Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani

Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (c. 470/1077–561/1166 CE) was a Hanbali jurist, preacher, and Sufi who was born in the Persian province of Gilan, south of the Caspian Sea, and spent his career in Baghdad. He is best known as the figure after whom the Qadiriyya, one of the most widespread Sufi orders, is named, and his reputation rests on his sermons and on his effort to hold together Islamic legal observance and Sufi piety; sermon collections such as Futuh al-Ghayb and Al-Fath al-Rabbani, along with a Diwan and a Quran commentary (Tafsir al-Jilani), are among the works attributed to him, though the authenticity of several is debated. A Sunni figure, he is venerated across much of the Muslim world and is buried in a shrine in Baghdad that remains a pilgrimage site.