Shaykh Ismail ash-Shirwani

Excerpt from the book The Naqshbandi Sufi Order: History and Guidebook of the Saints of the Golden Chain

His Early Life and Training

He received his education in Daghestan through his father, who was one of the greatest scholars of his time in his country, ash-Shaykh Anwar ash-Shirwani. He educated young Isma'il in the memorization of Qur'an. Young Isma'il memorized the whole Qur'an by the age of seven. He then spent time memorizing the seven different readings of the Qur'an. At the age of nine he began learning Jurisprudence and the Science of Prophetic Narrations from ash-Shaykh Abdur-Rahman ad-Daghestani. At that young age, he was able to give the evidences from Qur'an and Hadith for almost any question of fiqh (jurisprudence).

One day he was struck by a Heavenly Influence/Attraction which made him lose awareness of himself completely and brought him into a State of Self-Effacement. It was this state, in which he was lost to himself, that made him wander through forests and deserts, searching for the Reality in his heart. Then one day he had a vision, in which a voice told him "you must direct yourself towards Delhi, where you will go and learn from it scholars and its shaykhs. And you might have the luck to meet with the successors of Shaykh Abdullah ad-Dahlawi.

He set out on foot for Delhi, walking day and night without conveyance or riding beast. He took one year to reach Delhi and his shaykh, Sayyidina 'Abdullah ad-Dahlawi.

There he stayed in his khaniqah, learning from him. He was in his service for many years, until Mawlana Khalid al-Baghdadi came from Damascus and was handed the leadership of the Order from Shaykh Abdullah Ad-Dahlawi. He met Shaykh Khalid in the year 1224 H. when he came to India to meet Shaykh Abdullah ad-Dahlawi and to take the Order from his hand. Shaykh Isma'il used to carefully observe the behavior of Mawlana Khalid with Shaykh Abdullah. He was very impressed by the manner and sincerity with which he served the shaykh. Shaykh Abdullah once looked at Sayyidina Isma'ail and said, "your secrets are with Shaykh Khalid. When he returns to his country you will follow him."

His Jihad

Shaykh Ismail, during his sojourn in his home-country, spread the Order throughout Daghestan and encouraged his people to fight the Russians, who were opposed to religion and spirituality. His followers were soon everywhere, and many of them became active in the war against the Russians. They were tireless in spreading the Naqshbandi Order throughout Daghestan, until every city and every house was known as Naqshbandi.

Imam Shamyl ad-Daghestani ash-Shashani and Mullah Fawzi, the leaders of the movement against the Russians, were among his followers. For 36 years, under his directorship, and the directorship of his immediate successors in the lineage, they defended his country from the irreligious Russian onslaught.

Here we quote what Leslie Blanch said about Shaykh Isma'il, in her book "Sabres of Paradise," page 58:

"At the end of the eighteenth Century Isma'il Effendi revived its [the Naqshbandi Order's] teaching in all its degrees: Shari'ah the law, Tariqat the Path, and Haqiqat the Truth. The movement had an immediate response: it gripped the people, took root and began spreading as a religio-political movement, threatening the Russians, who were in uneasy control of this area having lately acquired it in a victory over the Persians."

In the book Naqshbandis, May 1985, edited by Marc Gaborieau, page 35 says,

"the Naqshbandi Order appears to have first reached Daghestan in the 18th Century from the Black Sea Region of Eastern Anatolia. But a more vigorous implantation of the Order came several decades later, when a number of Daghestani murids of Shaykh Ismail of Amasya, a calipha of Mawlana Khalid, commenced activity among the Caucasian mountaineers. Their purpose was both to suppress non-Islamic customary law and to substitute for it an integral application of the shari'ah and to resist the extension of Russian rule into Daghestan."

His Succession

He passed his secret to his three caliphs who were all alive in his time. This multiple succession was similar to that in the time of Sayyidina Shah Naqshband, when he passed the secret of the Order to many caliphs; but is different from that time, in that Shah Naqshband passed the main secret to only one: Sayyidina Ala'uddin al-Attar, whereas Shaykh Isma'il passed it to three: Shaykh Khaas Muhammad ash-Shirwani, Shaykh Muhammad Effendi al-Yaraghi al-Kurali, and Sayyid Jamaluddin al-Ghumuqi al-Husayni.

Sayyidina Isma'il Shirwani informed his three caliphs of a prediction of their futures,

"I am passing to each of you the secret of the Order, at the same time, by order of... my shaykh Khalid al-Baghdadi... Each one of you will be carrying the secret of this Golden Chain with the same power, but your ascension to the Throne of Guidance will be in sequence, and each of you will keep the relations with the other as I say now: directly after me the authority of that secret will be in the hand of Shaykh Khaas Muhammad ash-Shirwani; then it will be in the hand of Muhammad Effendi al-Yaraghi al-Kurali; then it will be put in the hand of Sayyid Jamaluddin al-Ghumuqi al-Husayni."

Here the wonder of this prediction of the shaykh, Sayyidina Isma'il, was that he was telling his caliphs who was going to live longest and the order of their passing. And just as he predicted the manner and order of their succession, it came to pass.

From His Sayings

He said, "If a person devoted himself to God, the Sublime and Majestic, the first benefit he will receive will be that he will no longer be in need of people."

He said, "the sweet smell of the lovers of God will arise from them and and spread, and even if they try to conceal it they will not be able to, wherever they come from and to whereever they go."

He said, "whoever hears wisdom and does not apply it is a hypocrite."

He said, "the company of the heretics is an illness and the medicine for it is to leave them."

He said, "God, the Sublime and Majestic, said, 'whoever is patient with Us will reach Us.'"

He said, God provides his servants with the sweetness of His Dhikr, if he thanks God and is happy with that, he will provide him Familiarity to him, and if he is not thankful and happy with that, he will take the sweetness from him and leave it only on his tongue."

He used to say, "Sufism is Purity; it is not a description; and it is a truth without an end, and it is like a river of red roses."

He said, "Tasawwuf (Sufism) is to walk with the Secrets of God."