The 100 Greatest Muslims (2022): 88 - Al-Shadhili, The 13th Century Founder of the Shadhiliyah Sufi Order

 Al-Shadhili, in full Abu al-Ḥasan ʿAli ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Shadhili, (b. 1196, Ghumara, near Ceuta, Morocco — d. 1258, Humaithara, Egypt), Sufi Muslim theologian who was the founder of the order of the Shadhiliyah. 

Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili (full name: Abu al-Hasan ʿAli ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbar al-Hasani wal-Husayni al-Shadhili) also known as Sheikh al-Shadhili (593–656 AH) (1196–1258 CC) was an influential Moroccan Islamic scholar and Sufi who became the founder of the Shadhili Sufi order. 

Al-Shadhili was born near Ceuta in the north of Morocco, in the area that is also known as the Rif region, in 1196. He is said to have been a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad and to have gone blind in his youth because of excessive study. A Sharif and a descendant of the Arab Idrisids, he was born to a royal family among the Berber Ghomara tribe. Al-Shadhili began his study of Maliki jurisprudence but wandered far afield in search of knowledge. Immensely learned, even as a young man, he was famous for his ability to engage in legal argumentation with the religious scholars of his day. 

In 1218/19 he traveled to Tunisia, where his Sufi teachings of ascetic mysticism aroused the hostility of the traditional orthodox Muslim theologians. 

As a young man, Al-Shadhili hesitated between living the life of an ascetic in the wilderness in order to give himself up totally to worship and invocation, and returning to the towns and settlements to be in the company of the scholars and the righteous. He studied in Fes and moved to Alexandria in 1244. In Iraq, he met the Sufi master al-Wasiti, who advised him that he could find his Spiritual Master (Sheikh) in the country Al-Shadhili had travelled from.  In other words, Al-Shadili needed to be with Abd as-Salam ibn Mashish, the great Moroccan spiritual master. 

It was in a hermitage on top of Jabal al-'Alam, near Tetouan, that al-Shadhili met the sheikh who he was searching for and who was to have the greatest influence on his life.  The highly esteemed Abd as-Salam ibn Mashish (d. 625 AH/1228 CC) was known as "the Pole of the West", just as Abd al-Qadir Gilani (d. 561 AH/1166 CC) was called "the Pole of the East". While he was living with Sheikh Ibn Mashish, on the holy mountain, many wonderful signs from Allah came to al-Shadhili, through his holy guide, Sheikh Ibn Mashish. One such sign was that on the night of his arrival on the mountain he was sleeping at the entrance of the cave where his master lived. He dreamt that he was asking the Sheikh to grant him certain wishes, one of them being that Allah would incline the hearts of His creatures in favor towards him. Then he wished to ask his master if it was necessary for him to live in solitude, or in the desert, in order for him to be in the right station (maqaam) to perform his religious tasks, or whether he should return to the towns and inhabited places to seek out the company of scholars and virtuous people. While he was turning these things in his heart he heard the Sheikh praying fervently and calling out:

O God, there are people who ask You to give them power over your creatures, and You give them that. But I, O God, beg You to turn Your creatures from me so that I may have no refuge except in You.

The next morning, when he greeted his teacher to be, he asked him of his state (kayf al-hal), to which Ibn Mashish responded, "I complain unto God about the coolness of contentment and submission (bard al-rida wa al-taslim) just as you complain unto Him about the heat of self-direction and choice (harr al-tadbir wa al-ikhtiyar)." When he saw the astonishment on his student's face at hearing his words, he added, "Because I fear that the sweetness of such an existence would make me neglectful of my duty towards Allah." Then al-Shadhili said, "This is the Pole of Islam. This is the Sea which overflows." He knew then that his master had taken hold of his whole heart, and he was thereby completely illuminated.

Four fundamental themes ran through Abd as-Salam teaching of to Abu'l Hasan, as perceived from his famous Hizb, called as-Salat al-Mashishiya:

1. the Oneness of Existence (wahdat al-wujud) which he said could be realized only through asceticism,
2. fear of God and His judgments (khawfu billah),
3. the belief that God is everywhere and that it is necessary to see His Face in everything that He has created,
4. that only through the drowning in the Ocean of the Unity (awnu fi bahri al-wahadati) can the seeker cast off and leave behind his own existence and attributes to be merged and absorbed into Allah and His Attributes.

Before his departure from Jabal al-Alam, Abd as-Salam foretold his student of his eventual move to Ifriqiya where he would become known by the name of Shadhili and the eminent spiritual station he would eventually inherit from Abd as-Salam himself. Abu'l Hasan relates that in a dream, he saw his master standing near the Divine Throne. When he told him of this dream in the morning, Abd as-Salam replied, "O Ali, it was not me you saw, it was the station you will inherit from me."

O Ali, God is God, and men are men. When you are among the people, keep your tongue from mentioning the Sirr (secret) and your heart from imitating their ways. Be assiduous in the fulfillment of the mandatory practices of the religion and protect your bodily members from forbidden things. In you the role of sainthood will have reached fruition. Only admonish others to the degree that is obligatory upon you. And say, "O God, give me repose from their mention [of me] and from any obstacles arising from them. Deliver me from their evil. Let Your bounty suffice me from [having to seek] their bounty, and protect me among them by Your special grace. Verily, You have power over all things… O Ali, flee from men's benevolence more than you flee from their malevolence. Because their benevolence will afflict your heart, while their evil will only afflict your body, and it is better that the body be afflicted than the heart.

The parting words of advice and admonition that Abd as-Salam gave his disciple before he departed for Tunis emphasized the transformation of consciousness to inward and outward God-centeredness, contentment with God in all states, and the inner withdrawal from creation in prosperity and adversity. These seminal teachings of Abd as-Salam would, through al-Shadhili, become the fundamental precepts of the Shadhili Tariqa. 

Under the guidance of 'Abd as-Salam ibn Mashish, Al-Shadhili attained enlightenment and proceeded to spread his knowledge across North Africa, especially in Tunisia and Egypt.  

Al-Shadhili founded his first zawiya in Tunis in 1227. He died in 1258 in Humaithra, Egypt, while he was on his hajj to Mecca. Humaithara is between Marsa Alam and Aswan in Egypt and al-Shadhili's shrine there is highly venerated. 

It was while he was in Egypt that he founded the Shadhiliyah order, which was destined to become one of the most popular of the mystical brotherhoods of the Middle East and North Africa and from which 15 other orders derive their origin.

Although al-Shadhili left no writings, certain sayings and some poetry have been preserved by his disciples. 

Shadhiliyah, also spelled Shaziliyah, is a widespread brotherhood of Muslim mystics (Ṣufis), founded on the teachings of  Abu al-Hasan ash-Shadhili (d. 1258) in Alexandria. Shadhili teachings stress five points: fear of God, living the sunna (practices) of the Prophet, disdain of mankind, fatalism, and turning to God in times of happiness and distress. The order, which spread throughout North Africa and the Sudan and into Arabia, was created by disciples, as al-Shadhili himself discouraged monasticism and urged his followers to maintain their ordinary lives, a tradition still followed. The order has given rise to an unusually large number of suborders, notably the Jazuliyah and the Darqawa in Morocco and the ʿIsawiyah in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.

The Shadhili Tariqa is a Sufi order of Sunni Islam and is followed by millions of people around the world. Many followers (Arabic murids, "seekers") of the Shadhiliya Order are known as Shadhilis, and a single follower is known as Shadhili.

It has historically been of importance and influence in the Maghreb and Egypt with many contributions to Islamic literature. Among the figures most known for their literary and intellectual contributions are Ibn 'Ata Allah,  author of the Hikam, and Ahmad Zarruq, author of numerous commentaries and works, and Ahmad ibn Ajiba who also wrote numerous commentaries and works. In poetry expressing love of Muhammad, there have been the notable contributions of Muhammad al-Jazuli, author of the "Dala'il al-Khayrat", and Busiri,  author of the famous poem, the "Qasida al-Burda" Many of the head lecturers of al-Azhar University in Cairo have also been followers of this tariqa.

Of the various branches of the Shadhili tariqa are the Fassiyatush, found largely in India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan.  The Darqawi branch is found mostly in Morocco and the Darqawi Alawiyya (no connection to the Kizilbas, Turkish Alevis, or the Syrian Alawites) which originated in Algeria is now found the world over, particularly in Syria, Jordan, France, and among many English-speaking communities. 

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ʻAbbad, Muḥammad ibn Ibrahim Ibn; Renard, John (1986). Ibn 'Abbad of Ronda: Letters on the Sufi Path; Paulist Press. 

Douglas, Elmer H. (ed.) (1993). Muhammad ibn Abi al-Qasim Al-Sabbagh, The Mystical Teachings of Al-Shadhilī: Including His Life, Prayers, Suny Press.

Esposito, John L. (1998). The Oxford History of Islam; Oxford University Press.

Fage, J. D; Oliver, Roland Anthony (1977).  The Cambridge History of Africa; Cambridge University Press.

Jenkins, Everett, Jr. (1999). The Muslim Diaspora: A Comprehensive Reference to the Spread of Islam in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, Volume 1, 500-1500; Jefferson, North Carolina, McFarland & Company, Inc.

Khan, Muhammad Mojlum (2008).  The Muslim 100: The Lives, Thoughts and Achievements of the Most Influential Muslims in History, Leicestershire, United Kingdom: Kube Publishing Ltd.

Schmidtke, Sabine (2016). The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology. New York: Oxford University Press. 

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Shadhili

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadhili

https://www.britannica.com/biography/al-Shadhili

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shadhiliyah

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The 100 Greatest Muslims (2022): 89 - Shah Wali Allah, The 18th Century Great Renewer of Islam in India and the Author of The Conclusive Argument From God

89

Shah Wali Allah

Shah Wali Allah, also spelled Shah Waliullah, (b. February 21, 1703, Phulat, Muzaffarnagar, Mughal Empire [India] — d. August 20, 1762, Delhi, Mughal Empire [India]), was an Indian theologian and promulgator of modern Islamic thought who first attempted to reassess Islamic theology in the light of modern changes.

Quṭb-ud-Din Aḥmad Waliullah Ibn ʿAbd-ur-Raḥim Ibn Wajih-ud-Din Ibn Muʿaẓẓam Ibn Manṣur Al-ʿUmari Ad-Dehlawi commonly known as Shah Waliullah Dehlawi (also Shah Wali Allah) was an Islamic scholar seen by his followers as a renewer. 

Shah Wali Allah was born on February 21, 1703, to Shah Abdur Rahim, a prominent Islamic scholar of Delhi. He was known as Shah Wali Allah because of his piety. He memorized the Qur'an by the age of seven. Soon thereafter, he mastered Arabic and Persian letters. He was married at fourteen. By sixteen, he had completed the standard curriculum of Hanafi law, theology, geometry, arithmetic and logic.

Wali Allah's father, Shah Abdur Rahim, was the founder of the Madrasah-i Rahimiyah.  He was on the committee appointed by Aurangzeb for the compilation of the code of law, Fatawa-e-Alamgiri. 

In 1732, Wali Allah made a pilgrimage to Mecca.  Afterwards, he remained in the Hejaz (now in Saudi Arabia) to study religion with eminent theologians. He reached adulthood at a time of disillusionment following the death in 1707 of Aurangzeb, the last Mughal emperor of India. Because large areas of the empire had been lost to Hindu and Sikh rulers of the Deccan and the Punjab, Indian Muslims had to accept the rule of non-Muslims. This challenge occupied Wali Allah’s adult life.

Wali Allah believed that the Muslim polity could be restored to its former splendor by a policy of religious reform that would harmonize the religious ideals of Islam with the changing social and economic conditions of India. According to him, religious ideas were universal and eternal, but their application could meet different circumstances. The main tool of his policy was the doctrine of taṭbiq, whereby the principles of Islam were reconstructed and reapplied in accordance with the Qurʾan and the hadith (the spoken traditions attributed to Muhammad). He thereby allowed the practice of ijtihad (independent thinking by theologians in matters relating to Islamic law), which hitherto had been curtailed. As a corollary, Wali Allah reinterpreted the concept of taqdir (determinism) and condemned its popularization, qismat (narrow fatalism, or absolute predetermination). Wali Allah held that man could achieve his full potential by his own exertion in a universe that was determined by God. Theologically, Wali Allah opposed the veneration of saints or anything that compromised strict monotheism. He was jurisprudentially eclectic, holding that a Muslim could follow any of the four schools of Islamic law on any point of dogma or ritual.

The best known of Wali Allah’s voluminous writings is Hujjat Allah al-Balighah (The Conclusive Argument From God).  Hujjat Allah al-Balighah (The Conclusive Argument From God) was written within the decade after his return from Mecca and Medina.  This treatise was once part of the curriculum at al-Azhar University, the traditional center of Islamic learning in Cairo, Egypt.  Today, it is still studied throughout the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia.  The treatise seeks to explain the inner mysteries of Islam.  It also addresses many other subjects, such as philosophy, traditions, and Shah Wali Allah's four stage model for the ideal Muslim state.

Wali Allah took the title, Hujjat Allah al-Balighah (The Conclusive Argument From God), from Sura 6:149 of the Qur'an.  Sura 6:149 states that "the conclusive argument is from God." Hujjat Allah al-Balighah (The Conclusive Argument From God) represents Wali Allah's to integrate many levels and layers of Islamic thought and practice, and it has found an enduring readership well beyond the South Asian subcontinent.

Wali Allah's wrote and annotated a Persian translation of the Qurʾan.  Wali Allah's translation is still popular in India and Pakistan today.

Wali Allah died on Friday, the 29th of Muharram 1176 AH/August 20, 1762, at Zuhr prayer in Old Delhi.  He was buried beside his father Shah Abdur Rahim at Mehdiyan (a graveyard to the left of Delhi Gate).

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Works by Shah Wali Allah

Hujjat Allah al-Balighah (The Conclusive Argument From God), Lahore: Shaikh Ghulam Ali and Sons, 1979. 

Altaf al-quds fi ma'rifat lata'if al-nafs (The Sacred knowledge), ed. D. Pendlebury, trans. G. Jalbani, The Sacred Knowledge, London: Octagon, 1982.

Al-Khayr al-kathir (The Abundant Good), trans. G. Jalbani, Lahore: Ashraf, 1974.

Sata'at (Manifestations), trans. into Urdu by S.M. Hashimi, Lahore: Idarah Thaqafat Islamiyya, 1989; trans. into English by G. Jalbani, Sufism and the Islamic Tradition: the Lamahat and Sata'at of Shah Waliullah, London.

Lamahat (Flashes of Lightning), Hyderabad: Shah Wali Allah Academy, 1963; trans. G. Jalbani, Sufism and the Islamic Tradition: the Lamahat and Sata'at of Shah Waliullah, London, 1980. 

Fuyud al-haramayn (Emanations or Spiritual Visions of Mecca and Medina).

Al-Tafhimat (Instructions or Clear Understanding), Dabhail, 1936, 2 vols. 

Al-Budur al-bazighah (The Full Moons Rising in Splendor).

Ta’wil al-ahadith fi rumuz qisas al-anbiya (Symbolic Interpretation of the Events in the Mysteries of Prophetic Tales) 

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Ahmed, K. J. (1987). Hundred Great Muslims, Library of Islam.

Esposito, John L. (2013). The Oxford Handbook of Islam and Politics. New York: Oxford University Press. 

Esposito, John L. (1998). The Oxford History of Islam;  Oxford University Press.

Ghazali, Muhammad al- (2004). The socio-political thought of shah wali allah; India: Adam Publishers.

Hermansen, Marcia K. (1996). The Conclusive Argument from God: Shāh Walī Allāh of Delhi's Ḥujjat Allāh al-Bāligha. Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Publishers.

Jenkins, Everett, Jr. (2000). The Muslim Diaspora: A Comprehensive Reference to the Spread of Islam in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, Volume 2, 1500-1799; Jefferson, North Carolina, McFarland & Company, Inc.

Khan, Muhammad Mojlum (2008).  The Muslim 100: The Lives, Thoughts and Achievements of the Most Influential Muslims in History, Leicestershire, United Kingdom: Kube Publishing Ltd.

Leaman, Oliver (2013).  Islamic Philosophy, John Wiley and Sons.

McGreal, Ian P. (ed.) (1995). Great Thinkers of the Eastern World, New York City, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Miles, Jack (general ed.) (2015).  The Norton Anthology of World Religions, New York City, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Nasr, S. H. and O. Leaman (eds.) (1996). History of Islamic Philosophy; London: Routledge,

Rizvi, S. Athar (1980),  Shah Wahiullah and His Times; Ma’rifat Publishing House, Canberra.

Schmidtke, Sabine (2016). The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology. New York: Oxford University Press. 

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shah_Waliullah_Dehlawi

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Shah-Wali-Allah

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The 100 Greatest Muslims (2022): 90 - Shamil, Legendary 19th Century Chechen and Dagestan Resistance Fighter Who Delayed Russia's Conquest of the Caucasus for 25 Years

90

Shamil

Shamil, also spelled Shamyl, Schamil, or Schamyl, (b. June 26, 1797, Gimry, Dagestan [now in Russia] —  d. February 4, 1871, Medina, Hejaz, Ottoman Empire [now Saudi Arabia]), was the leader of Muslim Dagestan and Chechen mountaineers, whose fierce resistance delayed Russia's conquest of the Caucasus for 25 years.

Shamil was the third Imam of the Caucasian Imamate (1834–1859), and a Sunni Muslim Shaykh of the Naqshbandi Sufi Tariqa.

Shamil was born in Gimry, Dagestan which is now in Russia.  Shamil was originally named Ali, but following local tradition, his name was changed when he became ill. His father, Dengau, was a landlord, and this position allowed Shamil and his close friend Ghazi Muhammad to study many subjects, including Arabic and logic.  The two close friends also studied the Qur'an and practiced Sufism together at Yaraghal, a Murid center.  Both Ghazi and Shamil came to dislike the loose customs of the mountain -- the Caucasus -- people that contradicted the laws set forth in the Qur'an.

Shamil grew up at a time when the Russian Empire was expanding into the territories of the Ottoman Empire and of Persia.  Many Caucasian peoples united in resistance to Russian imperial aspirations in what became known as the Caucasian War  (1817-1864). Early leaders of Caucasian resistance included Hadji Dawud, Sheikh Mansur and Ghazi Muhammad. Shamil, the childhood friend of Ghazi Muhammad, would become Ghazi's disciple and counselor. 

Ghazi Muhammad (1793 –1832) became an Islamic scholar and ascetic, who became the first Imam of the Caucasian Imamate (from 1828 to 1832). He promoted the Sacred Law of Sharia, spiritual purification (tasawwuf), and facilitated a jihad against the invading Russians. He was also one of the prime supporters of Muridism, a strict obedience to Quranic laws used by imams to increase religio-patriotic fervor in the Caucasus. 

Ghazi Muhammad preached that jihad would not occur until the Caucasians followed sharia completely rather than following a mixture of sharia and adat (customary traditions). By 1828, Ghazi Muhammad had begun proselytizing and claiming that obeying sharia, giving zakat, faithfully praying, and performing the hajj would not be accepted by Allah if the Russians were still present in the area. He even went on to claim that marriages would become void and children bastards if any Russians were still in the Caucasus.

Ghazi Muhammad became one of the most prominent preachers of Islam in the Caucasus. His memorization of over four hundred hadith allowed him to win many debates against rival preachers in the area. As his reputation grew, he was invited by many khanates and kingdoms loyal, indifferent, and hostile to the Czar.  As a sign of humility and austerity, he refused to ride, but would walk.

During the early to mid 19th century of the Christian calendar, Russian political strategy in Dagestan included supporting local, indigenous law, known as 'adat.  This was a careful and strategic investment against the growing religiosity and resistance founded on sharia law, which was championed by Ghazi Muhammad. The popularity and rise of Ghazi Muhammad has been attributed both to his charismatic personality and to an indigenous Dagestani population that had grown tired of Russian intrusion and reorganization of local land and resources. Due to conflicting local political, legal, and religious interests, the war led by Ghazi Muhammad has been characterized as a war in the name of Muslim resistance just as much as a war against Russian Imperial encroachment into the North Caucasus.  While Ghazi Muhammad gained popular support for his religious policies and military tactics, he did not find widespread support among the region's other political leaders. This lack of support prompted Ghazi Muhammad to launch assaults both against local leaders who preferred to ascribe to ‘adat and against the encroaching Russians. As such, support for Ghazi Muhammad was not ubiquitous in Dagestan and his rise to power resulted in unrest among local political stakeholders.

In 1829, Ghazi Muhammad was proclaimed the first Imam of Caucasian Imamate in Ghimry.  Soon thereafter, Ghazi Muhammad formally made the call for a holy war -- for a jihad. He also decreed that all wine should be destroyed publicly. 

In 1830, Ghazi Muhammad and Shamil unsuccessfully tried to capture the Avar capital of Khunzakh from the khanum Pakkou-Bekkhe. Following the setback, Shamil prevailed upon Ghazi to bide his time for a while, until all the tribes became united in following sharia law. 

In 1831, after a few months of quiet, Ghazi Muhammad attacked Northern Dagestan, and met with success there. His guerilla tactics caught the Russians unprepared. By 1832, Ghazi Muhammad (Qazi Mullah) was able to menace Vladikavkaz. However, the Russians repulsed the Imam's assault and, when the Russians took Ghimry, according to legend, they found

Qazi Mullah dead but seated, legs folded on his prayer carpet, one hand on his beard, and the other pointing toward the sky.

The Russians took the body of Ghazi Muhammad to Tarku, the capital of the Kumyk state, and gave it to the Kumyk Khan, who had been loyal to them. The body was displayed in the marketplace for a few days before being buried in the hills.

In 1832, when Ghazi Muhammad died at the battle of Ghimry, Shamil was one of only two Murids to escape.  However, in doing so, he sustained severe wounds. During this fight, Shamil was stabbed with a bayonet. After jumping from an elevated stoop clean over the heads of the very line of soldiers about to fire on him, Shamil landed behind them. Whirling his sword in his left hand Shamil cut down three of them, but was bayoneted by the fourth, the steel plunging deep into his chest. Shamil seized the bayonet, pulled it out of his own flesh, cut down the man, and with another superhuman leap, cleared the wall and vanished in the darkness. 

Shamil went into hiding and both Russia and his fellow Murids assumed him dead. Once recovered, he emerged from hiding and rejoined the Murids, at that time being led by the second Imam, Gamzat-bek.  

Gamzat-bek, also known as Hamza-Bek, Hamza Bek ibn Ali Iskandar Bek al-Hutsali (b. 1789 — d, October 1, 1834) was the second imam of the Caucasian Imamate.   Gamzat-bek succeeded Ghazi Muhammad upon Ghazi Muhammad's death in 1832.

Gamzat-bek was a son of one of the Avar beks. He was educated under the supervision of Muslim preachers and became an avid follower of a Sufi order. In August 1834, Gamzat-bek launched an assault on the Avar khans, who had been supporting the Russian Empire government and who had been hostile towards the Sufism movement. He succeeded in capturing the Avar capital of Khunzakh and executed its female ruler Pakhubike and her sons.  However, the supporters of the Avar khans, including Hadji Murad, conspired against Gamzat-bek and killed him (Leo Tolstoy's story Hadji Murat is based on this event). After the death of Gamzat-bek, Shamil became the third Imam of Dagestan -- the third Imam of the Caucasian Imamate.

The Dagestan struggle against the Russians began when the Russians formally acquired control of Dagestan from Persia (Iran) in 1813. After Ghazi Muḥammad was killed by the Russians (in 1832) and his successor, Gamzat Bek, was assassinated by his own followers (in 1834), Shamil was elected to serve as the third Imam (political-religious leader) of Dagestan -- the third Imam of Caucasian Imamate. 

When Gamzat-bek was murdered in 1834, Shamil took his place as the prime leader of the Caucasian resistance and became the third Imam of the Caucasian Imamate. He would wage unremitting warfare on the Russians for the next quarter century and would become one of the legendary guerrilla commanders of the century. 

In 1839 (June–August), Shamil and his followers, numbering about 4000 men, women and children, found themselves under siege in their mountain stronghold of Akhoulgo, nestled in the bend of the Andi Koysu, about ten miles east of Ghimry. Under the command of General Pavel Grabbe, the Russian army trekked through lands devoid of supplies because of Shamil's scorched-earth strategy. The geography of the stronghold protected it from three sides, adding to the difficulty of conducting the siege. Eventually the two sides agreed to negotiate. Complying with Grabbe's demands, Shamil gave his son, Jamaldin in a sign of good faith, as a hostage. Shamil rejected Grabbe's proposal that Shamil command his forces to surrender and for him to accept exile from the region. The Russian army attacked the stronghold.  After two days of fighting, the Russian troops secured Akhoulgo. Shamil escaped the siege during the first night of the attack. Shamil's forces had been broken and many Dagestani and Chechen chieftains proclaimed loyalty to the Tsar (Czar). Shamil fled Dagestan for Chechnya. There he made quick work of extending his influence over the clans.

Shamil was effective at uniting the many, quarrelsome Caucasian tribes to fight against the Russians, by the force of his charisma, piety and fairness in applying Sharia law. Shamil believed that the Russian introduction of alcohol into the area corrupted traditional values. Against the large regular Russian military, Shamil made effective use of irregular and guerrilla tactics. In 1845, an 8-10,000 strong column under the command of Count Michael Vorontsov followed the Imamate's forces into the forests of Chechnya. The Imamate's forces surrounded the Russian column, destroying it.  This destroyed Vorontsov's attempt to cut away Chechnya from the Imamate.

Shamil's fortunes as a military leader rose after he was joined by Hadji Murad, who defected from the Russians in 1841. Soon thereafter, the area under Shamil's control tripled in size. Hadji Murad, who was to become the subject of a famous novella by Leo Tolstoy (1904), turned against Shamil a decade later, apparently disappointed by his failure to be anointed Shamil's successor as imam. Shamil's elder son was given the successor designation, and in a secret council, Shamil had his lieutenant (Hadji Murad) accused of treason and sentenced to death.

Hadji Murad, on learning of the successor designation and death sentence, re-defected to the Russians.  Though Shamil hoped that Britain, France, or the Ottoman Empire would come to his aid to drive Russia from the Caucasus, these plans never came to fruition. After the Crimean War, Russia redoubled its efforts against the Imamate. 

In 1857, the Russians became more determined to suppress Shamil, whose reputation had spread throughout western Europe and whose exploits had become legendary among his own people. Sending large, well-equipped forces under generals N.I. Evdokimov and A.I. Baryatinsky, the Russians started operations from all sides. The Russian military successes, coupled with the increasing exhaustion of Shamil’s followers, resulted in the surrender of many villages and tribes to the Russians. 

After the Russian invaders successfully stormed Shamil’s fortress at Vedeno (in April 1859), Shamil and several hundred of his adherents withdrew to Mount Gunib. On September 6, 1859, Shamil, recognizing the futility of continuing to fight the overwhelming Russian armies that surrounded him, finally surrendered and effectively ended the resistance of the Chechen and Dagestani peoples to Russian subjugation. 

After his capture, Shamil was sent to Saint Petersburg, Russia, to meet the Tsar (Czar) Alexander II.  Afterwards, he was exiled to Kaluga, then a small town near Moscow. After several years in Kaluga, Shamil complained to the authorities about the climate and in December, 1868, he received permission to move to Kiev, a commercial center of the Empire's southwest. In Kiev, Shamil was provided with a mansion on Aleksandrovskaya Street. The Imperial authorities ordered the Kiev superintendent to keep Shamil under "strict but not overly burdensome surveillance" and allotted the city a significant sum for the needs of the exile. 

In 1869, Shamil was given permission to perform the hajj to the holy city of Mecca. He traveled first from Kiev to Odessa and then sailed to Istanbul, where he was greeted by Ottoman Sultan Abdulaziz.  He became a guest at the Imperial Topkapi Palace for a short while and left Istanbul on a ship reserved for him by the Sultan. In Mecca, during the pilgrimage, he met and conversed with Abdelkader El Djezairi, the Algerian religious and military leader who had led a struggle against the French colonial invasion of Algiers in the early 19th century.

 

After completing his pilgrimage to Mecca, Shamil went to Medina.  Shamil died in Medina in 1871.  He was buried in the Jannatul Baqi, the historical graveyard in Medina where many prominent personalities from Islamic history are interred. 

In the process of Russia managing to conquer Chechnya and Dagestan in a series of bloody conquests, Russians developed a great respect for Shamil. Tsar Alexander II of Russia openly admired Shamil's resistance.  The Tsar's admiration is part of the reason why, in the later part of his life, Shamil was housed in a mansion and was permitted to perform the hajj.  Accordingly, Shamil largely escaped from the demonization of other Caucasian leaders in Russian historiography.  Indeed, Shamil's legacy continues to remain strong not just in the memories of the people of the North Caucasus but also in general Russian history. He is regarded as one of the revered warrior figures in Russia and is frequently studied by Russian academia despite his defiance to Russian imperial aspirations and power. 

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Akbar, M. J. (2003). The Shade of Swords: Jihad and the Conflict Between Islam and Christianity; Routledge.

Baddeley, John F. (1908). The Russian conquest of the Caucasus. 1908.

Blanch, Lesley (1960). The Sabres of Paradise; New York: Viking Press. 

Blanch, Lesley (1984). The Sabres of paradise; Carroll & Graf.

Esposito, John L. (1998). The Oxford History of Islam;  Oxford University Press.

Gammer, Moshe (2003).  Muslim resistance to the Tsar: Shamil and the conquest of Chechnia and Daghestan; Taylor & Francis.

Geddie, John (1882). The Russian empire: historical and descriptive;  Oxford University, 1882

Griffin, Nicholas (2003).  Caucasus Mountain Men and Holy Wars; Thomas Dunne Books.

Tolstoy, Leo (1917).  Hadji Murat.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamzat-bek

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghazi_Muhammad

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imam_Shamil

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Shamil

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The 100 Greatest Muslims (2022): 91 - Ibn Jubayr, The 12th Century Andalusian Traveller Whose Rihlah, Whose Creative Travelogue, Recounts His Crusader Era Hajj

91

Ibn Jubayr

Ibn Jubayr, in full Abu al-Ḥusayn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Jubayr al-Kinani, (b. September 1, 1145, Valencia,  Emirate of Balansiya [Taifa of Valencia] -- d. November 29, 1217, Alexandria, Ayyubid dynasty, Egypt), was a Spanish Muslim known for his book -- his Rihlah -- recounting his pilgrimage to Mecca. 

Ibn Jubayr, also written Ibn Jubair, Ibn Jobair, and Ibn Djubayr, was an Arab geographer, traveller and poet from al-Andalus.  His travel chronicle describes the pilgrimage he made to Mecca from 1183 to 1185, in the years preceding the Third Crusade. His chronicle describes Saladin's domains in Egypt and the Levant which he passed through on his way to Mecca. Further, on his return journey, he passed through Christian Sicily, which had been recaptured from the Muslims only a century before.  In Sicily, Ibn Jubayr made several observations on the hybrid polyglot culture that flourished there.

Ibn Jubayr was born in 1145 CC in Valencia, Andalus, to an Arab family of the Kinanah tribe. He was a descendant of 'Abdal-Salam ibn Jabayr, who, in 740 CC, had accompanied an army sent by the Caliph of Damascus to put down a Berber uprising in his Spanish provinces. Ibn Jubayr studied in the town of Xativa, where his father worked as a civil servant. He later became secretary to the Almohad governor of Granada.

The son of a civil servant, Ibn Jubayr became secretary to the Almohad governor of Granada, but he left that post for his pilgrimage, which began on February 3, 1183 and ended with his return to Granada in 1185. 

Ibn Jubayr wrote a lively account of this journey, Riḥlah (Eng. trans. by R.J.C. Broadhurst, The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, 1952; French trans. by Maurice Gaudefroy-Demombynes, Voyages, 1949–56).

Ibn Jubayr's Rihlah is a valuable source for the history of the time, containing memorable descriptions of his voyages across the Mediterranean in Genoese ships; his unhappy encounters with both Christian and Muslim customs collectors; his depiction of  the Cairo of Saladin; his observations during his trip up the Nile to Upper Egypt, and across the Red Sea to Jidda, Mecca, and Medina; and of his return by way of Iraq, Syria, and Sicily. Ibn Jubayr journeyed east twice more without recording his travels. The second trip lasted from 1189 to 1191; the third, begun in 1217, was ended by his death in Egypt on November 29, 1217.

In his Rihlah, Ibn Jubayr provides a highly-detailed and graphic description of the places he visited during his travels. The book differs from other contemporary accounts in not being a mere collection of toponyms and descriptions of monuments but rather containing observation of geographical details as well as cultural, religious and political matters. Particularly interesting are Ibn Jubayr's notes about the declining faith of his fellow Muslims in Palermo, Sicily after the then recent Norman conquest and about what he perceived as the Muslim-influenced customs of King William II of Sicily under the Norman-Arab-Byzantine culture.  

Ibn Jubayr's writing is a foundation of the genre of work called Rihla (Rihlah), -- the creative travelogue. It is a mix of personal narrative, description of the areas traveled and personal anecdotes.

Ibn Jubayr's travel chronicle served as a model for later authors, some of whom copied from it without attribution. Ibn Juzayy, who wrote the account of Ibn Battuta's travels in around 1355 CC, copied passages that had been written 170 years earlier by Ibn Jubayr that described Damascus, Mecca, Medina and other places in the Middle East. 

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Rihla refers to both a journey and the written account of that journey, -- a travelogue. It constitutes a genre of Arabic literature.  Associated with the medieval Islamic notion of travel in search of knowledge, the rihla as a genre of medieval and early-modern Arabic literature usually describes a journey taken with the intent of performing the Hajj -- the pilgrimage to Mecca --, but can include an itinerary that vastly exceeds that original route. The classical rihla in medieval Arabic travel literature, like those written by Ibn Battuta  (known commonly as The Rihla) and Ibn Jubayr, includes a description of the personalities, places, governments, customs, and curiosities experienced by the traveler, and usually within the boundaries of the Muslim world. However, the term rihla can be applied to other Arabic travel narratives describing journeys taken for reasons other than pilgrimage; for instance the 19th century rihlas of Muhammad as-Saffar and Rifa'a al-Tahtawi both follow conventions of the rihla genre by recording not only the journey to France from Morocco and Egypt, respectively, but also their experiences and observations.

The Rihla travel practice originated in Middle Ages Morocco and served to connect Muslims of Morocco to the collective consciousness of the ummah across the Islamic world, thereby generating a larger sense of community. The Rihla genre consists of three types:

1. Rihla - journey within Morocco, typically to meet with other pilgrims before traveling beyond the local area.
2. Rihla hijaziyya - journey to the Hejaz which would be transmitted via an oral or written report.
3. Rihla sifariyya - journey to foreign lands including to embassies and missions in territories in Dar al-Harb.  Events on these journeys would be the basis of the extant travel literature.

The performance of Rihla was considered in Moorish al-Andalus as a qualifier for teachers and political leaders. These journeys also coincided with the end of the Mongol invasions and a new opportunity for Islamic expansion.

The travel narratives of Ibn Jubayr and Ibn Battuta are perceived as archetypical exponents of the flowering of the rihla genre, but should not be perceived as its founders. Concerning Ibn Jubayr's journey to Mecca in 1183, one writer claimed that "...his two-year journey made a considerable impact on literary history. His account of his travels and tribulations in the East served as the foundational work of a new genre of writing, the rihla, or the creative travelogue: a mix of personal narrative, description, opinion and anecdote. In following centuries, countless people emulated and even plagiarized him." Travel narratives were written prior to Ibn Jubayr's; for example, the 12th century rihla of Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi,  and accounts of foreign lands visited by merchants and diplomats (such as the 9th century accounts of India and China by Abu Zayd al-Sirafi, and the 10th century rihla by Ibn Fadlan with the Abbasid mission to the Volga) long predate Ibn Jubayr's travelogue.

The best known rihla narrative is Ibn Battuta's Masterpiece to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling (Tuḥfat an-Nuzzar fi Gharaʾib al-Amsar wa ʿAjaʾib al-Asfar), often referred to as the Travels of Ibn Battuta, or Rihlat Ibn Batutah). The Travels was dictated to Ibn Juzayy on orders from the Marinid Sultan Abu Inan Faris who was impressed by the story of Ibn Battuta. Although Ibn Battuta was an accomplished and well-documented explorer, his travels were unknown outside the Islamic world for many years.

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Broadhurst, Ronald J.C. (1952). The Travels of Ibn Jubayr: being the chronicle of a medieval Spanish Moor concerning his journey to the Egypt of Saladin, the holy cities of Arabia, Baghdad the city of the Caliphs, the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, and the Norman kingdom of Sicily; London: Cape.

Dunn, Ross E. (2005). The Adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveler of the 14th Century. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 

Eickelman, Dale F. and Piscatori, James P. (1990). Muslim Travellers: Pilgrimage, Migration and the Religious Imagination. University of California Press. 

Esposito, John L. (1998). The Oxford History of Islam.  Oxford University Press.

Euben, Roxanne L. (July 2008). Journeys to the Other Shore: Muslim and Western Travelers in Search of Knowledge. Princeton University Press. 

Glasse, Cyril (2001). The New Encyclopedia of Islam. Altamira Press.

Grammatico, Daniel and Werner, Louis. 2015. "The Travel Writer Ibn Jubayr". Aramco World,  Volume 66, No. 1, January–February 2015. Page 40.

Hassani, Salim T.  S. al-; Woodcock, Elizabeth; and Saoud, Rabah (2007). 1001 Inventions: Muslim Heritage in Our World, Second Edition. United Kingdom: Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilization.  

Jenkins, Everett, Jr. (1999). The Muslim Diaspora: A Comprehensive Reference to the Spread of Islam in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, Volume 1, 570-1500; Jefferson, North Carolina, McFarland & Company, Inc.

Khan, Muhammad Mojlum (2008).  The Muslim 100: The Lives, Thoughts and Achievements of the Most Influential Muslims in History, Leicestershire, United Kingdom: Kube Publishing Ltd.

Lapidus, Ira M. (2014).  A History of Islamic Societies; New York City, New York, Cambridge University Press. 

Peters, F.E. (1996). The Hajj: The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Places; Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press. 

as-Saffar, Muhammad (1992). Miller, Susan Gilson (ed.). Disorienting Encounters: Travels of a Moroccan Scholar in France in 1845-1846. The Voyage of Muhammad As-Saffar. Berkeley: University of California Press.

al-Tahtawi, Rifa'a Rafi' (2012). An Imam in Paris: Account of a Stay in France by an Egyptian Cleric (1826-1831). Translated by Newman, Daniel L. Saqi Books.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Jubayr

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rihla

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ibn-Jubayr

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