Khwaja Muhammad Usman Damani ( ur, ) was a prominent Muslim

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or research ...

and Sufi shaykh of

Naqshbandi The Naqshbandi ( fa, نقشبندی)), Neqshebendi ( ku, نه‌قشه‌به‌ندی), and Nakşibendi (in Turkish) is a major Sunni order of Sufism. Its name is derived from Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari. Naqshbandi masters trace their ...

tariqah of the 19th century (1828–1897) in South Asia (present day Pakistan).

Early life

He was born to Mawlana Moosa Jan in 1244 AH at Loni town in the

Dera Ismail Khan Dera Ismail Khan (; bal, , Urdu and skr, , ps, ډېره اسماعيل خان), abbreviated as D.I. Khan, is a city and capital of Dera Ismail Khan District, located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the 37th largest city of Pakistan ...

district, present day Pakistan. His father belonged to the Damani tribe and his mother belonged to the family of Khwaja Bandanawaz Sayyid Muhammad Gesudaraz Gulberga (Ibdia).Jalwa Gah-e-Dost (Urdu) 2nd edition (2008) by Khwaja Muhammad Tahir Bakhshi
He was a khalifa and successor of

Khwaja Dost Muhammad Qandhari Khwaja Haji Dost Muhammad Qandhari (Pashto: ) was an Afghan Sufi master in the Naqshbandi tradition in the 19th century (1801–1868). Biography Dost Muhammad was born and received his early education in Kandahar in Afghanistan. While still a you ...

, and was the successor of khanqah Mussa Zai Sharif in Dera Ismail Khan.

Work

His shaykh awarded him with

Ijazah An ''ijazah'' ( ar, الإِجازَة, "permission", "authorization", "license"; plural: ''ijazahs'' or ''ijazat'') is a license authorizing its holder to transmit a certain text or subject, which is issued by someone already possessing such au ...

(Khilafat) of eight Sufi orders, namely

Mujaddidi,

Qadri The Qadiriyya (), also transliterated Qādirīyah, ''Qadri'', ''Qadriya'', ''Kadri'', ''Elkadri'', ''Elkadry'', ''Aladray'', ''Alkadrie'', ''Adray'', ''Kadray'', ''Kadiri'', ''Qadiri'', ''Quadri'' or ''Qadri'' are members of the Sunni Qadiri ta ...

Chishti The Chishtī Order ( fa, ''chishtī'') is a tariqa, an order or school within the mystic Sufi tradition of Sunni Islam. The Chishti Order is known for its emphasis on love, tolerance, and openness. It began with Abu Ishaq Shami in Chisht, ...

, Suhrawardi,

Shattari The Shattari or Shattariyya are members of a Sufi mystical tariqah that originated in Persia in the fifteenth century C.E. and developed, completed and codified in India. Later secondary branches were taken to Hejaz and Indonesia. The word S ...

Madaria Madaria is one of the 24 villages that make up the municipality of Ayala in Álava, Basque autonomous community in Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_ ...

, Kibrawiya and

Qalandari The Qalandariyyah ( ar, قلندرية), Qalandaris, Qalandars or Kalandars are wandering ascetic Sufi dervishes. The term covers a variety of sects, not centrally organized and may not be connected to a specific tariqat. One was founded by ...

.Short Biography in Urdu by Mukhtar Ahmed Khokhar
His letters are published in a collection named ''Tuhfa Zahidia'' with an

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

translation. In the last years of his life, he did not take the oath of allegiance from newcomers and referred them to one of his two leading Khulafa, namely Khwaja Sirajuddin Naqshbandi his son and Sayyad Laal Shah Hamdani. He died on Tuesday 22

Shaban Shaʽban ( ar, شَعْبَان, ') is the eighth month of the Islamic calendar. It is called as the month of "separation", as the word means "to disperse" or "to separate" because the pagan Arabs used to disperse in search of water. The fiftee ...

1314 AH (26 January 1897) and was buried in Mussa Zai Sharif alongside the grave of his Shaykh

. His

Janazah Funerals and funeral prayers in Islam ( ar, جنازة, Janazah) follow fairly specific rites, though they are subject to regional interpretation and variation in custom. In all cases, however, sharia (Islamic religious law) calls for burial ...

prayer was led by his son Khwaja Sirajuddin Naqshbandi.

Chain of succession

Khwaja Muhammad Usman Damani belonged to the Mujaddidi order of Sufism, which is the main branch of

Sufi tariqah. His spiritual lineage goes to

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monot ...

, through Shaikh

Ahmad Sirhindi Aḥmad al-Fārūqī as-Sirhindī (1564-1624) was a South Asian Islamic scholar from Punjab, Hanafi jurist, and member of the Naqshbandī Sufi order. He has been described by some followers as a Mujaddid, meaning a “reviver", for his work i ...

, the Mujaddid of eleventh Hijri century.

Khulafa

:* Khwaja Sirajuddin Naqshbandi, his son and successor (d.1915) :* Sayyad Laal Shah Hamdani (d.1896) :* Mawlana Shirazi :* Abdur-Rahman Bahadur Kilmi (d.1922)

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20040421095419/http://bagharshareef.com/
Jalwa Gah-e-Dost (Urdu) 2nd edition (2008) by Khwaja Muhammad Tahir Bakhshi

{{DEFAULTSORT:Usman Damani 19th-century Muslim scholars of Islam Naqshbandi order People from British India Pashtun Sufi saints Pashtun Sufis 1820s births 1897 deaths Pashtun people