Khawaja Haji Shareef al-Zandani Rahmatullahi ‘alayh was a master in the field of the undertaking of mujaheda and riyazat. He used to perform his salaah with great love and used to get so engrossed in it, that even if someone tried to disturb or harm him he would be totally unaware of it. The people questioned him as to the reason for his engrossment to such a level, to which he replied;
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Khawaja Shaykh Qutb al-Din Mawdud al-Chisti [d.527H/1133CE] ‘alayhi al-rahmah wa’l-ridwan
Hadrat Khawaja Mawdud al-Chishti aka Shams Sufiyaan, Chiraag Chishtiyaan, was a great sufi saint and a learned Islamic scholar of his time. He was a successor to his father and murshid ABU YUSUF NASIR AL-DIN BIN SAMAAN, in the Chishti silsila, and the murshid of KHAWAJA HAJI SHAREEF AL-ZANDANI Rahmatullahi alayh.
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Shaykh Abu Muhammad bin abi Ahmad [d. 411H/1020CE] ‘alayhi al-rahmah wa’l-ridwan
Khawaja Abu Muhammad bin Abi Ahmad [331- 411 H] aka Waliyud Deen aka Naasihud Deen was a renowned saint of the Chishti Order. He was a student and successor of Abu Ahmad Abdal [d.356H] and murshid [spiritual guide] of Abu Yusuf Bin Samaan [d.459H] who was also his sister’s son. He was born in the month of Muharram [331 Hijri-940 CE]. At the age of 7, he became a student of Abu Ahmad Abdal. He is also reported to have participated in the army of Sultan Mahmood Ghaznavi.
Continue reading“As Africans and as Muslims, the people who lived their faith in the dreadful oppression of American slavery contributed to the social, religious and cultural fabric of this country. The Muslims’ legacy, acknowledged or not, lives on. Their story is an African story, a Muslim story, and an American story.”
![Omar ibn Said, born in Senegal in 1770, held onto Islamic practices while enslaved for decades in the US [Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University]](https://ihsan.center/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/screen-shot-2020-11-15-at-1.26.53-pm-1.jpg)
Omar ibn Said, born in Senegal in 1770, held onto Islamic practices while enslaved for decades in the US [Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University]
For more than 300 years Muslims have influenced the story of the US – from the ‘founding fathers’ to blues music today.
Source: Muslims in America: A forgotten history
In the summer of 1863, newspapers in North Carolina announced the death of “a venerable African”, referred to, in a paternalistic manner, as “Uncle Moreau”.
Omar ibn Said, a Muslim, was born in 1770 in Senegal and by the time of his death, he had been enslaved for 56 years. In 2021, Omar, an opera about his life, will premiere at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina.
Hazrat Moulana Fakhr al-Din(ra) (also spelled Fakrudin) was one of the most brilliant of Islamic scholars in India, as well as being one of the most popular of the Chishtia saints. Indeed, this noble personality’s influence is so great that it is said that after Khwaja Moinudeen Chishti (rahmatullahi alaihi) and his immediate successors (the Big Five), Moulana Fakhr al-Din(ra) is regarded as being the most influential figure in the spread of the Chishtia order. All contemporary branches of the order are directly linked to the great Moulana, and his services and dedication to Islam have rarely been equalled.
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