Gul-e-Tauseef

All Praise is for Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta`ala) and may He shower his blessings on our beloved Holy Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu `alayhi wa Sallam) in perpetuity. Amin.

It gives me great pleasure to write the Introduction to this kitab of religious poetry composed by our very own Syed Hamid Yazdani Saheb. It is comprehensive in that it consists of Hamd in praise of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta`ala), naats eulogizing Prophet Muhammad (Sallalahu `alayhi wa Sallam) and manqabats on the Khulafa ar-Rashidun and Ahl al-Kisa (Rady Allahu `Anhum) as well as on some of the Awliya Allah (Naf`an Allahu bihim), celebrating their achievements in promoting piety. This shows that his poems are grounded in the sufi tradition.

Syed Saheb composed these poems as the occasion demanded. At a program of whole night Zikr, he came up with Hamd. At programs of Mawlid-un-Nabi (Sallallahu `alayhi wa Sallam), he composed naats; to celebrate the anniversary of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr Siddiq (Rady Allahu `Anhu), he was inspired to write a manqabat on him, on the occasion of Muharram Majlis his heart overflowed with a Salam on Imam Husayn (Rady Allahu `Anhu); when he came back from `Umra, he gave us a nazm on the Haram Sharif in Makkah, and so on.

All these have been put together in Gul-e-Tauseef (The Roses of Praise). May these poems continue to be recited at such religious gatherings, especially in western countries such as Canada where they are needed more and more. May they delight our hearts and rejuvenate us to `amal salih (good deeds) with ihsan (spiritual excellence).

Since Syed Saheb composed his first kitab of religious poetry titled Ita`at (Obedience), he has composed a tazmin (quintet) “Karoron Durud ” (Billions of blessings) of a naat by A`la Hazrat Imam Ahmad Raza Khan (Qaddas Allahu Sirrahul `Aziz). He also composed a tazmin of the Salam (Salutations) of A`la Hazrat on the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu `alayhi wa Sallam). This latest kitab Gul-e-Tauseef (The Roses of Praise) includes selections from his previous major works to maintain continuity.

Since the book is titled Gul-e-Tauseef (Roses of Praise), Syed sahib has called each of the five parts of the book a petal (barg in Urdu). These petals are:

Barg-e-‘Inayat (The Petal of Bestowal), consisting of new naats,
Barg-e-Ita‘at (The Petal of Obedience), consisting of selections from Ita‘at,
Barg-e-Iradat (The Petal of Attachment), consisting of manqabats on the Khulafa’ ar-Rashidun and the Ahl al-Kisa’, Rady Allahu ‘Anhum,
Barg-e-‘Aqidat (The Petal of great respect), consisting of manqabats on the Awliya’Allah, Naf‘anAllahu bihim, and
Barg-e-Salam (The Petal of Greeting of Peace), consisting of a selection of 36 quintets from his tazmin of the Salam.

It is interesting to note that Syed saheb completed writing the tazmin of the Salam in the month of Ramadan 1432 and he completed this kitab Gul-e-Tauseef also in the month of Ramadan, three years later in 1435. In both instances, he has received the blessings of the month of Ramadan, Al-Hamdu Lillah.

Al-Hamdu Lillah , we have been blessed to recite the Salam of A`la Hazrat in congregation in Toronto two times, as well as its tazmin two times. A recitation of the tazmin in standing ovation to the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu `alayhi wa Sallam) takes almost three hours. A muhibb (loving disciple) from Toronto has been blessed to recite the tazmin at the Rawda of Rasul Allah (Sallallahu `alayhi wa Sallam) in Madina on two separate visits. Maashaa Allah.

In his poems we find parts of verses of the Holy Qur’an. This indicates that he is familiar with the tafsir of the Holy Qur’an. Also mentioned are some of the Sayings of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu `alayhi wa Sallam) and references to historical incidents indicating his familiarity with both Hadith and Sirah.

Syed Saheb’s poetry consists of abyat (couplets), rubaiyyat (quatrains), tazmin (quintet), hurufiyya (a poem in which the couplets sequentially begin with each of the letters of the alphabet), naat ghayr-manqut (a poem in which none of the words used has a nuqtah), nahjul qasida (a poem that follows the same rhythm and rhyme of a previous well-known poet such as A`la Hazrat) and Qasida Muhammadiyya (in which all couplets end with the name Muhammad (Sallallahu `alayhi wa Sallam). This shows his versatility as a poet. Al-Hamdu Lillah (All praise is for Allah).

As Syed saheb hails from Pakistan, it has come naturally to him to compose a manqabat on Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh Sayyid Ali Hujwiri (Rahmatullahi `alayh) of Lahore. As Syed saheb is in Tariqa Naqshbandiyya, it is worth noting that he has composed resounding manqabats on Shaykhs in other tariqas such as Ghawth al-A`zam Shaykh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, and A`la Hazrat in Tariqa al-Qadiriyya; Khawaja Gharib Nawaz in Tariqa Chishtiyya; and Imam `AbdAllah bin Alawi al-Haddad and al-Habib Ahmad Mash-hur bin Taha al-Haddad in Tariqa `Alawiyya (Naf`an Allahu bihim). And he has also composed manqabats on Shaykhs in Tariqa Naqshbandiyya such as Mujaddid Alfi Thani and his own grand shaykh Pir Archi Mubarak (Naf`an Allahu bihim). This shows that he loves all the awliya and mashayikh in all the tariqas (spiritual paths) as all spiritual paths lead to Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta`ala).

Al-Hamdu Lillah , some of his poems have been uploaded on the Madrasa Hidaya web-site ( www.madrasahidaya.net ), so that Muslims world-wide can benefit from them.

May Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta`ala) give all of us His love, the love of His Prophet (Sallallahu `alayhi wa Sallam), the love of the Ahl al-Bayt and the Sahaba (Rady Allahu `Anhum), and the love of the awliya Allah and the salihin (Rahmatullahi `alayhim ajma`in). May Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta`ala) bestow a long and productive life to Syed saheb with good health, so that he may continue to serve Muslims in many capacities. May Allah fulfill all his noble wishes. Amin, Yaa Rabb al-`alamin.

	WELCOME TO
	MADRASA AL-HIDAYA
	MUSLIM SCHOOL OF RIGHT GUIDANCE