قطعات التاريخ ونذر العقيدةChronograms and Tributes in Verse

Chronogram (Volume One)

by Muhammad ʿAlimuddin Siddiqi Naqshbandi

This is the compilation of ʿAbdullah Shah, a follower of the Law, devoted to the Prophet ﷺ; a man of piety, worshipful and abstinent, acquainted with the secret of everything hidden and manifest. After the Holy Qur'an, the excellence of the hadiths over all else is plain

and this book is a capital of salvation such as no one has ever yet written. A difficult task was made easy: this is what they call unseen support. In it are set down the hadiths of which the Hanafis stood in need; he at last took up this link, with the aid of the masters of the spiritual chain. The fruit of the Hadrat's labour came to be; the heart's longing was fulfilled. The Creator took this work from him

this blessing was allotted to his share. How fine the beginning, how happy the end: a good opening and a good conclusion! Full of light is the author's breast

do not ask the state of his inner being. By the grace of the Master of Creation

Allah, Allah, what a bestowal of bounty! It is the choice of the Beloved and of the Almighty Lord: why should it not win universal acceptance? God will surely give its reward

you have done the religion this service. May Allah grant him the life of Khidr; your very existence is a treasure for us. O ʿAlim, give the year of its printing: say, "the Lamp of the Hanafi Zujajah."

(= 1371 AH)

Chronogram (Volume Two)

by Muhammad ʿAlimuddin Siddiqi Naqshbandi

This is the compilation of ʿAbdullah Shah, unveiler of every secret, manifest and hidden. The second volume too is now ready; by composing it he has been ennobled. This compilation, as it were, is that affirmation which none can negate; whoever describes such a compilation, all will surely call him its true describer. What is there to ask of such a scholar?

goodly of nature, pure of heart. All of it is of benefit to the Hanafis; these rulings are distinctively Hanafi. Who can fathom the secret of the Law?

it is a tale told in three letters. Who could deny it? To acknowledge it is but the fullness of capacity. All are convinced of this book, be they grammarian or morphologist. Now, in this manner, give the year, O ʿAlim: "by the Lamp of the Hanafi Zujajah."

(= 1373 AH)

Chronogram (Volume Three)

by Muhammad ʿAlimuddin Siddiqi Naqshbandi

The third volume of the Zujajah is published

this priceless compilation of ʿAbdullah Shah. In it are the proofs of the rulings of Abu Hanifa; it is the fountainhead of the fiqh of the people of the Sunnah. Among its proofs are texts and hadith alike, and beyond these, the sayings of the Companions and Successors. The eyes of the world were opened by the light of the Zujajah; whatever objections there were, all were blown away. How could the end of this work be other than blessed, whose beginning was by the command of the King of Religion ﷺ? A book accepted at the court of Prophethood

do you even ask the rank of its author? To whom shall I compare his exalted qualities? Who else is such a guide to the station of gnosis? He is a lamp of the Qadiri way and a candle of the Naqshbandi: the light of the one is in him, and the radiance of the other. In his eyes is the effulgence of the candle of the Essence's beauty; his heart is a sun of knowledge and certainty. Not one breath of his is empty of the remembrance of God; at every instant he is annihilated in the Real, and abiding through the Real. In his speech is the trace of miraculous eloquence; his writing works the work of enchantment. This eminence he attained through the prostrations of humility: at his threshold a whole creation stands, brow bowed. Placing hope in his all-embracing kindness, every person comes bearing some special plea; the difficulties of every supplicant are made easy

his every prayer answers the needs of creation. May long life with well-being be granted him

O God, may this entreaty of mine too be accepted! For the date of this book of guidance, O ʿAlim, submit: "this third Zujajah is a guide."

(= 1376 AH)

Chronogram (Volume Four)

by Muhammad ʿAbd al-Qadir Khan Khusraw, son of Mawlana Muhammad ʿAbd al-Ghafur Khan Nami

Three lamps did ʿAbdullah Shah first set alight; this Zujajat al-Masabih, the fourth, is a lantern of the faith. Among scholars and the righteous, to whom shall any compare him? They are stars and planets, while this is a shining moon. Look at his art and perfection

he is a gathering-place of excellences; look at his stock and lineage

he is a precious pearl. Such discipline and piety, such sanctity and scrupulousness, that the angels, beholding him, say: an angel upon the earth! Beyond doubt his humility is the delight of the Lord of the Kaʿba, for the mark upon his brow is the sign of prostrations accepted. He who is near to Abu Bakr in love of the Prophet ﷺ is, in obedience to God, close to that Commander. He is a star of faith in the Qadiri sphere, and in the Naqshbandi treasury a priceless pearl of the religion. How happy his fortune of kinship with the master Abu Hanifa: that one is the first of imams, and this one the last of jurists. By exposition and elaboration he untied what were knots among the issues

such is his subtle-reaching intellect, such his point-discerning eye. Commands and prohibitions stand in clarity and plainness: here an explicit hadith, there a manifest verse. Transmission and reasoned judgement are the proof of its issues; with proofs and demonstrations this book is of the best. It is a guide of the Shariʿa, a guide of the Sunnah; it is a torch of guidance, a lamp of the road of faith. Whoever has read this book, to him it has become plain: no saying of the people of the Sunnah is without foundation. The ill-thinking are all silent; silence has come over the objector; on no lip is there this-and-that, nowhere any murmuring. The tongue of praise is helpless, the pen of eulogy falls short: the author is most excellent, and the book of the best. To reward the eulogist too is a following of the Sunnah

then this lowliest of servants also deserves that grace! I, Khusraw, have submitted this very verse as the year of its printing: "this Zujajat al-Masabih, the fourth, is a lantern of the faith."

(= 1959 CE)

An Offering of Devotion (Volume Five)

by Mirza Mashkur Beg

That man of truth who is a very sun of knowledge

upon him God's grace and bounty are beyond reckoning. The light of the holy hadith is the Master of Messengership ﷺ; for that candle, this Hanafi work is the glass bubble that guards the flame. Nominally it is a whole book of five volumes, yet every single volume of it is beyond compare. The lustre of the inward accompanies the outward throughout; for the seeker of truth, here truth stands unveiled. With every issue stands some holy hadith; for every objector there is in it a reasoned reply. From the world of learning and excellence a cry has begun to rise: this is the golden gateway of the fiqh of the Hanafis. He who swerves not a hair's breadth from the path of truth

his prayer is answered at the court of Truth. The holy person of the spiritual guide is a fountainhead of effusions; each one draws grace according to the measure of his seeking. Accepted by elite and common alike are they who are his masters

and what a choice, too, is Mirza's own choice!

Chronogram (Volume Five)

by Muhammad ʿAbd al-Qadir Khan Khusraw, son of Mawlana Muhammad ʿAbd al-Ghafur Khan Nami

Sayyid ʿAbdullah Shah, our guide

may God Most High grant his presence long life

has arranged the fifth volume and made the book of the Zujajah complete. When he began its writing, he received permission from the Master of Religion ﷺ; from this honour, in the presence of Prophethood, comes the very attribution of the Zujajah. The guide of the road of faith and religion, the director of the wayfarers, the axis of the age, prescribed for the ailing the matchless remedy of the Zujajah. The world grew bright from its beauty; creation profited from its perfection; ears took their share of its discourse, and eyes drew grace from the Zujajah. Its author made no proclamation of his work, yet its fragrance has spread through the ages: though the musk-pod of the pure musk of the Zujajah lies hidden in its homeland. It became the authority of the fiqh of the people of the Sunnah, esteemed in the eyes of the age; praise be to God, the realm of the Deccan became the rising-place of the sun of the Zujajah. No sun of this heaven has ever risen that should find decline or setting: until the Resurrection, even so shall the splendour of the Zujajah endure in the world. For the Hanafis there are fresh glad tidings

the sight of this volume is like the moon of ʿId

now that the moonlight of the Zujajah has reached the lands of the Arabs from the Deccan. So long as the compilation endures, the seeker of knowledge will draw grace from it, and my Shaykh's record of good will keep filling with the reward and recompense of the Zujajah. If you would have the exposition and elaboration of the issues, never will a difficulty confront you; you will quickly attain your aim, if you but read the book of the Zujajah. When news of the printing arrived, Khusraw, the least and the devoted, submitted its year of printing: "the fifth volume of the book of the Zujajah."

(= 1380 AH)