Syed Haji Muhammad Naushah (نوشہ) Ganj Bakhsh Qadiri (also spelled Qadri, 21 August 1552 – 18 May 1654), a scholar, saint and preacher of Islam in South Asia (today's Mandi Bahauddin District, Pakistan),^[1][2] was the founder of the Naushahia branch of the Qadiriyya Sufi order. He preached in the tenth and eleventh centuries AH (sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries AD). His adherents call themselves Qadri Naushahi, Naushahi or just Qadri (Qadiri).

Birth and names

Syed Muhammad Naushah Ganj Bakhsh Qadri was born on the first of Ramadan in 959 AH (21 August 1552) at Ghogganwali, district Mandi Bahaudin in Punjab, Pakistan. His father, Syed Ala’uddin Gilani Qadiri, was a Sufi.

At his birth he was named Muhammad and later on he also was known by the names of Haji Nausha, Abul Hashim, Bhoora Wala Pir (the enshrouded one), Mujaddid-i Islam (the great revival of the Islam), Naushah Ganj Bakhsh, Syed Naushah Pir and Naushah Pak. The name Naushah is also spelled and pronounced as Noshah or even Nosho.^{[citation needed]}

Golden Chain

At the age of twenty-nine years Muhammad accepted Shah Sulaimān Nūri as his spiritual guide, placing him in a silsila (spiritual order or chain of saints) that stretched back to Abdul Qadir Jilani.

Personal life

Haji Muhammad was married to the daughter of Sayyid Abu Nasr Fateh Muhammad Shah of Qutb Naushehra. His mother, Main Jīwnī, arranged this marriage. He had two sons and one daughter. Their names were Sayyid Muhammad Barkhurdar, Sayyid Muhammad Hashim and Sayyida Sairah Khatoon.

Literary works

The following works have been published:

• Kulliyāt-i Naushāh: (Urdu poetry) consisting of 76 Risala's and 2400 verses.
• Kulliyāt-i Naushāh: (Punjabi poetry) In this work 126 Risala's of about four thousand verses are alphabetically arranged.
• Ma‘ārif-i Tasawwuf: (Persian poetry) dealing with assignments on the spiritual path.
• Mawā'iz-i Naushāh Pīr: (Punjabi prose) comprises delivered speeches and advices.

Death and grave

He died of natural causes on Monday, the fifteenth of the Islamic month Rabī 'ul-Awwal 1064 AH (18 May 1654), aged one hundred and one, and was buried in the village of Naushehra in Gujrat. His body was later interred at Ranmal Sharif in Mandi Bahauddin where his grave is open to the public.

Due to flooding in 1757 his body was transferred from its original burial site. After being damaged again by the river Chenab his coffin was finally moved to the west of Sahanpal Sharif. In 1950 this new tomb was damaged by rain. Consequently the supports subsided and cracks appeared in the tomb. His death anniversary ('Urs) is held there every annually on the second Thursday of Har (Bikrami Calendar), which falls in the last 10 days of June and usually lasts 3 days.