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Was the founder of the Qadiri Sufi order Kurdish or Persian?

Assalamu alaikum, dear brothers and sisters. Some writers and researchers who focus on Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Gaylani's Kurdish background point to several historical clues. One key clue is the name of his father or grandfather, which comes as 'Jangi Dost' or 'Gyani Dost' in his lineage they say this name has a clear Kurdish or old Iranian feel and wasn't common among Arabs back then. Also, some sources mention that the sheikh was born in a village or area called 'Jil' or 'Gaylan' near Mahabad in Eastern Kurdistan, not the Gaylan by the Caspian Sea. According to some historical studies, his family lived under the Kurdish Hasanwayhid Emirate before he was born, and later they moved. Plus, in many early writings from Baghdad, he was called 'al-Jili al-Ajami,' which shows he wasn't Arab and came from non-Arab lands. Another bunch of evidence used by Kurdish researchers like Dr. Mustafa Jawad, Sheikh Muhammad Khal, and Dr. Jamal Nabaz includes looking at his Arabic. When the sheikh went to Baghdad at eighteen, he didn't speak Arabic smoothly and had an accent, hinting his mother tongue wasn't Arabic. They also suggest that the name 'Jil' or 'Gil' might come from the word 'Kil' or link to Kurdish tribes in Pushtko and Luristan, with the 'K' or 'G' later becoming 'J' in Arabic. For his Sufi training, Sheikh Abdul Qadir got his spiritual guidance from Sheikh Abu Sa'id al-Makhzumi or Hammadi al-Dabbas, and his path was shaped by the spiritual tradition of the Kurdish and Zagros mountains, where most mystics of that time were Kurds. When his order first spread, the biggest welcome came from tribes and scholars in Kurdish areas like Badinan, Hakari, and Sharazur, which historians see as a sign of ethnic and language ties. The idea of Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Gaylani's Kurdish roots has been shared in many works by well-known Kurdish historians and thinkers. The most notable ones are Sheikh Muhammad Khal, a great Kurdish scholar who studied Sufism and pointed to the sheikh's Kurdish origin and his ancestors' non-Arab names; Dr. Jamal Nabaz, who in his studies on Kurdish identity said that titles like 'Jil' and 'al-Gaylani' are really linked to 'Gaylan of Krmashan' or the old Zagros structures; Baba Mardukh Ruhani, who in his famous book 'History of Kurdish Notables' sees Sheikh Abdul Qadir as a major figure in Kurdish mysticism; and Sheikh Muhammad Mardukh Kurdistani, who in his books on Kurdish tribes stresses the sheikh's origin and how his order spread among Kurds. Dr. Mustafa Jawad, the well-known Iraqi historian of Kurdish descent, did deep research on Baghdad's history and often noted that Sheikh Abdul Qadir came from the 'Jil' region of Iraq, a Kurdish area near Mada'in or Kut, not Gaylan in Iran. While most Kurdish historians have discussed this in general books on Sufism and Kurdish culture, a few works are key sources. These include 'History of Kurdish Notables' by Baba Mardukh Ruhani, which details the sheikh's life and family line; a work by Mulla Tahir Baharkayi about the sheikh's life and his influence on Kurdistan; and studies like 'Al-Qawl al-Talif fi Nasab al-Sheikh Abd al-Qadir' and similar research by Dr. Mustafa Jawad, which, though in Arabic, are a main basis for proving that the sheikh was from Iraqi Gaylan, a Kurdish area.

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Anyway, his legacy is for all Muslims. But it's cool to learn about where our awliya came from. Kurdish or not, he's our beloved Ghawth al-Azam.

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