Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani, also known as Ghaus-ul-Azam or Abdul Qadir al-Jilani, was a revered Islamic scholar, mystic, and saint who lived during the 11th and 12th centuries. Born in 1077 CE in the Persian province of Gilan (present-day Iran), Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani is considered one of the most influential figures in Sufi history.

He founded the Qadiriyya order, one of the most widespread Sufi orders globally, which emphasizes personal transformation, love of God, and service to humanity. Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani’s teachings focused on the purification of the soul, adherence to Islamic principles, and devotion to God.

His spiritual insights and miracles earned him widespread acclaim during his lifetime, and his legacy continues to inspire millions of Muslims around the world. The shrine of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani in Baghdad, Iraq, is a revered pilgrimage site visited by devotees seeking blessings and spiritual guidance. His writings, including “Futuh al-Ghaib” (Revelations of the Unseen), remain influential in Sufi literature and Islamic spirituality.

Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani Quotes

01. “God said, through the prophet – man is my secret and I am his secret. The inner knowledge of the spiritual essence is a secret of my secrets. Only I put this into the heart of my good servant, and none may know his state other than me.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

02. “First exhort yourself then to others.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

03. “Keep good intention before you, whether you talk or are silent. He who does not keep good intention before any action, his actions are invalid.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

04. “Always fear God and don’t be afraid of anyone else. Commit all of your needs to Allah and beg everything of Him and trust in Him. Be steadfast on the Unity of God as there is consensus on this.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

05. “If you desire true success, oppose your lower self in obedience to your Lord.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

06. “Righteous is one whose words are based on truth and veracious is that who keeps truthfulness in view in his words, actions and states.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

07. “He who desires Divine proximity must adopt sincerity.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

08. “Acknowledgement of the boons and bounties, given by the real Benefactor, from the core of the heart, is the expression of gratefulness in true sense.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

09. “Faqir is that whose richness owes none except Allah the Most High (i.e. He is not rich because of his worldly wealth or power, rather the cause of his richness must only be his mystical relation with the Causer).”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

10. “Cleanse all others from your heart which is Locus of Allah, the Most High.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

11. “Treat the worldlings with ego and self-respect but with the saints with humility and lowliness.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

12. “How much ignorant is he who got busy in the cause forgetting the Causer; he forgot the Eternal and became happy with the perishable.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

13. “Be sincere to the Lord at least for forty days; fountain of Divine knowledge and wisdom shall flow from the tongue of your heart.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

14. “Don’t be fearless about the worldly sea, many a man has drowned in it.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

15. “He who acts in consonance with the knowledge, God bestows on him, such knowledge which he had not attained before.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

16. “The reality of spiritual poverty is that you don’t stand in need of a person like you and reality of the richness is that you obviate the need of a man like you.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

17. “To keep the worldly interest intact and its procurement with the sincerity of intention is permissible, but to give it space in the heart is forbidden.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

18. “Try that your left hand must not come to know of the alms your right hand gives.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

19. “The company of bad comrades will indulge you to misconception about the virtuous.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

20. “How can you guide others when you are blind yourself, only a man of spiritual insight can guide others.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

21. “He who desires salvation in this world and the next, must be patient and agreeable with the pre-destination and complain not the tribulation with the creatures.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

22. “Patient Faqir is superior to the grateful rich and the grateful faqir is superior to the both.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

23. “Secrets and mysteries, afflictions and ailments, and the concealment of alms are one of the treasures of pious acts.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

24. “To talk about the seed and cultivation is futile at the time when people are harvesting their crops.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

25. “When the man is afflicted he tries to come out of it by his own efforts: When fails he seeks help of the created beings. When he is disappointed from all sides then he recourses to Allah. At that time he is certain that only Almighty is the Master of every good and evil, profit and loss, life and death.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

26. “He who got gnosis of Allah Most High, the world, the Hereafter, the all ‘otherness’ disappeared from his heart.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

27. “He who got engrossed in devotion without knowledge, would be involved in perdition instead of improvement.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

28. “The reality of truth is that you speak truth wherein you don’t see deliverance without telling a lie.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

29. “Stick to patience if you want to become pious, trusting One and man of sound faith, since patience is the foundation of every virtue.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

30. “Being patient, before Divine decree, sleep peacefully under the spout of destiny. When you are accustomed to it, Divine bounty and munificence shall be restored to you in a way you could never yearn or expect of it.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

31. “Unlawful earning deadens the heart whereas lawful sustenance gives life to it.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

32. “The thing which instigates to hasty action is your avidity to amass worldly wealth.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

33. “Don’t be conceited at your deeds since their worth is based upon their ultimate end.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

34. “Go to the savants with nice discipline avoiding criticism with the intention to get benefit of the visit so that you are graced by their knowledge and auspiciousness.”
— Abdul Qadir Jilani

35. “Abdul Qadir al Jilani one morning was still asleep at the time for the Morning Prayer. A cat came over to his side and nudged him until he awoke. Noticing the lectures of the time, Abdul Qadir quickly made his prayers. When he had finished, he looked at the cat. With his spiritual insight, he saw that the cat was actually a devil. This puzzled the great saint. So saint asked – I can see you are a devil, but why on earth did you wake me for the prayer? The cat answered – because you have discovered me, I might as well tell you. I knew that if you missed your obligatory prayer, you would offer one hundred prayers as compensation, so I woke you up so that you would get only the benefits of the one. “
— Abdul Qadir Jilani