Shah Abdullah alias Shah Ghulam Ali Dehlavi (1743–1824, Urdu:) was a Sufi Shaykh in Delhi during the early 19th century. He was a master of the Naqshbandi tradition His father wanted to make him a disciple of Qādri,.

Biography

He was born in 1156 AH (1743 C.E.) in Patiala, Punjab, in present-day India. His father was Shah Abdul-Latif, a scholar and Sufi shaykh belonging to the Qadri tariqah. It is reported in his biographies that his father had a dream before his birth in which he saw Sayyadna Ali, who told him to name the baby on his name (Ali). After he grew up, he modified his own name to be Ghulam Ali (literally meaning slave of Ali, a common name in Indian Muslims today). He is reported to have memorized the Quran in a single month's duration. In 1170 AH he came to Delhi to take the oath of allegiance to Mirza Mazhar Jan-e-Janaan, who was a famous Shaykh of Naqshbandi tariqah in Delhi at that time. After getting trained in the major Sufi orders including Naqshbandi for 15 years, he received complete Khilafat (spiritual Ijazah) from his Shaykh. He had many Khulafa (deputies) who spread the Naqshbandi Sufi order to a vast number of people in the whole Muslim world at that time. His Khulafa went to Bukhara, Baghdad, Madinah and Turkey. His famous khalifa was Mawlana Khalid al-Baghdadi, who had hundreds of thousands of followers in his lifetime, and many Naqshbandi's today in Turkey and nearby countries follow him. His chief deputy and successor was Hafiz Abu-Saeed-Ahmadi Faruqi Mujaddidi Naqshbandi (Delhi) and his next successor was Hafiz Shah Ahmed Saeed Faruqi Mujaddidi, son of Hafiz Shah Abu Saeed (Medina) He is quoted to have said: "My Faid (spirituality) has reached far off countries. Our Halqa is held in Makkah and our Halqa is held in Madinah. Similarly our Halqa is held in Baghdad, Rome (now Turkey and Cyprus) and Maghrib (Parts of Europe and Africa facing Asia). And Bukhara is our parental home." He died on 22 Safar 1240 AH (15/16 October 1824) and was buried alongside his Shaykh's grave in Khanqah Mirja in Delhi.

Writings

He wrote books, the best known being Mazhari in Persian, which is a complete biography of his shaykh Mirza Mazhar Jan-e-Janaan Shaheed. His other books are:

Naqshbandi chain

Qadri chain

Extracted from Maqamat Mazhari by Shah Ghulam Ali Dehlavi

Chishti chain

Extracted from Maqamat Mazhari by Shah Ghulam Ali Dehlavi

His Khulafa

His Khulafa were numerous and many of them were prominent Shaykhs at their times. Following is a list of his most prominent Khulafa as extracted from various sources.