A Biography of Imâm-i-Rabbânî

Great Walîs such as Mawlânâ Ahmad Nâmiqî Jâmi and Halîlullah-i-Bedahshî had foretold the advent of Imâm-i-Rabbânî ‘quiddisa sirruh’. In fact, our master, the Messenger of Allah ‘sall- Allâhu alaihi wa sallam’ had given the good news that he would come. The hadîth-i-sherîf expressing this good news is written in the book Jam’ul jawâmî’, by Imâm-i-Suyûtî, who quotes it from Ibni Mes’ûd Abd-ur Rahmân ibni Yezîd, and who quotes it from hadrat Jâbir ‘radiy-Allâhu anhum’. The hadîth-i-sherîf purports: “From among my Ummat (Muslims), someone called Sila will appear. Many, many people will enter Paradise through his shafâ’at (intercession).” ‘Sila’ means ‘conjoiner’, ‘uniter’, ‘unifier’. Later, he was called so on account of his unifying two branches of knowledge, i.e. Tasawwuf and Fiqh. Scholars contemporary with him addressed him with this nickname. As a matter of fact, in a letter he wrote to his son Muhammad Ma’thûm ‘quddisa sirruh’, he says, “I pay my hamd (gratitude, laud and praise) to my Rabb (Allâhu ta’âlâ), who has made me a sila between two oceans.”