Yusuf Hamdani

Hadrat Abu Yaqub Yusuf Hamdani (died 1140) is the first of the group of Central Asian Sufi teachers known simply as Khwajagan (the Masters) of the Naqshbandi order.

Life

Born in Buzanjird near Hamadan in 440 H., he moved from Hamadan to Baghdad when he was eighteen years of age. He studied the Shafi'i school of fiqh under the supervision of the master of his time, Shaykh Ibrahim ibn Ali ibn Yusuf al-Fairuzabadi. He kept association in Baghdad with the great scholar, Abu Ishaq ash-Shirazi, who gave him greater deference than to any of his other students although he was the youngest.

According to Ibn Khallikan, he began his religious career with the cultivation of the religious sciences, becoming both a respected scholar of hadith and fiqh and a popular preacher in Baghdad. He was so brilliant a jurisprudent that he became the Marja of his time for all scholars in that field. He was known in Baghdad, the center of Islamic knowledge, in Isfahan, Bukhara, Samarqand, Khwarazm, and throughout Central Asia.

Later he abandoned these pursuits, adopting an intensely ascetic way of life and travelled east, first settling in Herat and later in Merv, where his tomb is still reputed to exist. He became an ascetic and engaged in constant worship and mujahada (spiritual struggle), instructed by Shaykh Abu 'Ali al-Farmadhi. He associated with Shaykh Abdullah Ghuwayni and Shaykh Hasan Simnani. He named four khalifas or successors, a pattern that repeated itself for several succeeding generations of the Khwajagan, including Ahmed Yesevi and Khwaja Abdul Khaliq Gajadwani, the next link in the Naqshbandi silsila.

Legacy and Theoretical Achievement

He was one of the rarest knowers of Allah at his time. a Pillar in the Sunnah of the Prophet and a unique saint. He was considered as an imam (religious leader), an 'alim (religious scholar), and a 'arif (spiritual knower of God). Scholars and pious people used to flood in huge numbers into his khaniqah (retreat) in Merv to listen to him.

He founded a different tradition of Islamic philosophy. Instead of worshipping and recognizing Allah only by compliment of Sharia, he focus his attention also on spiritual self-reflection. He doesn't deny other sources of recognizing Allah. He once said:

"Of His (Allah's) saints, He makes one group hear through His Exalted Witnessing (shuhada at-tanzih); He makes others hear through His Unique Oneness (wahdaniyya); He makes another group of them hear through His Mercy (rahma). And He makes some hear through His Power (qudra)."

Sources

The Naqshbandi Order, Hamid Algar Wafayat al-A'yan, Ibn Khallikan

Bibliography

• Abu Ya`qub Yusuf ibn Ayyab ibn Yusuf ibn al-Husayn al-Hamadani——May Allah Sanctify His Soul; http://www.naqshbandi.org/chain/9.htm
• Omar Ali Shah (1998). The Rules or Secrets of the Naqshbandi Order. Tractus Books. ISBN 2-909347-09-5. 
• John G. Bennett (1995). The Masters of Wisdom. Bennett Books. ISBN 1881408019. 

See also

• Naqshbandi