Khâlid-i Baghdâdî

Mevlana Halid-i Bagdadi, Halid-î Bağdadî, Mevlana Halid, Mawlana Khalid, al-Khalid or Khâlid-i Baghdâdî (1779–1827) was an Iraqi Kurdish Sufi, by the name of Shaykh Diya al-Dīn Khalid al-Shahrazuri, the founder of a branch of the Naqshbandi Sufi order - called Khalidi after him - that has had a profound impact not only on his native Kurdish lands but also on many other regions of the western Islamic world.

Mawlana Khalid acquired the nesba Baghdadi through his frequent stays in Baghdad, for it was in the town of Karadağ (Qaradagh) in the Shahrizur region, about 5 miles from Sulaymaniyah, that he was born in 1779. His father was a Qadiri Sufi who was popularly known as Pir Mika'il Shesh-angosht, and his mother also came from a celebrated Sufi family in Kurdistan.

He was an influential Ottoman mystic, who is believed by his followers to have been capable of time travel (Tayyi Zaman). His best known books are Mecd-i Talid (Big Birth) and Shems'u Shumus (The Sun of All Suns).

Early life

He was born in the year 1779 in the village of Karadağ, near the city of Sulaymaniyyah, in what is now Iraq. He was raised and trained in Sulaymaniyyah, where there were many schools and many mosques and which was considered the primary educational city of his time.

His grandfather was Par Mika'il Chis Anchit, which means Mika'il the Saint of the six fingers. His title is `Uthmani because he is a descendant of Sayyidina `Uthman ibn `Affan, the third caliph of Islam. He studied the Qur'an and its explanation and fiqh according to the Shafi`i school. He was famous in poetry. When he was fifteen years of age he took asceticism as his creed, hunger as his horse, wakefulness as his means, seclusion as his friend, and energy as his light.

Young Khalid studied with the two great scholars of his time, Shaykh `Abdul Karam al-Barzinji and Shaykh `Abdur Rahim al-Barzinji, and he read with Mullah Muhammad `Ali. He studied the sciences of mathematics, philosophy, and logic as well as the principles of jurisprudence. He studied the works of Ibn Hajar, as-Suyuti, and al-Haythami. He memorized the commentary on Qur'an by Baydawi. He was able to find solutions for even the most difficult questions in jurisprudence. He memorized the Qur'an according to the fourteen different ways of recitation, and became very famous everywhere for this.

For many years Mawlana Khalid's interests were focused exclusively on the formal traditions of Islamic learning, and his later, somewhat abrupt, turning to Sufism is highly reminiscent of the patterns in many a classic Sufi biography.

He began his studies in Qaradagh, with Qur'an memorization, Shafi fiqh, and elementary logic. He then traveled to other centers of religious study in Kurdistan, concentrating on logic and kalam. Next he came to Baghdad, where he astounded the established ulema with his learning and bested them in debates on many topics. Such was his mastery of the religious sciences that the governor of Baban proposed him a post as modarres, but he modestly refused. However, when Abd al-Karim Barzanki died of the plague in 1799, Mawlana Khalid assumed the responsibility for the madrasa in Sulaymaniyah he had founded. He remained there for about seven years, distinguished as yet only by his great learning and a high degree of asceticism that caused him to shun the company of secular authority.

He then entered seclusion, leaving everything he had studied behind, engaging in virtuous actions and much dhikr.

Awakening to Sufism

In 1805 Mawlana Khalid decided to perform hajj, and the journey he undertook as a result turned his aspirations to Sufism. On his way he stopped in Medina for a few days and encountered an anonymous saintly Yemeni, who prophetically warned not to condemn hastily anything he might see in Mecca apparently contradicting the sharia. He traveled to Tihamah and Hijaz through Mosul and Yarbikir and ar-Raha and Aleppo and finally Damascus. There he spent some time, meeting its scholars and studying with the master of both ancient and modern knowledge, scholar of hadith, Shaykh Muhammad al-Kuzbari. He received authorization in the Qadiri Tariqat from Shaykh al-Kuzbari and his deputy, Shaykh Mustafa al-Kurdi, who travelled with him until he reached Medina. Once in Mecca, he went to the Kaaba where he saw a man sitting with his back to the sacred structure and facing him. Forgetting his admonition, he inwardly reproved the man, who asked "do you not know that the worth of the believer is greater in Allah's eyes than the worth of the Kaaba?" Penitent and overwhelmed, Mawlana Khalid asked for forgiveness and begged the stranger to accept him as a disciple. He refused, telling him that his master awaited him in India.

After the hajj he returned to Solaymaniya and his duties at the madrasa but was inwardly agitated by the desire to find his destined master. Finally, in 1809, an Indian dervish by the name of Mirza Rahim-Allah 'Azimabadi visited Sulaymaniyah. Shaykh Khalid asked him about the perfect guide to show him the way and Shaykh Mirza told him, "There is one perfect Shaykh who observes the character of the Prophet and is a guide in the gnosis (ma`rifah). Come to his service in Jehanabad (India) for he told me before I left, 'You are going to meet someone, bring him back with you.'" He recommended that Mawlana Khalid travel to India and seek initiation from a Naqshbandi sheikh of Delhi, Shah Abdullah Dehlavi. Mawlana Khalid departed immediately.

In India

He reached Delhi in about a year (1809). His journey took him through Rey, Tehran, and other provinces of Iran. He then traveled to the city of Herat in Afghanistan, followed by Kandahar, Kabul, and Peshawar. The great scholars of all these cities with whom he met would often test his knowledge in the sciences of Divine Law (shari'a) and Divine Awareness (ma`rifat), and those of logic, mathematics, and astronomy always found him immensely knowledgeable.

He moved on to Lahore, where he met with Shaykh Thana'ullah an-Naqshbandi and asked for his prayers. He recalled, "I left Lahore, crossing mountains and valleys, forests and deserts until I reached the Sultanate of Delhi known as Jehanabad. It took me one year to reach his city. Forty days before I arrived Shaykh Abdullah ad-Dehlawi told his followers, 'My successor is coming.'"

He was initiated into the Naqshbandi order by Shah Abdullah. In five months he completed all stages of spiritual wayfaring as required by the Naqshbandi's and that in a year he attained the highest degree of sainthood (al-welaya al-kobra). He was then sent back to Sulaymaniyah by Shah Abdullah, will full authority to act as his khalifa in western Asia and to grant initiation not only in the Naqshbandi but also in the Qaderi, Sohrawardi, Kobrawi and Chishti orders.

After enduring hostilities from rival sheikhs in Solaymaniya, he travelled to Baghdad and Damascus where he preached the Naqshbandi way with considerable success. He remained in Damascus for the remainder of his life, appointing Sheikh Ismail Anarani as his chief khalifa before he died in June 1827. He was buried on one of the foothills of Jabal Qasiyun, on the edge of the Turkish quarter of Damascus. Later a building was erected over the tomb, comprising a zawia and a library which are still frequented.

Achievements and Legacy

Mawlana Khalid is credited with establishing the Khalidi, a new branch of the Naqshbandi order. Much of his significance lies in his giving renewed emphasis to traditional tennets and practices of the Naqshbandi, notably adherence to the sharia and sunnah and avoidance of vocal dhikr in preference of silent performance. Some elements of his teachings were controversial, even among other Naqshbandi, foremost being his interpretation of the practice of rabeta - the linking, in the imagination, of the heart of the Murid with that of the preceptor. He proclaimed that rabeta was to be practiced exclusively with reference to himself, even after his death.

Proportionally important for the identity of the Khalidi branch was its political orientation. It was characterised by a pronounced loyalty to the Ottoman state as an object of Muslim unity and cohesion, and a concomitant hostility to the imperialist nations of Europe. Almost everywhere the Khalidiya went, from Daghestan to Sumatra, its members could be identified for their militant attitudes and activities.

The spread of his following was vast, reaching from the Balkans and the Crimea to South East Asia just one generation after his death. His primary following was in the Islamic heartlands - the Arab, Turkish, and Kurdish provinces of the Ottoman Empire and the Kurdish areas of Iran. Nearly everywhere in Anatolia the Khalidi branch of the Naqshbandi came to supersede branches of senior origin.

Mawlana Khalid had a pronounced impact on the religious life of his native Kurdistan. For the Kurds, Islamic practice was traditionally connected with membership in a Sufi brotherhood, and the Qaderi order had predominated in most Kurdish areas. With the emergence of the Khalidiya, the Qadiriyyah lost their preeminence to the Naqshbandi. Kurdish identity became associated with the Khalidi branch of the Naqshbandi, and this, coupled with the hereditary nature of leadership of the order in Kurdistan, accounts for the prominence of various Naqshbandi families in Kurdistan to the present.

His place in the Khalidiyya Golden Chain

Main articles: Khalidiyya and Silsila

#	Name	Buried	Birth	Death
1	Sayyadna Muhammad the last Prophet	Madinah, Saudi Arabia	Mon 12 Rabi al-Awwal (570/571 CE)	12 Rabi al-Awwal 11 AH (5/6 June 632 CE)
2	Sayyadna Abu Bakr Siddiq	Madinah, Saudi Arabia		22 Jumada al-Thani 13 AH (22 August 634 C.E)
3	Sayyadna Salman al-Farsi	Mada'in, Iraq		10 Rajab 33 AH (4/5 February 654 C.E)
4	Imām Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr, son of son of (2)	Madinah, Saudi Arabia	23 Shaban 24 AH (22/23 June 645 C.E)	24 Jumada al-Thani 101/106/107 AH
5	Imām Jafar Sadiq, son of granddaughter of (2)	Madinah, Saudi Arabia	8 Ramadan 80 AH (5/6 November 699 C.E)	15 Rajab 148 AH (6/7 September 765 C.E)
6	Khwaja Bayazid Bastami	Bistam, Semnan province, Iran	186 AH (804 C.E)	15 Shaban 261 AH (24/25 May 875 C.E)
7	Khwaja Abul-Hassan Kharaqani	Kharaqan, near Bistam, Semnan province, Iran	352 AH (963 C.E)	10 Muharram 425 AH (5/6 December 1033 C.E)
8	Khwaja Abu Ali Farmadi	Toos, Khurasan, Iran	434 AH (1042/1043 C.E)	4 Rabi al-Awwal 477 or 511 AH (10 July 1084 / 6 July 1117)
9	Khwaja Abu Yaqub Yusuf Hamadānī	Marv, near Mary, Turkmenistan	440 AH (1048/1049 C.E)	Rajab 535 AH (Feb/Mar 1141 C.E)
10	Khwaja Abdul Khaliq Ghujdawani	Ghajdawan, Bukhara, Uzbekistan	22 Shaban 435 AH (24/25 March 1044 C.E)	12 Rabi al-Awwal 575 AH (17/18 August 1179 C.E)
11	Khwaja Arif Reogari	Reogar, near Bukhara, Uzbekistan	27 Rajab 551 AH (15 September 1156 C.E)	1 Shawwal 616 AH (10/11 December 1219 C.E.)
12	Khwaja Mahmood Anjir-Faghnawi	Bukhara, Uzbekistan	18 Shawwal 628 AH (18/19 August 1231 C.E)	17 Rabi al-Awwal 717 AH (29/30 May 1317 C.E)
13	Khwaja Azizan Ali Ramitani	Khwaarizm, Uzbekistan	591 AH (1194 C.E)	27 Ramadan 715 or 721 AH (25/26 December 1315 or 20/21 October 1321)
14	Khwaja Muhammad Baba Samasi	Samaas, Bukhara, Uzbekistan	25 Rajab 591 AH (5/6 July 1195 C.E)	10 Jumada al-Thani 755 AH (2/3 July 1354 C.E)
15	Khwaja Sayyid Amir Kulal	Saukhaar, Bukhara, Uzbekistan	676 AH (1277/1278 C.E)	Wed 2 Jumada al-Thani 772 AH (21/22 December 1370 C.E)
16	Khwaja Muhammad Baha'ud-Dīn Naqshband Bukhari	Qasr-e-Aarifan, Bukhara, Uzbekistan	4 Muharram 718 AH (8/9 March 1318 C.E)	3 Rabi al-Awwal 791 AH (2/3 March 1389 C.E)
17	Khwaja Ala'ud-Dīn Attar Bukhari, son-in-law of (17)	Jafaaniyan, Transoxiana (Uzbekistan)		Wed 20 Rajab 804 AH (23 February 1402 C.E)
18	Khwaja Yaqub Charkhi	Gulistan, Dushanbe, Tajkistan	762 AH (1360/1361 C.E)	5 Safar 851 AH (21/22 April 1447 C.E)
19	Khwaja Ubaidullah Ahrar	Samarkand, Uzbekistan	Ramadan 806 AH (March/April 1404 C.E)	29 Rabi al-Awwal 895 AH (19/20 February 1490 C.E)
20	Khwaja Muhammad Zahid Wakhshi	Wakhsh	14 Shawwal 852 AH (11/12 December 1448 C.E)	1 Rabi al-Awwal 936 AH (3/4 November 1529 C.E)
21	Khwaja Durwesh Muhammad, son of sister of (21)	Asqarar, Uzbekistan	16 Shawwal 846 AH (17/18 February 1443 C.E)	19 Muharram 970 AH (18/19 September 1562 C.E)
22	Khwaja Muhammad Amkanaki, son of (22)	Amkana, Bukhara, Uzbekistan	918 AH (1512/1513 C.E)	22 Shaban 1008 AH (8/9 March 1600 C.E)
23	Khwaja Muhammad Baqi Billah Berang	Delhi, India	5 Dhu al-Hijjah 971 or 972 AH (14 July 1564 / 3 July 1565)	25 Jumada al-Thani 1012 AH (29/30 November 1603 C.E)
24	Shaikh Ahmad al-Farūqī al-Sirhindī, Imām Rabbānī	Sirhind, India	14 Shawwal 971 AH (25/26 May 1564 C.E)	28 Safar 1034 AH (9/10 December 1624 C.E)
25	Imām Khwaja Muhammad Masum Faruqi, 3rd son of (25)	Sirhind, India	1007 AH (1598/1599 C.E)	9 Rabi al-Awwal 1099 AH (13/14 January 1688 C.E)
26	Khwaja Muhammad Saif ud-Dīn Faruqi, son of (26)	Sirhind, India	1049 AH (1639/1640 C.E)	19 or 26 Jumada al-awwal 1096 AH (April 1685 C.E)
27	Sayyid Nur Muhammad Badayuni	Delhi, India		11 Dhu al-Qi'dah 1135AH (12/13 August 1723 C.E)
28	Shaheed Mirza Mazhar Jan-e-Janaan, Shams-ud-Dīn Habībullāh	Delhi, India	11 Ramadan 1111 AH (2/3 March 1700 C.E)	10 Muharram 1195 AH (Fri 5 January 1781 C.E)
29	Khwaja Abdullah Dehlavi, alias Shah Ghulam Ali Dehlavi	Delhi, India	1156 AH (1743 C.E)	22 Safar 1240 AH (15/16 October 1824 C.E)
30	Mawlānā Shaykh Diya al-Dīn Khâlid-i Baghdâdî	Karadağ-Sulaymaniyah, Iraq	1192 AH (1779 C.E)	Damascus, 1242 AH (1827 C.E)

Sources

• Classical Islam and the Naqshbandi Sufi Tradition, Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, Islamic Supreme Council of America (June 2004), ISBN 1-930409-23-0.
• E.F. Haydari, Al-Majd al-taled fi manaqeb al-sheikh Khalid, Istanbul 1874
• S.M. Stern, Islamic Philosophy & the Classical Tradition, Oxford 1972
• Hamid Algar, The Naqshbandi Order, Studia Islamica 1976

External links

• Khalid al-Baghdadi (Naqshbandi-Haqqani Sufi Order website)
• Belief and Islam Turkish translation by Khalid al-Baghdadi
• Belief and Islam- by Mawlana Khalid-i Baghdadi

See also

• List of famous Sufis
• List of Kurdish people