Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Sitara Khan, A Glimpse through 

Purdah: Asian Women—the Myth and the Reality (Staf-

fordshire, England: Trentham Books, 1999); Ruby 

Lal, Domesticity and Power in the Early Mughal World

(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005); 

Hanna Papanek, “Purdah: Separate Worlds and Sym-

bolic Shelter.” In Separate Worlds: Studies of Purdah 

in South Asia, edited by Hanna Papanek and Gail 

Minault, 3–53. (Columbia, Mo.: South Asia Books, 

1982).

purity and impurity

  See 

ablution

s; 

circumci

-

sion

; 

dietary

 

laws

; 

halal

.

K  562  

purity and impurity

---

563

AF

J:

Qadari School

  See m

utazili

 s

chool

; 

theology

.

qadi

  See 

crime

 

and

 

punishment

; 

fiqh

; 

sharia

.

Qadiri Sufi Order

The Qadiri 

tariqa

 is one of the oldest and most 

widespread of the Sufi orders. It is named after 

a

bd

 

al

-q

adir

 

al

-J

ilani

, a pious Hanbali jurist 

who lived in b

aghdad

 in the 11th and 12th centu-

ries. Abd al-Qadir was a Sufi ascetic and popular 

preacher, but he did not establish a formal Sufi 

organization in his lifetime. The development of 

the order that bears his name occurred in the cen-

turies after his death, beginning with the efforts of 

his sons and other followers in i

raq

, with Bagh-

dad as the center of their activity. A 14th-century 

biography credits his sons with spreading the 

Qadiri order throughout Islamdom, but it is more 

likely that it did not really begin to spread until 

the 14th century. Stories about Abd al-Qadir’s 

miraculous powers gained wide circulation. Indi-

vidual Qadiri shaykhs trained disciples, drawing 

from the teachings, meditation techniques, and 

ritual practices that were in circulation among 

other Sufi groups. Eventually the order acquired 

a more formal hierarchy and system of rituals 

and techniques, but it retained enough flexibility 

to adapt to different cultural environments. It 

traced its spiritual genealogy from Abd al-Qadir 

back to m

Uhammad

, through a

li

 

bin

 a

bi

 t

alib

 (d. 

661) and a number of other prominent Sufis and 

descendants of Muhammad’s household.

The first branches outside of Iraq may have 

been in s

yria

, e

gypt

, and y

emen

, and the Mongol 

invasions of the 13th and 15th centuries prob-

ably helped the order spread eastward to i

ran

, 

a

Fghanistan

, and i

ndia

 and westward to North 

Africa. The first branches in India were in the 

northwest and the Deccan, and they were favored 

by Muslim ruling elites in cities and towns. 

Among the most prominent Indian Qadiris were 

Muhammad Ghawth of Uchch (d. 1517), credited 

with introducing the order in India, and Miyan 

Mir (d. 1635), who was attributed with healing 

powers and claimed to be in spiritual contact 

with Abd al-Qadir. He later became the teacher of 

the Mughal prince d

ara

  s

hikoh

 (d. 1659), who 

was deeply interested in both Muslim and Hindu 

mysticism. The Qadiris also established branches 

in Central Asia, China, and Southeast Asia, where 

they still exist. In Iraq the Ottoman Turks lavishly 

restored the shrine of Abd al-Qadir in 1535, but 

the order did not found any hospices in Istanbul, 

the Ottoman capital, until the 17th century. From 

Q

---

there they established branches in Anatolia and 

southeastern Europe. In 1925 the new republican 

government of Mustafa Kemal a

tatUrk

 (d. 1938) 

officially banned the Qadiri order, as well as all 

other tariqas, in t

Urkey

. To the west, the Qadiris 

spread from m

orocco

 southward into Mauritania 

and W

est

 a

Frica

 in the 18th and 19th centuries. 

Among the most prominent members to arise 

in that region were al-Mukhtar ibn Ahmad al-

Kunti (d. 1811), a revered teacher and saint who 

inspired U

sman

 d

an

 F

odio

 (d. 1817), the founder 

of the s

okoto

  c

aliphate

 in Nigeria. The most 

famous Algerian Qadiri leader was a

bd

 

al

-q

adir

al

-J

izairi

 (d. 1883), who led the resistance against 

French colonial expansion in North Africa until 

he surrendered in 1847. In the early 20th century 

a Turkish Qadiri branch joined with a branch of 

the r

iFai

 s

UFi

 o

rder

 to form the Qadiri-Rifai Sufi 

Order, which now has branches in North America, 

Bosnia, and a

Ustralia

.

See also 

asceticism

;  h

anbali

  l

egal

  s

chool

; 

o

ttoman

 

dynasty

; s

UFism

.