was a great scholar, sufi and warrior. He spent over a decade fighting the french colonizers in Algeria. He was then deported as a war prisoner to Marseille in France, where his presence made a great impact on people. The christians recognized in him a man of great spiritual standing and celebrated him as a saint, and he was conferred the medal of honor.
Upon regaining his freedom, he came to settle in Damascus. His first dwelling in Damascus was in the house of al-Sheikh al-Akbar, Sheikh Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-Arabi (radiya Allah 3anh), which is next to the Mosque (this mosque was built over the home of al-Shiekh al-Akbar centuries after his demise).
He was amply rewarded by the Othoman rulers for his jihad, and with this money he bought several houses in Damascus. One of them is the historical house of Dar al-Hadith, where imam al-Nawawi once taught, and where a pair of sandals of the Prophet (s) were once kept. This house had fallen into the hands of christians, and al-Amir freed it by buying it, and passed it over to Sheikh Yusuf al-Hasani, the father of the muhaddith of Sham. Sheikh Badru al-Din al-Hasani. Sheikh Badru al-Din grew up there studying hadith since childhood. (Unfortunately, this house does not exist as it was - it was destroyed in a fire some 100 years ago.)
Al-Amir Abdul Qadir was also a muhaddith, who used to gather people for recital of the grand books of hadith. He used to recite the entire book of Sahih Bukhari, and he recited the Sahih Muslim in the maqam of Sayyiduna al-Husayn in the Umawi mosque ()
Al-Amir Abdul Qadir al-Jaza'iri and Sheikh Muhammad al-Tayyib were both khalifas of the great Shadhili Sheikh Muhammad ibn Mas3ud al-Fasi (from whom we have the Yaqoutiyya) - may Allah be pleased with him.
It is recorded that they (Al-Amir Abdul Qadir and Sheikh Muhammad al-Tayyib) travelled together to Konya in Turkey, to verify a copy of al-Futuhat al-Makkyya of Sheikh Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-3Arabi. They recited the entire book, comparing it to a copy that exists in Konya.
Al-Amir Abdul Qadir was buried next to the tomb of Sheikh Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-Arabi in Damascus. Later his body ws transferred to Algeria, but the tomb stone is still preserved (see front pic on damas.st).
Amongst his writings is a book entitled "al-Mawaqif al-Ruhiyya" which is available in modern print, containing spiritual discourses.
Al-Amir `Abd al-Qadir wrote a very long poem in praise of his Sheikh, our Master Muhammad ibn Mas3ud al-Fasi. Here an excerpt, narrating his meeting with him Makka, year 1279:
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O Mas`ud! may fortune come, and goodness and ease,
may the armies of darkness turn back, no longer mentioned.
My nights are (nights of) obstruction, being cut off and estranged,
separated from the Masters - unnameable (is this) separation.
Days have become gloomy, and black
the nights; no stars are there to light it up, and no fullmoon.
My bed in (these nights) is filled of anxiety and emaciation,
the side gives me no pleasure in it, nor does the back.
All night I call, with a heart enthralled by love,
and passion burning for what the breast desires.
O my Master! The separation has been long, patience is broken,
O my Master! will there, after this night, be a daybreak?
Aid - o you who aid those who seek aid - one who has lost his senses (because of love and grief),
stricken with harm, after his beloved ones (left).
I call to ask all creation: is there any announcer of news,
who can tell me about them, that the news may revive me?
Until the Sheikh's aspiration called me from a distance
afar: O come near! I have a treasure for you!
So I tucked up the lose end of my izar, and was carried,
on wings of yearning, that will never break.
For the one who loves, Tihama is not far,
ease does not divert him, nor does roughness (deter him) –
Until we made our camels kneel down in the Valley,
and I dismounted my saddle, and joy for it was complete.
A Valley in which the mighty House is the Qibla –
nothing except what's beyond it can boast such greatness.
A Valley in which lawful game is prohibited –
whoever makes it lawful, the load of his crime rests on him.
He came to me, who raises (adepts to the level of) gnostics,
and nothing was strange – every matter became clear.
He said: "I have been, for so many hajj seasons
awaiting your meeting, o fullmoon!
You are my beloved son, since (Allah said) "Am I not your Lord?
truely, this hour is enclosed in the Tablet and the Scriptures."
Your grandfather gave you a foot, in which for us is
your treasure – what a good a treasure!
Thus I kissed his feet and his carpet
and he said: "Good tidings to you, now fate is accomplished."
And he cast over my brass his secret's Elixir,
and to him was said: "This is an ore of pure gold"Statistik: Postat av b — ons mar 17, 2010 1:50
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