Silsila/Tariqa Suhrawardiyya

Silsila/Tariqa 

Suhrawardiyya:

Suhrawardiyya is the name of a Sufi order founded by Iranian Sufi Diya al-din Abu 'n-Najib as-Suhrawardi RadiAllahu Anh (1097 – 1168).

He was a murid of Ahmad al-Ghazali, who was a brother of Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali RadiAllahu Anh (545 A.H) he was teaching Shafi'i fiqh at Al-Nizamiyya of Baghdad Academy. His surviving work is called Kitab Adab Al-Muridin.

Many Sufis from all over the Islamic world joined the order under the founder's nephew Shihab ad-din Abu Hafs 'Umar Rahmatullah Alayhi (1145-1234), who was sent as emissary to the court of Khwarezm Shah in Bukhara by the Khalifa in Baghdad. His son is buried in Tashkent. Later the Order spread into India through Jalaluddin Surkh-Posh Bukhari Rahmatullah Alayhi and Baha-ud-din Zakariya Rahmatullah Alayhi

The principal role in the formation of a conservative ‘new piety’ and in the initiation of urban commercial and vocational groups into mysticism was played by the Suhrawardiyya silsila. Suhrawardiyya originated in Iraq but succeeded only in India to take shape as a fraternity with its infrastructure, internal hierarchy of members and cloisters and a single centre in Multan and Uchch. The Suhrawardiyya is a strictly Sunni order, guided by Shafi`i madhab. The Suhrawardiyya trace their spiritual genealogy to Ali ibn Abi Talib RadiAllahu Anh through Junayd al-Baghdadi and Abu Hamid al-Ghazali RadiAllahu Anhuma.

Shaikh Shihab ad-din Abu Hafs Umar al-Suhrawardi took recourse to active life, renounced reclusion and excessive fasting, maintained close contacts with the authorities, and undertook diplomatic missions and political settlement of conflicts. His luxurious cloister in Baghdad, with gardens and bath houses, was specially built for him by Caliph an-Nasir, on whose behalf Abu Hafs travelled as an ambassador to the Ayyubid Sultan Malik al-Adil I of Egypt, to Khwarezm-Shah Muhammad of Bukhara and to Kaiqubad I, the Seljuk ruler of Konya.

Shaikh Abu Hafs Umar al-Suhrawardi, the author of “Awarif al-Ma’arif”, directed his disciples Hazrat Jalaluddin Surkh-Posh Bukhari & Shaikh Baha-ud-din Zakariya of Multan (1182-1262 AD) to make Multan the center of his activity. Iltutmish appointed him as "Shaikhul Islam" after the invasion of Multan and topple its ruler, Qabacha. During the Mongol invasion he became the peace negotiotor between invaders and muslim army.

Another Suharwardi, Hazrat Fakharuddin Iraqi RadiAllahu Anh buried at Konya, Turkey, received formal initiation into the Sufi way under Shaykh Baha'uddin Zakariya Rahmatullah Alayhi, Hazrat Fakharuddin Iraqi Rahmatullah Alayhi lived in Multan for 25 years as one of the Suhrawardis, composing poetry. As Shaykh Baha'uddin Rahmatullah Alayhi was dying, he named Fakhruddin 'Iraqi (RA ) to be his successor.

Fakharuddin Iraqi Rahmatullah Alayhi fled the area with a few close companions, and they eventually made their way to Makkah and Medina. Later they moved north to Konya in Turkey. This was Konya at the time of Jalaludin Rumi Rahmatullah Alayhi. 'Iraqi often listened to Rumi teach and recite poetry, and later attended Rumi's funeral.

Although Fakharuddin Iraqi Rahmatullah Alayhi was nominally the head (in exile) of a large and respected Sufi order, he humbly became the disciple of another Sufi master Sadruddin Qunawi(RA), who also lived in Konya at the time. Hazrat Sadruddin Qunawi Rahmatullah Alayhi was the son-in-law of the recently deceased Sufi philosopher Ibn 'Arabi Rahmatullah Alayhi. Although less known in the West today Sadruddin Qunawi Rahmatullah Alayhi was perhaps the pre-eminent Sufi teacher in Konya at the time, even better known than his neighbor Rumi.

When Fakhruddin 'Iraqi died he was buried near Ibn 'Arabi's Rahmatullah Alayhi tomb. Another contemporary mystic who is worthy of mention was Shaikh Sharfuddin Yahya Manairi Rahmatullah Alayhi. (d. 1380 AD). He belonged to the Firdausia order, a branch of Suhrawardiyya.