40 Advices of Shaykh Abd Al Qaadir PDF

40 ADVICES OF
SHAYKH ‘ABD AL-QAADIR AL-JILAANI

‫ريض اهلل اعتيل عنه‬
Compiled by
Mawlana Tehseen Raza Hamdani
AJMERI PRESS
40 Advices of
Shaykh ‘Abd Al Qaadir Al Jilaani
Compiled by
Tehseen Raza Hamdani
Nuri
Composing/Typesetting/Proofreading/Reference
Ajmeri Press
Copyright © Ajmeri Press

October 2018
Safar Al Muzaffar 1440 AH
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Contents
Prologue ...................................................................................... i
Advice 1 – The beneficial speech ............................................... 1
Advice 2 – Knowledge ............................................................... 2
Advice 3 – Our priorities ............................................................ 3
Advice 4 – Being a double standard hypocrite ........................... 4
Advice 5 – Know what you are saying ....................................... 5
Advice 6 – The light of a believer .............................................. 6
Advice 7 – A hypocrite hates me ................................................ 7
Advice 8 – When to address the people ...................................... 8
Advice 9 – Repentance ............................................................... 9
Advice 10 – Safety from Iblis ..................................................... 10
Advice 11 – Following the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬...................................... 11
Advice 12 – Dhikr ...................................................................... 12
Advice 13 – Humbleness ............................................................ 13
Advice 14 – Lawful diet ............................................................. 14
Advice 15 – The way to remain patient ...................................... 15
Advice 16 – Avoid much talk ..................................................... 16
Advice 17 – Follow the Shari’ah................................................ 17
Advice 18 – Modesty.................................................................. 18
Advice 19 – This world .............................................................. 19
Advice 20 – Sacrifice your passionate desire ............................. 20
Advice 21 – The ignorant Sufi.................................................... 21
Advice 22 – The deception of this world .................................... 22
Advice 23 – The intelligent person ............................................. 23
Advice 24 – The ethics of a disciple ........................................... 24
Advice 25 – The reality of your life ........................................... 25
Advice 26 – Ask Allah Ta’ala .................................................... 26
Advice 27 – On helping the beggars ........................................... 27
Advice 28 – Love for Allah Ta’ala ............................................. 28
Advice 29 – Conceal the faults of others .................................... 29
Advice 30 – Wake up and pay attention! .................................... 30
Advice 31 – The elite saints........................................................ 31
Advice 32 – Trials and tribulations............................................. 32
Advice 33 – Good attitude .......................................................... 33
Advice 34 – An unclean heart .................................................... 34
Advice 35 – Spirituality without the Shari’ah ............................ 35
Advice 36 – Pretence of piety ..................................................... 36
Advice 37 – The Holy Qur’an .................................................... 37
Advice 38 – On Ramadan ........................................................... 38
Advice 39 – Sincerity in everything ........................................... 39
Advice 40 – Speech of an inner pearl ......................................... 40
Epilogue ...................................................................................... 41
Prologue
All praise is due to Allah Ta’ala, the Supreme, All-Powerful,

who allowed his servant to complete another work that may
benefit its readers and listeners. Having presented previously
the ’40 Miracles of Shaykh ‘Abd Al-Qaadir Al-Jilaani’ – we
come to understand the charismatic stature and the
magnificent position held by the great Ghawth ‫ ريض اهلل اعتيل عنه‬in the
Divine Court of Allah.
His miracles far outnumbered the miracles of other saintly

figures of Islam and his profound knowledge of Islam was
matchless in comparison to any jurist of the sacred Law. He
was indeed personified to become a source of guidance for the
misguided. He was the true path of Islamic culture. Many
disbelievers embraced Islam after having witnessed the
manifestations of Divine Lustres within the noble Shaykh. His
words of wisdom and his works of spiritual wealth are full
with clarifying answers for every sinner and every seeker.
Irrespective of the type of audience, the penetrating words of
the noble Shaykh have a great impact on the hearts and minds,
alike. If a sinner was the recipient of his discourses, he would
break down in tears with true repentance; and if the listener
was a seeker of the spiritual path, he would be moved to rip
his clothes to shreds. Almost a millennium has passed since
the demise of the noble Shaykh but his words are still found
to penetrate the hardest of hearts. It is as if the noble Shaykh
is conversing directly with you, through the blackness of the
ink and whiteness of the page.
Being a follower of the Qaadiri spiritual order or any other

spiritual order – it is incumbent upon those who profess their
love for the Shaykh to follow him in his teachings, his advices
and his admonishments. It is hypocritical to claim one’s love
for the noble Shaykh meanwhile one acts in contrary to his
Page | i
advices. Therefore, O Muslims, become his followers in the
true sense, for this guidance is from Allah and His Messenger
{‫}ﷺ‬.
I have used the English version, published by Al-Baz, of the

book, ‘Jalaa Al-Khawaatir’ and ‘Fath Ar-Rabbaani’ to
compile some of the advices and serious admonishments of
the noble Shaykh. These 40 advices were collected in a way
that it satisfies the reader in different subjects of concern. It is
my sincere belief: if one reads these advices, acts upon them
and remain steadfast on them, then for such a person Paradise
becomes his abode. May Allah Ta’ala raise us on the Day of
Resurrection from the group of Shaykh ‘Abd Al-Qaadir Al-
Jilaani ‫ ريض اهلل اعتيل عنه‬and allow us entry into Paradise with the noble
Shaykh – Aameen.
Salutations in abundance be upon His Eminence – Hadrat

Muhammad Al-Mustafa ‫ ﷺ‬and his noble Family, his blessed
Companions and the army of his friends.
Khaadim al-Mashaaikh
Tehseen Raza Hamdani
Nuri
Page | ii
Page | iii
Dedicated to my master and my spiritual aid
The Knower of Allah
The Crown of Islam
The noble Qaadhi & The elite Mufti
Shaykh Al-Islam
Muhammad Akhtar Rida Khan
Al-Qaadiri
[May Allah sanctify his noble soul]
Page | iv
‫ق ُمَُي ْتُُُُل ََُقامَُ بُقُ ُْدَُرةُ اُل ْ َمُو ْيلُبََُعايل‬
َُ ْ ‫ىُقَُو‬ ُ ُ‫َولَو ْاَل ْ َقيْت‬
ْ ُ‫سر‬
“And if I were to aim my secret over the dead,
The dead would stand up by the Power of the Great”
[Shaykh Abd Al-Qaadir Al-Jilaani]
Page | v
Advice 1 – The beneficial speech
“I speak to you as one who is not interested in what you

possess in your houses, in your goods, your property and your
gifts. As long as I carry on like this, you shall benefit from
what I have to tell you, if Allah Wills. As long as the speaker
has his eye on your turbans, your attire and your pockets, you
will derive no benefit from what he has to say. As long as he
is watching your outward appearance and harbouring greedy
ambitious expectations of you, you will derive no benefit of
what he has to say. His speech will be an empty shell with no
pearl, a bone with no meat on it, a bitter pill with nothing to
sweeten it, an outer form with no inner content.”1
1
Jalaa Al-Khawaatir, 1st discourse, Pg.7, Al-Baz Publishing, 1997
Page | 1
Advice 2 – Knowledge
“O young man! If you were in possession of the fruit of

knowledge and its blessings, you would not go running to the
doors of the wealthy in order to indulge in your selfish
desires. The learned person has no legs on which to run to the
doors of the creation. The abstinent person has no hands with
which to take people’s wealth. The lover of Allah has no eyes
with which to look at any other than Him. Even if he were to
meet all the creations there are, the lover who is sincere in his
love would not take any pleasure in looking at them. This
world does not seem important to the eyes in his head, the
hereafter does not seem important to the eyes of his heart, and
to the eyes of his innermost being nothing seems important
but the Master!”2
2
Page | 2
Advice 3 – Our priorities
“Woe unto you3! You would dearly love to remain in this

world forever, but nothing will fall into your hands until such
a time as you put the obligatory Prayer before the business of
your shop; until such a time as you put the Hereafter before
your worldly interests; until such time as you put the beggar
before yourself; until such time as you give priority to
carrying out the commandments of Allah, to observing His
prohibitions, and to enduring with patience the misfortunes
that comes from Him, instead of [giving priority] to your
passionate desires and habitual behaviour; until such a time as
you put your response to Him ahead of your response to His
creation. Be sensible! You are immersed in a futile fantasy,
devoid of truth both outwardly and inwardly. You are
involved in a public show with no private life. So, come
closer to me!”4
3
The noble Shaykh has utilised the expression ‘Woe unto you’ many
times in his discourses. It does not refer to cursing anyone. The
contextual definition of it was directed to the audience for the
purpose of acquiring attention. It refers to the understanding that
whatever the Shaykh is about to say afterwards is worthy of
listening attentively.
4
Page | 3
Advice 4 – Being a double standard hypocrite
“You must strive with all the might in obedience to your

Absolute Master. You must make every effort to give to those
who withhold from you, to connect with those who cut you
off, and to pardon those who do you wrong. You must make
every effort to ensure that, while your eyes are with the
servants of the Lord, your heart is with the Lord of the
servants. You must make every effort to ensure that you
always tell the truth and never tell a lie. You must make every
effort to ensure that you are always sincere and never
hypocritical.”
“Do not be a two-faced, two-tongued person with two types of

behaviour, one for relating to so-and-so and another for
relating to somebody else. I can assure you that I have been
given the authority to deal with every lying hypocrite and
imposter. I have been empowered to deal with everyone who
is guilty of disobedience to Allah, the most important of these
being Iblis and the least significant being the ordinary sinner.
I am at war with you and with everyone who goes astray, who
leads others astray and who tries to persuade other people that
what is false is true.”5
5
Page | 4
Advice 5 – Know what you are saying
“O young man…you must put the Angels at their ease [from

recording your bad deeds] and refrain from idle talk,
otherwise your sins will be piled up one on top of another,
with no clear end in sight. If you go on talking without being
conscious of what you are saying, you cannot know whether
your words will be counted in your favour or against you.
You must be consciously aware of death. There is no way for
you to escape from your death. You must give up your habit
of indulging in gossip and paying attention to things that do
no concern you. You must curtail your expectations and
reduce your greedy ambition, for you will very soon be dead.
Your death may come while you are sitting right here. It may
come while you are standing up. You may be carried back to
your house on a bier.”6
6
Page | 5
Advice 6 – The Light of a Believer
“The one who is sincerely conscious of Allah, who is brought

near to Him, is given a light by which he can see how near he
is to his Lord Almighty, and can see the nearness of his Lord
to his heart. He can see the spirits of the Angels and the
Prophets, and the hearts and spirits of the truthful. He can see
their spiritual states and stations. All of this is in the deepest
folds of his heart and the pure clarity of his inner most being.
He is always in blissful happiness with his Lord. He is a
mediator, receiving from Him and distributing to the people.”7
The Prophet {‫ }ﷺ‬has said:
‫اِتَّ ُقوْا فِرَاسَةَ املُؤمِنِ فَاِنَّهُ يَنْظُرُ بِنُورِاهلل‬
‘Beware of the penetrating insight of the [true] believer, for

he sees by the Light of Allah’8
7
Jalaa Al-Khawaatir, 2nd discourse, Pg.17, Al-Baz Publishing, 1997
8
Jaami’ Tirmidhi, Kitaab At-Tafseer, Hadith no. 3127
Page | 6
Advice 7 – A hypocrite hates me
“O young man! When you come into my presence, you must

wrap up your personal activity and your selfish concerns. You
must come in with nothing, as one who is utterly bankrupt. If
you come here while you are still thinking about your work
and self-interest, you will be obstructed from receiving this
guidance that I am trying to convey.”
“Woe to you! You hate me because I am telling the truth and

making you face up to the truth. No one hates me except the
enemy of Allah, and no one ignores me unless he is ignorant
of Allah, given to lots of talk and little action. No one loves
me unless he is well aware of Allah, given to plenty of action
and little talk. The sincere person loves me and the hypocrite
hates me. I am loved by the Sunni9 and I am hated by the
Bid’i10. If you love me, the benefit of all of this will accrue to
you, but if you hate me, the effect it has on you will be
detrimental.”11
9
A person who adheres to the Ahl As-Sunnah Wa Al-Jama’ah. In
modern times it refers to the path of Ahl As-Sunnah adopted by
Imam Nabhaani in the Arab world and Imam Ahmad Rida in the
Indo-Pak Subcontinent.
10
A person who follows any innovated beliefs and actions, such as
the Wahaabiya, the Deobandi fraternity and the Rawaafidh Shia’.
11
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Advice 8 – When to address the people?
“Woe unto you! Be sensible! Do not try to compete with the

people of the Lord in your ignorance. After you have emerged
from the study of the Book [the Qur’an], you will get up and
speak to the people. After the blackness of the ink has rubbed
off onto your body, and after careful reflection, you will speak
to the people. This is a matter that requires proficiency of the
outer elements and inner realities, then freedom from all the
attachment.”12
“Then it requires that two necessities apply in your case: The

first is that there is no one else left in your town [to preach],
so you speak to the people out of necessity. The other is that
you are commanded to speak by the feeling of your heart. You
will then advance to this station, in order to bring the people
back to the Creator!”13
12
13
Al-Fath Ar-Rabbaani, 59th discourse, Al-Baz Publishing
Page | 8
Advice 9 - Repentance
“O you who have abandoned righteousness! On the Day of

Resurrection the righteous will be gathered unto the All-
Merciful, a goodly company, riding with the Angels while
their good deeds take a visible shape all around them. Each
one of them will have a vehicle on which to ride, and that
vehicle of his will be his deeds, while his turban will be his
knowledge. Good deeds will assume attractive forms, while
bad deeds will take on ugly shapes. The key to righteous
devotion is repentance and steadfastness in following it
through. Repentance is likewise the key to the nearness of
Allah. Repentance is both the root and the branch of all that is
good. That is why the righteous never let themselves be
distracted from it under any circumstances. Repent, O you
backsliders, O you rebellious sinners! Make peace with your
Lord by means of repentance!”14
“Repentance is the life-force of the Lord of the Truth. He

restores the earth to life with refreshing rain, after it has
become dead, and He restores our hearts to life, after their
death, through repentance and the awakening of conscience. O
disobedient sinners, repent!”15
14
15
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Advice 10 – Safety from Iblis
“If Iblis comes up to you, trying to make you change and alter
course [of goodness], you must therefore appeal to your Lord
for help, so that He may drive him away from you. You must
appeal to Him for help, just as those who have gone before
you appealed to Him for help in their time. You must do your
work well, then think well of your Lord Almighty. Think well
of Him and do your best to obey Him properly, for then He
will have a lot to do with you. Much goodness is to be found
in thinking well of Allah, His Prophets, His Messengers and
the righteous among His servants.”16
16
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Advice 11 – Following the Prophet {‫}ﷺ‬
“O young man! You claim to be a Sufi, but you are disturbed

and confused. The Sufi is one whose inner and outer have
been purified by following the Book of Allah and the Sunnah
of His Messenger {‫}ﷺ‬. The more his purity increases, the
more he emerges from the ocean of his existence and
abandons his own will and choice and desire because of the
purity of his heart. When a person’s heart is purified, the
Prophet {‫ }ﷺ‬becomes an ambassador between him and his
Lord, just as Jibraeel [peace be upon him] was. The
foundation of goodness is following the Prophet {‫ }ﷺ‬in his
word and deed. The more the servant’s heart is purified, the
more he will see the Prophet {‫ }ﷺ‬in his sleep, commanding
him to do something and forbidding him to do something else.
The whole of him become a heart and his physical form is
separated off. He becomes a secret with no publicity, pure
clarity with no muddy confusion.”17
17
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Advice 12 - Dhikr
“O you who are dead at heart! You must devote yourselves

constantly to the remembrance of your Lord [Dhikr], to the
recitation of His Book, to following the Sunnah of His
Messenger {‫}ﷺ‬, and to attendance at gatherings held for the
purpose of remembrance [majaalis al-dhikr]. Your hearts will
then be restored to life, just as the dead earth is restored to life
by the refreshing rain. Constant remembrance is the cause of
constant good in this world and the Hereafter. When a
person’s heart is sound, remembrance becomes constant
within it. It is inscribed all around it and all over it, so his eyes
may sleep but his heart will be remembering his Lord. He
inherits this from his Prophet {‫}ﷺ‬.”18
18
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Advice 13 - Humbleness
“You must always be humble, for whenever you behave with

humility, you will be purified, enhanced and raised to a higher
spiritual plane. If you do not conduct yourself with humility,
on the other hand, it can only mean that you are ignorant of
Allah, His Messengers and His Saints, His Law, His
Knowledge, His Destiny and His Power, in the sphere of this
world and also in the realm of the Hereafter. How often do
you listen without understanding what you hear, without
putting it into practice, and without even making a sincere
effort to pay attention? So why do you come here at all? Your
presence and your absence are one and the same! When you
come to be with me here, but with no intention of acting on
what I have to say, you are merely being a nuisance to the
other people present. As long as you are stuck there in your
place of business, you feel depressed because your plans have
not been working out, but then you come here to me and your
depression leaves you. It is replaced by a sense of euphoria.
You listen, but it is as if you had not heard.
O you who own so much property, forget about your

property! Come and sit here, in the midst of the poor. Be
humble in the presence of Allah and in their presence. O you
who possess noble lineage, forget about your lineage and
come here! The genuinely noble lineage is devotion to
righteousness.”19
19
Jalaa Al-Khawaatir, 3rd discourse, Pg.28, Al-Baz Publishing, 1997
Page | 13
Advice 14 – Lawful diet
“There is nothing good in any of you, O boy, O youth, O

Shaykh, O seeker, as long as you have not purified your diet
from every morsel of unlawful food. Most of you eat food that
is at least contaminated, if not downright unlawful. When
someone eats forbidden food, his heart becomes completely
dark. When a person eats things of doubtful quality, his heart
becomes very murky. Your lower selves and your passionate
desires will simply dismiss any scruples you may have about
the eating of forbidden food. The lower self and the passions
are quite impulsive when it comes to the pursuit of carnal
pleasures and delights, to which they are readily addicted.
Suppose you have been in the habit of feeding your lower self
with grits, and it tries to persuade you to give it honey for a
change. Your response to this should be to make it eat barley
bread, until its one and only desire is to have you put it back
onto its old diet of grits. When your lower self is not
subjugated to pious restraint in its diet, it may be compared to
a hen – a hen that goes pecking around in the garbage dumps,
so that its intake is a mixture of polluted matter and pure food.
If someone proposes to eat the flesh of this hen, or the eggs it
lays, he must keep the hen in a confined space and provide it
with pure food, for only then will the bird and its eggs become
fit to eat. You must likewise restrain your lower self from
eating forbidden food, and provide it with a pure and lawful
diet, until it has lost all the flesh it developed from its
unlawful intake.”20
20
Jalaa Al-Khawaatir, 3rd discourse, Pg.29, Al-Baz Publishing, 1997
Page | 14
Advice 15 – The way to remain patient
“You must always remember the hunger of those who are

starving, the nakedness of those who have no clothes to wear,
the sickness of those who are ill, and the plight of those who
are locked up in prison, for then you will attach far less
importance to your own trials and tribulations. You must
remember the foreknowledge that Allah has about you, His
interest in your welfare, and the destiny He has foreordained
for you, for then you will feel the sense of shame in His
presence. When things become very difficult for you, you
must reflect on your sins, turn from them in repentance, and
say to your own lower self: ‘Because of your sinfulness, the
Lord of Truth has made life difficult for you. If you repent
your sins and do your duty, the Lord of Truth will grant you a
way out of every care and every difficult hardship.’”21
21
Jalaa Al-Khawaatir, 5th discourse, Pg.46, Al-Baz Publishing, 1997
Page | 15
Advice 16 – Avoid much talk
“You really ought to desist from much merry talk and gossip
and wasting money. Do not spend too much time in the
company of neighbours, friends and acquaintances without a
good reason, for this is foolish. Most of what passes between
two people is telling of lies and backbiting, and it takes two to
stage a sinful revolt. None of you should go out of the house
except to attend to your own essential interests or those of
your family. Do make the effort not to be the first to speak,
but rather let your words be a response to someone who asks
you about something – provided there is some mutual benefit
to be gained by responding to him, otherwise you should not
answer his question. If you happen to meet a Muslim brother
of yours, do not ask him: ‘Where are you heading for now,
and where are you coming from?’ Perhaps he does not want to
tell you what he is up to, in which case he may lie about it,
and then you will be the one to blame for prompting him to
tell a lie.
Be quiet in the presence of the Recording Angels, and do not

dictate statements to them which you should not be making.
Your dictation to them should consist of the Tasbih,
Tilaawah, and statements concerning your own best interests
and the best interests of the people. Wash away their ink with
your tears, and blunt their pens with your pronunciation of the
Tawheed. Then leave them sitting at the door, while you go
inside to enter the presence of your Lord.”22
22
Page | 16
Advice 17 – Follow the Shari’ah
“You must keep the fast and perform the five daily Prayers
regularly at their prescribed times, as you must observe all the
rules of the sacred Law [Shari’ah]. When you have
discharged the obligatory duties [Faraaid], your attention
should draw towards the supererogatory things [Nawaafil]23.
You must practice strict observances [azima]24 and avoid
special concessions [rukhsa]25. When a person always takes
advantage of special concessions and gives up strict
observance, it is to be feared that he is risking the total loss of
his religion.”26
23
This statement clearly indicates that obligatory duties, as
commanded by the Shari’ah, are a conditional prerequisite before
practicing things that are voluntary. The ignorant pseudo-Sufis and
the so-called spiritual guides of modern times should take heed from
these words of the Leader of all spiritual guides.
24
The observance of the agreed upon ruling of a particular Fiqh
Madhab in all circumstances
25
The choice of adopting an easier ruling based on certain
conditions. The noble Shaykh discourages people to use Rukhsa all
the times for the fear that the person will take the Shariah very
lightly.
26
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Advice 18 - Modesty
“You folks are so impudent and so insolent in your attitude

toward your Lord. To combine modesty toward the creation
with insolence toward the Creator can only be described as
foolish delusion. The true meaning of modesty is that you feel
a sense of shame in relation to your Lord in both your private
moments and your public lives. Modesty toward your fellow
men is therefore a consequence, not a basic principle. The true
believer feels a sense of shame in relation to the Creator,
while the hypocrite feels a sense of shame in relation to the
creation. May Allah not grant you His blessing, O hypocrites,
for all too often your whole preoccupation is with cultivating
your relations with the creation27 and sabotaging your
relations with the Lord of the Truth!”28
27
The creation referred to here and above is in reference to the
worldly people and all those things that remove a person from the
remembrance of Allah. As for the Prophets, Saints and anything that
sparks the remembrance of Allah will, ultimately, be a relationship
with Allah Almighty.
28
Page | 18
Advice 19 – This world
“This world is fleeting, transitory. It is the abode of disasters

and misfortunes. It can offer no one a life free of care,
especially if he is a wise man. As the saying goes, it offers no
solace for the eye of the wise man, the eye of one who
remembers death. If someone finds himself close up against a
lion with its jaws wide open, how can he feel nice and cosy
and drop off to sleep? O heedless ones, the grave has its jaws
open wide. The lion of death and its serpent have their jaws
open wide. The executioner of the Sultan of Destiny has his
sword in his hand, as he awaits His command. Only one in a
million has this kind of wisdom, vigilant without a trace of
negligence.”29
29
Page | 19
Advice 20 – Sacrifice your passionate desire
“A certain Shaykh once said to his disciples:
‘If you suffer unjust treatment, do not act unjustly. If you are
praised, do not feel too pleased about it. If you are criticised,
do not feel too depressed. If you are accused of telling lies, do
not get angry. If you are betrayed, do not betray another.’
What a splendid saying this is! He was instructing them to

sacrifice their lower selves and their passionate desires.”30
30
Page | 20
Advice 21 – The ignorant Sufi
“You31 are nothing but the lower self, natural inclination and
passion. You spend time in the company of strange women
and boys; then you say, ‘I am not interested in them’. You are
lying. Neither the Sacred Law [Shari’ah] nor reason [Aql]
will agree with you. You are adding fire to fire, firewood to
firewood, so the house of your religion [Deen] and your faith
[Imaan] will surely be set ablaze. Disapproval of this by the
sacred law is universally applicable, with no one being
exempt from it.”
“You must acquire faith, experience recognition of Allah

[ma’rifa] and the strength of nearness, then become the
physician to creatures, acting on behalf of the Lord of Truth.
Woe unto you! How can you touch and handle snakes, when
you are not an expert in the art of snake-charming and have
not taken the antidote to its poison? Blind, how can you treat
people’s eyes? Dumb, how can you teach people? Ignorant,
how can you practice the religion? If someone is not a
chamberlain, how can he conduct people to the king’s door?
There is nothing more to be said, until the Resurrection comes
and you see the wonders.”32
31
The Shaykh is addressing the pretenders of Sufism and the
ignorant pseudo-Sufis who consider themselves to be the guiding
stars
32
Page | 21
Advice 22 – The deception of this world
“Leave the lower self [nafs] to this world, the heart to the
Hereafter, and the innermost being to the Master. Do not
approach this world with confidence, for it is actually a
serpent in beautiful disguise. It lures people with its charming
appearance then it destroys them. You must be utterly sincere
in obeying your Lord Almighty, in befriending and serving
your righteous brothers, and in refusing to indulge the
appetites of the flesh. You must affirm the Oneness of the
Lord of Truth until not a single atom of the entire creation is
left within your heart, and you wish for nothing except that
which is compatible with the affirmation of Divine Unity. The
entire remedy lies in affirming that the Lord of Truth is One,
and in shunning the serpent of this world.”33
33
Page | 22
Advice 23 – The intelligent person
“The intelligent person amongst you will not seek happiness

in this world, nor in children, family, wealth, foodstuffs,
articles of clothing, vehicles, or sexual opportunities. All of
this is mere delusion.”
“The true believer finds happiness in the strength of his faith

[Imaan] and certitude [Yaqeen], and in the arrival of his heart
at the door of the nearness of his Glorious Lord!”34
34
Page | 23
Advice 24 – The ethics of a disciple
“Woe unto you! You claim to be my disciple, yet you keep

your property hidden from me. You are lying when make such
a claim. The disciple has neither a shirt nor turban, neither
gold nor money to his name in relation to his Shaykh. He just
eats at his table whatever he tells him to eat. He has no
existence of his own, as he waits for his Shaykh to tell him
what he must do and what he must not do, because he
acknowledges that this comes from Allah Almighty. His best
interests are being looked after by his Shaykh, and he is held
on a tight rein. If you harbour any doubts35 about your
Shaykh, you should not stay in his company, for it will do you
no good to share his companionship or become his disciple.
When a sick person has doubts about his physician, he cannot
be cured by his treatment.”36
35
These doubts should be very well substantiated with lawful
evidence. Mere supposition is the playground of the Devil and the
Devil will infuse whisperings within the heart of the disciples, in
order to discredit the Shaykh. Therefore, when one sees anything out
of the ordinary from his Shaykh, he should not question it unless
there is condemning proof substantiated by the Sacred Law of Islam.
If such a Shaykh acts clearly in contrary to the Shari’ah knowingly,
and its sin is well established then for the disciples of such people
the author advises them to leave the company of such a Shaykh.
36
Al-Fath Ar-Rabbaani, 62nd Discourse, Pg. 454, Al-Baz, 1997
Page | 24
Advice 25 – The reality of your life
“All you want is to live a life of ease and comfort, but the end
of all of this is death. Your property will very soon be gone,
as will your span of life. Your eyesight will soon grow dim,
your mental faculties will deteriorate, and your capacity for
eating and drinking will diminish. You will see the pleasures
of the flesh, but you will not be capable of indulging in them
to the slightest extent. Your wife and children will come to
hate you and wish for you to die. Care and grief will be
heaped upon you. This world will depart and the Hereafter
will come to meet you. If you have a good deed to your credit
there, the Hereafter will bid you welcome and enfold you in
its bosom, but if this is not the case, then the grave will be
your lodging place and the Fire of Hell will be your custodian.
What is this crazy delusion [that you have about this world]?
The Prophet {‫ }ﷺ‬used to say:
‫العيش عيش االخرة‬
“The real life is the life of Hereafter”
“He repeated this over and over again, to himself and to his
Companions. Learn from me, O ignorant ones! Follow me, for
I am your guide to the path of right conduct.”37
37
Jalaa Al-Khawaatir, 12th discourse, Al-Baz Publishing, 1997
Page | 25
Advice 26 – On Dua’
“O servants of Allah! Be sensible, and make a serious effort to

get to know the One you serve before death comes to you.
Ask Him to supply your needs, both by day and night. To put
a request to Him is an act of worship, whether He gives or
does not give you what you ask for. You must not harbour
doubts about Him. Do not get impatient for a response, and do
not get bored with asking. Put your requests to Him with an
attitude of humble submission, and do not complain to Him if
you do not receive an immediate response. He is more Aware
of your best interests than you are.”38
38
Page | 26
Advice 27 – On helping the beggars
“This property you hold in your possession does not really

belong to you. It is a deposit entrusted to your custody. It is
meant to be shared between you and the poor. Do not try to
appropriate the deposit you hold in trust for its Owner, for He
may remove it from your control. Whichever one of you
cooks a pot of food, he must not eat from it alone. He must
share the meal with his neighbour, with the beggar who comes
to his door, and with the guest to whom he offers with
hospitality. Beggars should never be turned away, as long as
one has the capacity for making them welcome and providing
them with something to eat. The Prophet {‫ }ﷺ‬said,
‘If someone turns the beggar away from his door, without
having a valid excuse to offer, the guardian Angels will not
come near his door for forty mornings’
You have disgraced your tongues! At the very moment when

those poor beggars appear on the scene, Allah is ready to
enrich you and assist you. But you turn them away, even
though you could in fact give them something. How can you
be sure that He will not make life easier for them, and more
difficult for you?39
39
Page | 27
Advice 28 – Love for Allah Almighty
“When someone loves Allah, Most High, that person no

longer has a will of his own, because the lover [muhibb] can
have no will in the company of his Beloved [Mahbub], since
he is just like the slave in the presence of his master. The
slave is in bondage to his master. He cannot contradict his
master. He cannot oppose his master in anything at all. Woe
unto you! You are neither a lover nor a loved one. You have
experienced neither the taste of loving [mahabbah] nor the
taste of being loved [mahbubiya]. The lover is restless and
wary, while the loved one is calm. The lover is in a state of
distress, while the loved one is in a state of composure. You
lay claim to love, yet you go to sleep and forget about your
Beloved. As Allah, the Glorious, has said in a Hadith Qudsi,
‘A liar is he who claims to love Me, yet he goes to sleep and

forgets Me as soon as the night sets in.’”40
40
Page | 28
Advice 29 – Conceal the faults of others
“As far as most of you are concerned, I notice that when you
see something bad [in others] you make it widely known, but
that when you see something good [in others] you keep it a
secret. You must not act like this. Are you not designated with
taking care of your fellow human beings? You must lodge
people under the protective shelter of Allah. You must leave
people free from your control. It is with their Lord that they
will have to settle their accounts. If you were really aware of
the Creator, you would treat His creation with compassion and
overlook their faults. If you were really aware of His door,
your hearts would turn away from the door of anyone other
than Him. If you recognised Him as the source of blessings,
you would give thanks to Him and forget about thanking
anyone else.”41
41
Page | 29
Advice 30 – Wake up and pay attention!
“Woe unto you! The shirt of your Islam is torn to shreds. The
robe of your faith is soiled. You are naked. Your heart is
ignorant. Your innermost being is confused. Your heart is not
opened wide to Islam. Your inner form is a wasteland while
your outer figure is flourishing. Your record sheets have all
been written on. This world of yours, which you love so
much, is about to move away from you, while the grave and
the Hereafter are coming toward you. Wake up and pay
attention to the state of your affairs and what you will soon
have to face. Your death may happen today, or even in this
very hour, intervening between you and your expectations.”42
42
Page | 30
Advice 31 – The elite saints
“Among the saints [awliya], there are those who partake in

their own day of the food and drink of the Garden of Paradise
and who see everything that it contains. Then there are those
who pass beyond eating and drinking, become detached and
invisible from the creation, and continue to inhabit the Earth
without dying, like Ilyas and Khidr43. Allah has a considerable
number of such invisible ones on the Earth, able to see people
while people cannot see them. The saints among them
constitute the majority, while the elite figures among them are
a small minority, just a few isolated individuals, whose favour
everyone comes seeking. It is through their intermediation
that the Earth becomes fruitful, that rain falls from the sky,
and that people are shielded from disaster.”44
43
Hadrat Ilyas and Hadrat Khidr [peace be upon them] are the two
Prophets, from the four Prophets, who have not yet tasted death.
They are physically alive and they perform Hajj every year with
others. Nobody recognises them except for those who are authorised
to do so. Hadrat Khidr [peace be upon him] is in charge of the
terrestrial landscape of this Earth and Hadrat Ilyas [peace be upon
him] supervises the oceans. The other two Prophets are Hadrat Isa
and Hadrat Idris [peace be upon them]. These Prophets have not
tasted death physically but they will do so eventually, because death
is the Promise of Allah that will come to pass on every individual.
44
Jalaa Al-Khawaatir, 23rd discourse, Al-Baz Publishing, 1997
Page | 31
Advice 32 – During trials and tribulations
“When trials and tribulations come your way, you must be

ready to greet them with faith, patience, submission, and the
joyful affirmation of ‘La Ilaaha IlAllah’. You must endure
them with patience and in His company45, for then their days
will soon be gone and their moments will pass into oblivion.
O seeker! Do not run away from the door of the One you seek,
on account of the arrows of His trial and tribulation. Hold
your ground, for then you will come in contact with the One
you seek. When the seeker is put to test and made to suffer, he
needs a qualified doctor to treat him during his ordeal,
someone who will instruct him to bear it with patience and be
thankful for it, who will tell him what medicine to take, who
will tell him turn away from his lower self and stop giving in
to its demands. If the seeker sincerely accepts the advice of
his Shaykh, Allah will put an end to his ordeal sooner or
later.”46
45
In His remembrance
46
Page | 32
Advice 33 – Good attitude
“If you really knew me well, you would never be out of my

presence. You would follow me in whichever direction I
might take. You would be quite incapable of leaving,
regardless of whether I put you to work in my service or gave
things to you, whether I made you poor or made your rich,
whether I tired you out or set you at your ease. The basic
requirement in all of this is that you should have a good
attitude and correct behaviour towards Him. Both of these are
entirely lacking in your case, so how can you be worthy of my
companionship? How can you derive any benefit from what I
have to say? You must cultivate the good manners of
companionship and fellowship with the Creator as well as
with His creation.”47
47
Page | 33
Advice 34 – An unclean heart
“The light of hearts is purity – the purity of hearts and

innermost beings and private conscience. If your heart is not
clean, if your private conscience is not clean, what benefit can
you derive from the cleanliness of your outer body? Even if
you bathed yourself a thousand times each day, not the
slightest trace of dirt would be washed away from your heart.
Sinful acts of disobedience have a bad smell, which makes it
easy for them to be detected by those who see by the light of
Allah, but they have an attitude of tolerance toward their
fellow people and do not put them to shame.”48
48
Page | 34
Advice 35 – Spirituality without the Shari’ah
“Much of the reasoning [ijtihad] that is applied to matters of

religious worship is done without proper knowledge. There
are many servants of Allah who exercise their rational
faculties by night and day, in spite of the fact that they are
quite ignorant of what it takes to be thoroughly proficient in
religious science. This kind of theological discussion requires
a thorough grasp of the principles of religious knowledge,
meaning the divine ordinance and decree. But they are
discussing the reality [of spirituality] without any reference to
the Shari’ah, which means that they are guilty of atheistic
heresy. This is why it has been said that any article of Haqiqa
[reality] that is not acknowledged by the Shari’ah is nothing
but an atheistic heresy.”49
49
Page | 35
Advice 36 – Pretence of piety
“Most of you are out of touch with reality. You are pretending
to practice Islam, when in actual fact you are doing nothing of
the sort. Woe unto you! The mere name of Islam will do you
no good at all. You may be performing the required
observances, but only on the surface, devoid of inner content,
so your performance does not amount to anything of value.
Your external form may be there in the Mihraab [prayer niche
in a Mosque], but your inner being is putting on a show and
your outer self is playing the hypocrite. From a superficial
point of view, your conduct is considered pious and devout,
even though all the while your inner being is full of things
that are unlawful. This constitutes worship as far as your
physical frame is concerned. Its performance will render you
exempt from punishment under the Sacred Law, since you
have not committed any obvious infringement of that Law,
but true knowledge will condemn you to agony and
chastisement. You may see yourself as having dodged the
penalty today, but who will let you get away with it tomorrow
at the Resurrection? You see yourself safe from the view of
the legal scholars, but how can you hide from the sight of the
people of awareness, when they see your reality by the light of
Allah?”50
50
Page | 36
Advice 37 – The Holy Qur’an
“You must listen attentively to the Qur’an, and put what you
hear into practice. The Lord of Truth has only sent it down so
that you may use it to get in touch with Him. It has two ends,
one end being in His Hand of Divine Power and the other end
is in your hands. If you put it into practice, He will cause your
hearts to climb up to Him. He will install your hearts in the
abode of His nearness, while you are still here in this world,
before you pass on to the Hereafter.”
“The Qur’an is an illuminating sun, so you must install it in

the houses of your hearts, in order to let it shine its light for
you. Woe unto you! If you put out the lamps, how can you see
what is right there in front of you, in the darkness of the
night?”51
51
Page | 37
Advice 38 – On Ramadan
“As written in the Arabic script, the word Ramadan is made

up of five letters, namely, ra, mim, daad, alif and noon. The
initial ra stands for Rahma [mercy] and Ra’fa [compassionate
kindness]. The mim stands for Mujazaat [recompense],
Mahabba [love] and Minna [grace]. The daad stands for
Damaan [guarantee] - the assurance of spiritual reward. The
alif is the first letter of the Arabic word Ulfa, meaning
intimate affection and nearness. The final noon stands for Nur
[light] and Nawaal [receiving of benefits]. If you give this
month of fasting its due, and perform its requirements as you
should, all of these things will come to you from the Lord of
Truth. In this world, you will receive them as an illumination
for your hearts, and as a blessing and benefit to be enjoyed
both outwardly and inwardly. In the Hereafter, you will
receive that which no eye has ever seen and no ear has ever
heard of, and which has never occurred to any human heart.”
“O keeper of fast! Give the poor and the needy a share of your
food, for this will increase your spiritual reward, and it will be
a sign that your fast has been accepted by Allah when the time
comes for you to break the fast."
“In this month there is a night which is most splendid night in

the whole year, and this the Night of Power. It has signs by
which its advent is apparent to the righteous among the
servants of Allah.”52
52
Page | 38
Advice 39 – Sincerity in everything
“Surely you must have witnessed a scene like the one I am

about to describe: A father has decided to put his son to the
test, so he makes the boy go out of the house, locks the door
in his face, and then waits to see what he will do about it. He
sees that his son has dealt with the situation by not budging
from the doorstep, that is, he remains seated there at the
doorstep; instead of going next door, complaining about him
to the neighbours, and forgetting his training in good ethics.
So the father reopens the door, takes him in his arms and hugs
him, and then proceeds to treat him with extra-special
kindness.
“Whoever a person may be, if he is not sincere in his conduct,

not so much as a single atom of the nearness of Allah will fall
into his hands.”53
53
Jalaa Al-Khawaatir, 31st discourse, Al-Baz Publishing, 1997
Page | 39
Advice 40 – Speech of an inner pearl
“Hypocrisy has already settled firmly on your heart. You need

to surrender your self-will, to repent, and to cut the rope that
binds you to unbelief. Be sensible! You will see clearly once
the dust has been cleared from your eyes. If anyone hears
what I have to say, puts it into practice and does so sincerely,
he will become one of those who are drawn near to the Lord,
because it is a speech of an inner pearl, containing no outer
shell”54
54
Page | 40
Epilogue
The people of insight have advised that companionship of the

friends of Allah causes one’s heart to erupt with the fire of
Divine Love that provides a soothing light from His Power. If
no such personal company is found then read the words and
the books of the friends of Allah, for this will provide you
with the same benefit as their personal companionship.
May Allah Ta’ala purify us and allow us to enter His

Proximity!
Page | 41
AJMERI PRESS
“If anyone hears what I have to say, puts it into practice and does
so sincerely, he will become one of those who are drawn near to
the Lord, because it is a speech of an inner pearl, containing no
outer shell”
Shaykh Abd Al-Qaadir Al-Jilaani

[May Allah Ta’ala sanctify his secrets]
Page | 42

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40 ADVICES OF

SHAYKH ‘ABD AL-QAADIR AL-JILAANI

Copyright © Ajmeri Press

© 2018 Ajmeri Press

All rights reserved.

Permission is hereby granted to share and distribute this

Re-design and composition is only permissible with the

All praise is due to Allah Ta’ala, the Supreme, All-Powerful,

His miracles far outnumbered the miracles of other saintly

Being a follower of the Qaadiri spiritual order or any other

I have used the English version, published by Al-Baz, of the

Salutations in abundance be upon His Eminence – Hadrat

[May Allah sanctify his noble soul]

“I speak to you as one who is not interested in what you

“O young man! If you were in possession of the fruit of

“Woe unto you3! You would dearly love to remain in this

“You must strive with all the might in obedience to your

“Do not be a two-faced, two-tongued person with two types of

“O young man…you must put the Angels at their ease [from

“The one who is sincerely conscious of Allah, who is brought

The Prophet {‫ }ﷺ‬has said:

‫اِتَّ ُقوْا فِرَاسَةَ املُؤمِنِ فَاِنَّهُ يَنْظُرُ بِنُورِاهلل‬

‘Beware of the penetrating insight of the [true] believer, for

“O young man! When you come into my presence, you must

“Woe to you! You hate me because I am telling the truth and

“Woe unto you! Be sensible! Do not try to compete with the

“Then it requires that two necessities apply in your case: The

“O you who have abandoned righteousness! On the Day of

“Repentance is the life-force of the Lord of the Truth. He

“O young man! You claim to be a Sufi, but you are disturbed

“O you who are dead at heart! You must devote yourselves

“You must always be humble, for whenever you behave with

O you who own so much property, forget about your

“There is nothing good in any of you, O boy, O youth, O

“You must always remember the hunger of those who are

Be quiet in the presence of the Recording Angels, and do not

“You folks are so impudent and so insolent in your attitude

“This world is fleeting, transitory. It is the abode of disasters

“A certain Shaykh once said to his disciples:

What a splendid saying this is! He was instructing them to

“You must acquire faith, experience recognition of Allah

“The intelligent person amongst you will not seek happiness

“The true believer finds happiness in the strength of his faith

“Woe unto you! You claim to be my disciple, yet you keep

‫العيش عيش االخرة‬

“The real life is the life of Hereafter”

“O servants of Allah! Be sensible, and make a serious effort to

“This property you hold in your possession does not really

You have disgraced your tongues! At the very moment when

“When someone loves Allah, Most High, that person no

‘A liar is he who claims to love Me, yet he goes to sleep and

“Among the saints [awliya], there are those who partake in

“When trials and tribulations come your way, you must be

“If you really knew me well, you would never be out of my

“The light of hearts is purity – the purity of hearts and

“Much of the reasoning [ijtihad] that is applied to matters of

“The Qur’an is an illuminating sun, so you must install it in

“As written in the Arabic script, the word Ramadan is made

“In this month there is a night which is most splendid night in