Abdul Qadir Gilani

Born c. 1077/1078 (sources vary on exact birthplace; medieval claims differ but modern historians favor Gilan), he migrated to Baghdad in 1095. In Baghdad he studied jurisprudence and hadith (teachers named in sources include Abu Saeed Mubarak Makhzoomi and Ibn Aqil) and pursued Sufi spiritual training (with Abu'l‑Khair Hammad al‑Dabbas cited as a guide). Hagiographical and biographical traditions report a prolonged period of ascetic retreat—traditionally rendered as some twenty‑five years of wandering and seclusion in the deserts of Iraq—after which he returned to public teaching and preaching, reportedly resuming teaching in Baghdad around the early 12th century, establishing the Madrasa al‑Qadiriyya, producing a corpus of devotional and doctrinal works (e.g., Futuh al‑Ghayb, Al‑Ghunya, Jila' al‑Khatir), and dying in 1166. His shrine in Baghdad became a long‑standing locus of veneration (destroyed in 1508; rebuilt under Ottoman patronage by Suleiman in 1535) and his death anniversary (urs) is traditionally observed on 11 Rabi' al‑Thani.

The supplied sources do not provide a consistent historical physical description. Biographical and institutional materials emphasize his roles as jurist, teacher, and spiritual master rather than corporeal features. Later devotional imagery and shrine iconography exist in the popular record, but specific, reliable contemporaneous physical details are not attested in the provided materials.

Historically attested activities include teaching Hadith and Qur'anic exegesis, delivering lectures on spiritual discipline (ilm al‑Qulub), founding and directing a madrasa (Madrasa al‑Qadiriyya), writing a number of influential Sufi and devotional works, and exerting social influence as a moral and spiritual advisor to diverse followers and political figures. Hagiographical sources attribute to him very high spiritual stations in Sufi cosmology (honorifics such as Muḥi al‑Dīn, and the maqam of Ghawth, the succour), framing him as an efficacious intercessor and exemplar; such exalted spiritual claims are part of devotional tradition rather than verifiable historical acts in the supplied corpus.