Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī was one of the sons of the renowned scholar and spiritual master Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī of Baghdad.…
Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī was one of the sons of the renowned scholar and spiritual master Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī of Baghdad. Raised within a household of scholarship, worship and spiritual instruction, he followed in his father’s path and became known as a teacher, preacher and figure of the Qādiri tradition. Life and work He lived during the period of the Crusades and is closely associated in later historical and local traditions with the campaigns of Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Ayyūbī . These accounts relate that Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz supported the struggle against the Crusaders and participated in the wider effort that culminated in the recovery of Jerusalem in 583 AH / 1187 CE . Although the details of his personal military role are more strongly preserved in regional and Qādiri tradition than in the major chronicles of Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn’s campaigns, the association has remained an important part of his memory in northern Iraq. Journey to the north Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz later travelled away from Baghdad and settled in the mountainous region around Akre in present-day Iraqi Kurdistan, where he continued teaching and guiding the local population. His presence helped spread the religious and spiritual influence of his father’s household into northern Iraq. Legacy and burial He eventually died in this region and was buried near Akre. His grave, known locally as the Shrine of Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Gailānī , remains a well-known place of visitation and is especially revered by followers of the Qādiri tradition. Through both his own work and the generations that followed him, Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz became an important link in the spread of the legacy of Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī beyond Baghdad.