Shaikh Abdul Qadir (may Allah be pleased with him) attained spiritual states that no other Sufi Master after him reached. He was raised to such a status in the world of sainthood that in 1165 CE, Almighty Allah ordered him to make his unique, well-known declaration: "My foot is on the neck of every saint", as had already been predicted of him by Shaikh Hammad ad-Dabbas (may Allah be pleased with him) and a few other saints. All saints of the time heard his words and all of them bent their necks in compliance with his divine order. This is how he became to known by the title of "sultan al-awliya" [the sultan of saints].

When the Master was questioned about the source of his divine knowledge, his reply was: "In the past, it was my Master Hammad ad-Dabbas, but now I drink from two seas: the sea of Prophethood and the sea of chivalry (gallantry) [futuwwa].

The term "futuwwa" is derived from "fata" which literally means "Noble Knight" and is one of the titles of al-Imam Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah ennoble his face).

The virtuous Shaikh Abu Tahir Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Ansarial-Khatib [the Preacher] has informed us: "I once heard Shaikh Abdullah Muhammad al-Quraishi (may Allah be pleased with him) say: 'I once heard Shaikh Abu r-Rabi s Sulaiman al-Maliqi say: "The chieftain of the people of the age is Shaikh Abdul Qadir (may Allah be well pleased with him). The station of independence [ghina] has a limit and a boundary.'

The Shaikh [Abdullah Muhammad al-Quraishi] added: 'There is tremendous knowledge in this saying, which contains the glories of subtle inner meanings. May Allah be well pleased with him'.

Shaikh Abu Tahir Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Ansarial-Khatib went on to say: "So I said to Shaikh al-Quraishi (may Allah be pleased with him): 'Is Shaikh Abdul Qadir the chieftain of the people of his age?' He replied: 'Yes indeed. As for the saints [awliya] (may Allah be well pleased with them), he is the most exalted and the most perfect of them all. As for the religious scholars [ulema] (may Allah be well pleased with them), he is the most piously restrained [awra] and most abstinent [azhad] of them all. As for those who know by direct experience [arifun], he is the most knowledgeable and most complete of them all. As for the Shaikhs, he is the most competent and the strongest of them all. May Allah be well pleased with them, each and every one, and may He be well pleased with us, on their account'.

Shaikh Abdul Qadir’s status is also acknowledged by al-Khidr (peace be upon him). When someone asked Shaikh Abu Muhammad al-Qasim ibn Abd al-Basri (may Allah be well pleased with them about al-Khidr (peace be upon him), he said: "I met him once, and I said to him: 'Tell me about some marvel that you experienced, in connection with the saints [awliya].' He responded to this by telling me:

"One day, I was passing by the beach of the Encompassing Ocean [al-Bahr al-Muhit], at a spot where there is usually no one to be seen, I caught sight of a man who was lying there asleep, wrapped up in his cloak. It occurred to me that he must be a saint [wali], so I prodded him with my foot. He raised his head and asked me: "What do you want?" 'Get up,' said I, 'and attend to to your service!' but he said: 'Go away and attend to yourself, O Khidr! Who do you think I am?'

I [al-Khidr (peace be upon him)] then addressed my concern to Almighty Allah, and I said: "O my Lord, I am the superintendent of the saints [naqib al-awliya], am I not?" I heard the reply: "You are the superintendent of those who love Us, and this is one of those whom We love." Having learned who he was, I asked him to offer a prayer of supplication [dua] on my behalf, so he said: "May Allah grant you abundant good fortune!"

Continuing the story, al-Khidr went on to say: "Then I moved away, and lo and behold, I saw a woman on top of a sandhill, close to the sky. She was lying there asleep, wrapped up in a cloak, so I made ready to prod her with my foot. Just as I said "This must be the wife of that [imam I found sleeping]," I heard the summons: "Be on your best behavior with those whom We love!" Then she woke up, in time for the afternoon prayer [asr], and she remarked: "Praise be to Almighty Allah, who has made me intimate with Him, and has estranged me from His creatures! She turned towards me and said: "Welcome! If only you had treated me politely in the first place, without needing a stern injunction, it would have been even better." Then she stood up and prayed for me, just as her husband had done."’

Shaikh Abu Muhammad went on to say: "So I asked al-Khidr (peace be upon him): "Do these loved ones have a man, a sole-director, to whom they turn for instruction in every age?" 'Yes indeed,' he replied, so I said: 'and who is he in this present time of our?' He told me: "Shaikh Abdul Qadir (may Allah be pleased with him) is the sole-director of the loved ones, the Cardinal Pole [Qutb] of the saints [awliya], and the keeper of the secret.

As a result a large number of religious scholars [ulema] became actively associated with the Master, and no one could ever count the number of people who enrolled as his students.

It was Shaikh Abu n-Najib Abd al-Qahir as-Suhrawardi (may Allah bestow his mercy upon him) who said: "A droning sound, like the droning of bees, could be heard every night, in the vicinity of Shaikh Hammid ad-Dabbas. His companions said to Shaikh Abdul Qadir, one day in the year [AH] 508, when he was present in Shaikh Hammid ad-Dabbas (may Allah be well pleased with him) company: 'Ask him about that sound!' So Shaikh Abdul Qadir asked him, and Shaikh Hammad told him: 'I have 12 thousand pupils, and I mention them all by their names every night. I beg Almighty Allah to attend to the needs of each one of them. If a pupil of mine is smitten so hard by sin, that the appetite for it will not become exhausted, I ask Him to relent toward him, and to tolerate with compassion his persistence in that condition'.

On hearing this, Shaikh Abdul Qadir said: "If Almighty Allah [Invisible and Exalted is He] grants me a station on honor in His sight, I shall obtain from my Lord [Blessed and Exalted is He] a covenant [agreement] on behalf of my pupils, binding them until the Day of Resurrection, to the effect that not one of them will die without being in a state of repentance, and that I must be a guarantor [backer] for them in that regard." Shaikh Hammad then said: "I bear witness that Allah will surely grant him that commitment, and that he will spread the shade of his noble dignity over them."

May Allah be well pleased with them all.