BADR-AL-DĪN SERHENDĪ

 

BADR-AL-DĪN B. SHAIKH EBRĀHĪM SERHENDĪ, a Sufi author, translator, and disciple of the celebrated Aḥmad Serhendī. He was probably born in or around 1002/1593-94 (see Maḥbūb Elāhī, in the preface to Ḥażarāt al-qods, pp. 9-10); for seventeen years he was associated with Aḥmad Serhendī (ibid., p. 157), who addressed to him a number of letters included in his Maktūbāt (ed. Lucknow, 1877, I, pp. 395-98, 428-29; II, pp. 67-68; III, pp. 57-59). At some time, probably after Aḥmad Serhendī’s death, Badr-al-Dīn also had connections with Dārā Šokūh (Šukōh), upon whose request he translated into Persian a number of Arabic works concerning the life and thought of ʿAbd-al-Qāder Jīlānī (Gīlānī (Storey, I, p. 1002; Ḥażarāt al-qods, pp. 158-59). This connection between Dārā Šokūh and one of Aḥmad Serhendī’s disciples is noteworthy, and its further investigation may throw interesting light on the relationship between Dārā Šokūh and the Naqšbandīya.

Badr-al-Dīn’s chief importance lies in his contribution to Naqšbandī hagiography. His Sanawāt al-atqīāʾ (ms., India Office, D.P. 672) consists of a moqaddema (fols. 2b-21b), which deals mainly with Biblical figures accepted into Islamic tradition, and of eleven chapters (fols. 21b-337a) which describe the lives of important Sufis and persons venerated by the Sufis in the first eleven centuries of the Islamic era. His other major work, the Ḥażarāt al-qods, deals in its first part with the ḵolafāʾ rāšedūn, a number of Sufis of the classical period, and the Naqšbandī saints until Ḵᵛāja Bāqībellāh and his disciples. The second and greater part of the book is devoted to the life, teachings, and miracles of Aḥmad Serhendī, as well as of his sons and successors. The book is most valuable as a reflection of the image of Serhendī among his disciples, but must be used cautiously as a source of factual information about him.

 

Bibliography:

Badr-al-Dīn Serhendī, Ḥażarāt al-qods, Urdu tr. (of the first part) by Ḵᵛāja Aḥmad Ḥosayn, Lahore, 1922; ms., India Office, D.P. 630 (second part only); edition of the second part by Maḥbūb Elāhī, Lahore, 1971 (using three mss. found in Sufi ḵānaqāhs in the subcontinent, but not the D.P. 630 or the other mss. mentioned by Storey; see p. 413 of the edition).

Amīn Aḥmad Rāzī (Haft eqlīm, ms., India Office, Ethé, Cat. India Office Library, 727, fol. 140a. Storey, I, pp. 1001-03.

Y. Friedmann, Shaykh Aḥmad Sirhindī. An Outline of his Thought and a Study of his Image in the Eyes of Posterity, Montreal and London, 1971, pp. 10, 92-94, and passim.

Search terms:

بدرالدین سرهندی badr al din sarhandi badr al din sarhendy badr aldin sarhendi

 

(Y. Friedmann)

Originally Published: December 15, 1988

Last Updated: August 22, 2011

This article is available in print.
Vol. III, Fasc. 4, pp. 381-382