Sharp awareness of contemporary social problems determined the nature and direction of the spiritual activities of the Shaykh. From the middle of the fifth/ eleventh century, to use the terminology of A. Toynbee, Muslim society became a prey to "schism of the soul" and "schism of the bodypolitic." The Shaykh was deeply disturbed at this degeneration of Muslim morals and the intellectual anarchy that characterized the thought and behavior of the Muslim people. He found in the spiritual resurrection of society the panacea for all its ills and concentrated all his energies in strengthening the spiritual fiber of the community which, in his opinion, ultimately determined the stability and well-being of the social order.

Shaykh 'Abd al-Qādir used to say that time is like a pregnant woman; no one knows what is in its belly (al-Fatḥ al-rabbānī, 57). ²⁴ This pithy sentence may be interpreted as an indication of the Shaykh's ideas of determinism, but in the context of his discussions it has far wider implications. He emphasized that human action and behavior ultimately assume a concrete shape and there is no escape from the process of cause and effect. One has to reap the consequences of one's actions. Time gives birth to what a man's own efforts have generated.

To strive for the welfare of society is, in the eyes of Shaykh 'Abd al-Qādir, a religious and spiritual obligation. He widened the horizon of spiritual effort when he identified "service of mankind" with the highest spiritual activity of man. He looked upon all people as "children of God on earth" (al-Fatḥ al-rabbānī, 19) and found in helping the poor and the needy the real spirit of religious devotion. "Whoever fills his stomach while his neighbor starves is weak in his faith" (al-Fatḥ al-rabbānī, 109). He advised his followers to desire for others what they desired for their own selves and to abstain from wishing for others what they did not wish for themselves (al-Fatḥ al- rabbānī, 107). He quoted the Quranic verse "Surely God loves the doers of good to others" ( III, 133) and derives from it the principle that service to mankind is an act of spiritual value. His philanthropic spirit reaches its sublimity when he says that "he would like to close the doors of hell and open those of paradise to all mankind. incumbent upon whoever desires to tread the path of righteousness and piety first to abstain from doing anything tyrannical against human beings and second to perform his duties toward them with care and consideration (Ghunyat, 295-96). Quoting a saying of the Prophet from his wife Haḍrat 'Ā'ishah, he says that human errors and sins are of three categories: (a) sins one commits against oneself-God may pardon such acts; (b) sins committed against God by developing polytheistic concepts--God would not forgive such sins against Him; (c) tyrannical acts perpetrated upon other human beings--God would not forgive even a small item of such tyrannical actions (Ghunyat, 262-63).

In his Ghunyat he equates hypocrisy with polytheism (Ghunyat, 478). People with hypocritical temperaments will incur divine displeasure. Even a scholar ('ālim) who does not act upon his knowledge is guilty of hypocrisy. He warned people against the company of those 'ūlamā' who did not act upon the knowledge they had acquired ( al-Fatḥ al-rabbānī, 83). He particularly condemns people who are like lambs in appearance but are really wolves in thought and action (Ghunyat, 480).

Although at times the Shaykh exhorts people to cease being entangled in the struggle to acquire worldly means--an attitude born of the painful realization that people were becoming too engrossed in mundane affairs--he was opposed to parasitism and advised the people to (a) live on permitted sources of income, (b) earn their bread with their own effort, and (c) share with others whatever they earned. But he advised his followers not to place complete reliance on people through whom they received their sustenance nor on the arts and crafts that helped them in earning their bread (al-Fatḥ al-rabbānī, 47, 27, 19, 130, 145, 160ff.).

The Shaykh gave a wide berth to the rulers of the day and held that most of their wealth was acquired through illegal means and exploitation. ²⁶ Any contact with the ruler was, therefore, looked down on by him as a negation of the true spirit of religion. Although the Abbasid caliphs were anxious to seek his blessings, he never encouraged their visits. Sultan Sanjar is reported to have offered the province of Sistan (in southern Persia) for the expenses of his khānqāh, but he declined the offer with this verse on his lips: "My face may turn black like the canopy of Sanjar, if except poverty I desire anything from Sanjar's country." ²⁷

Notwithstanding his critical attitude toward rulers, he believed that the type of rulers that a people had was what they deserved in accordance with their own life and character. "As you are, so shall be your rulers," he used to say. His constant advice to the people was that if they reformed their own thought and behavior, their rulers would also be good (al-Fatḥ al-rabbānī, 51). Litanies and Rituals of the Qādiriyah Order During the course of its expansion, the Qādiriyah Order developed many litanies and rituals, particularly when it spread in Turkey, Egypt, India, and Africa. The origin of some of the rituals has been ascribed to Shaykh 'Abd al-Qādir, ²⁸ while others are obviously later accretions. Symbols have sometimes been adopted to highlight special features of the order in different areas. The Turkish Qādirīs have adopted a green rose as their symbol. When a candidate is admitted to the order, the Qādirī shaykh attaches to his felt cap a rose of eighteen sections, with Solomon's Seal in the center. This cap is called tāj (crown), ²⁹ and is highly coveted in mystic circles.

In Egypt the Qādirīs use white turbans and white banners. Some fishermen who are members of the order carry upon poles nets of various colors when they move in a procession. In Morocco some Qādirīs recite invocations (dhikr) to the accompaniment of instruments. In Tangier the Jilālah, when they make vows, deposit white cocks in the zāwiyah. These are called muḥarrar and are not killed. ³⁰

Some relics of Shaykh 'Abd al-Qādir were taken to different regions and a halo of sanctity came to surround these places. In Uchh there is a turban claimed to have belonged to the saint. ³¹

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