The Scroll, Translated
A faithful translation of the third scroll — the one that survived with its paragraphs intact. It moves from the opening praise of God through the chain of descent and the lives of the ancestors, down to the great house of Gilan.
The original is written in Persian, with passages of Arabic, in the formal register of a genealogical treatise (shajra-e-nasab). This English rendering follows the meaning of the text closely rather than word for word, so that it reads naturally. Where the scroll is damaged or a word is uncertain, this is marked with […]. Honorifics and blessings on the Prophet ﷺ and the Imams are preserved as in the original. An Urdu rendering is provided alongside; it awaits the family's verification.
بِسْمِ اللَّٰهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. All praise belongs to God, who illuminated among His creation those distinguished by nobility and high station. Blessings upon the chosen one, upon his family whom God ennobled by their descent and their excellences, and upon his noble Companions of pure and upright character — those whom God honoured, from among his household, with kinship and nobility.
To proceed: thus says the servant who hopes for the mercy of God, the Exalted, the Guardian — Ali, son of Hasan al-Jili — may God grant him success, forgive him and his parents, guard their traces, and sanctify their secrets. He offers this work in humility, mindful of his own shortcoming before so lofty a subject, praying that it may be a means of nearness to God and a cause of deliverance, and asking pardon for any error. He commends it to those who will read it with fairness, that they may overlook its faults.
[The opening pages carry the customary humility of the scribe, and are damaged in several places; the sense above follows the readable portions.]
It is related that Abu Talib had four sons — Talib, Aqil, Ja'far al-Tayyar, and Ali al-Murtaza — each of high rank; and that among the sons of Abu Talib, Talib was the eldest. Mention is made also of Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, the brother of Abdullah, and of the noble kinship of the Prophet's house.
Abdullah was the full brother of the father of the Messenger of God ﷺ. Know — may God guide you to good and to felicity — that the noble ancestor was of Arab lineage, honoured in the sacred precinct of the Ka'ba, born in the House of God, and marked from birth for a pure and blessed destiny.
The kunya of Imam Ali was Abu'l-Hasan and Abu Turab; his titles, Amir al-Mu'minin — Commander of the Faithful — and Ya'sub al-Muslimin, chief of the Muslims; the bravest of men, spouse of Batul (Fatimah), and Haydar-e-Karrar, "the charging lion."
The honoured wives of Imam Ali are named: first, Fatimah, daughter of the Messenger of God ﷺ, daughter of Khadija al-Kubra; then Khawla; then Layla bint Mas'ud; then Umm al-Banin al-Kilabiyya; then Asma bint Umays, formerly the wife of Amir Hamza — who, after his martyrdom, came into the marriage of Imam Ali; then Sahba al-Tha'labiyya; then Umama bint Zaynab, daughter of the Messenger of God ﷺ; then Umm Sa'ida bint Urwa al-Thaqafi; and Muhayyat bint Imru' al-Qays.
From Fatimah al-Zahra (peace be upon her) came the exalted children: Imam Hasan, Imam Husayn, Zaynab al-Kubra, and Umm Kulthum. Umm Kulthum the elder was given in marriage, as the account records. The scroll cites the tradition that on the Day of Judgement every lineage and kinship shall be severed save the lineage and kinship of the Prophet ﷺ — and notes that from all eternity this supreme nobility was placed in no house but that of Abu Talib.
Among those who stood in the ranks at Karbala from this house were Abbas al-Akbar, Ja'far al-Akbar, and Abdullah al-Asghar — the sons of Umm al-Banin al-Kilabiyya — and others, who gave there the utmost of courage and were honoured with martyrdom, ascending to the highest Paradise.
The daughters of Imam Ali are named: Zaynab, Ruqayya, Umm Kulthum, Umm al-Hasan, Zaynab al-Kubra, Zaynab al-Sughra, Fatimah, Umama, Khadija, Umm al-Karam, Umm Salama, Umm Ja'far, Umm Hani, Maymuna, Umm Kulthum al-Sughra, Hamama, and Nafisa. The names of their mothers are set down in their proper place.
Mention of the second Imam: his blessed title, al-Mujtaba, "the chosen"; also al-Sayyid and al-Taqi. His noble mother was the mistress of the women of the worlds, Fatimah al-Zahra (peace be upon her), daughter of the Messenger of God ﷺ. He was born in Madinah in the third year of the Hijrah, after the Battle of Badr, on the fifteenth of the blessed month of Ramadan. The blessed name "Hasan" was given by the descent of Gabriel.
In form and bearing, from head to waist, he resembled the Messenger of God ﷺ. He passed in the days of Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, at the age — by one account — of some forty-seven years, and by others more. The scroll records that his brother, the Lord of Martyrs [Imam Husayn], performed his washing and led the funeral prayer over him. Barred from burial in the sacred chamber near the Prophet ﷺ, he was laid to rest in Jannat al-Baqi, in the tomb of his blessed grandmother, Fatimah bint Asad ibn Hashim — for he had counselled that no Muslim blood be spilled on his account.
He is that Imam in whose honour, and his house, the noble Verse of Purity was revealed: إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ اللَّٰهُ لِيُذْهِبَ عَنكُمُ الرِّجْسَ أَهْلَ الْبَيْتِ — "God only desires to remove all impurity from you, O People of the House."
At Siffin, when the two children [Hasan and Husayn] were near the fighting, the Commander of the Faithful called out: "O people, keep these two children back from the battle — lest by them the line of the Prophet be cut off. For today there is none other than these who continues the Prophet's line, blessings and peace be upon him and his family."
By the account of Shayb al-Sharaf, sixteen children of Imam Hasan are established: eleven sons — Zayd, Hasan al-Muthanna, Husayn al-Athram, Talha, Isma'il, Abdullah, Hamza, Ya'qub, Abd al-Rahman, Abu Bakr, and Umar — and five daughters: Umm al-Husayn, Umm al-Hasan, Fatimah, Umm Salama, and Umm Abdullah (Ruqayya).
It was through Fatimah bint al-Hasan, who married Imam Ali Zayn al-Abidin — from whom Imam Muhammad al-Baqir was born — that the Hasani and Husayni lines were joined; and it is from this that the descent of the Hasanis and Husaynis continues. From Zayd and Hasan al-Muthanna, the Hasani Sayyids have continued to this day "like the sun in the middle of the sky." اللَّٰهُمَّ زِدْ فَزِدْ وَلَا تَنْقُص، آمين رَبَّ الْعَالَمِين
His noble mother was the mistress of women, Fatimah al-Zahra, daughter of the Messenger of God ﷺ. He was born on the fourth of Sha'ban in the fourth year of the Hijrah, in radiant Madinah; his kunya was Abu Abdillah, and his title Sayyid al-Shuhada, Lord of Martyrs.
His pure wives were three: Shahr Banu, daughter of Marra ibn Urwa ibn Mas'ud al-Thaqafi; and Rabab al-Kilabiyya. Among his noble children: Ali al-Akbar, Ali al-Asghar, Abdullah, and Ali al-Asghar named Imam Zayn al-Abidin; Fatimah al-Sughra; and Sakina. Fatimah al-Sughra was in the marriage of Hasan al-Muthanna, son of Imam Hasan — and from her the descent of the Husaynis among the Hasanis proceeds. Sakina was given to Mus'ab ibn Zubayr, from whom she had children.
His passing was in the year sixty-one of the Hijrah, on the tenth of Muharram, a Friday, in the plain of Karbala — an event so well known it needs no telling here.
An account of Hasan al-Muthanna, of the noble children of Imam Hasan: he was the grandson [through] the elder line, his kunya Abu Muhammad, his title al-Muthanna. It is related that the elder grandson [Imam Husayn] betrothed his own daughter Fatimah al-Sughra — whom he described as most resembling, in form and in conduct, his blessed and pure grandmother Fatimah, daughter of the Messenger of God ﷺ — to his noble nephew Hasan al-Muthanna. This is recorded in the reliable books of tradition, from al-Bukhari and others. His passing was in the year eighty-something of the Hijrah, in radiant Madinah.
Five sons of Hasan al-Muthanna left descendants; the line of our descent continues through Abdullah al-Mahd — "the Pure" — son of Hasan al-Muthanna, son of Imam Hasan, son of the Commander of the Faithful, Ali (may God ennoble his face). He resembled the Messenger of God ﷺ. Born in radiant Madinah, he was the elder of the house of Hashim; his mother was Fatimah, daughter of Imam Husayn (peace be upon him). He was called al-Mahd, "the pure," because he was noble on both sides — of the Prophet's house through both parents. Long-lived, he was named "the honour of the age"; brave, eloquent, generous, and a man of miracles. He passed in the year 136 [AH].
The line continues through Musa al-Jawn — kunya Abu'l-Qasim, Abu'l-Hasan, and Abu Abdillah — born in radiant Madinah; then Abdullah al-Salih; then Musa al-Thani (also called Rais al-Din, kunya Abu Umar); then Sayyid Dawud, whose mother was Umm Kulthum of the descendants of Zayn al-Abidin, his title Sayf al-Din, kunya Abu Abd al-Rahman, born in Madinah and passed in Kufa; then Sayyid Muhammad al-Rami (titled Sayf-Allah and Shams al-Din, kunya Abu Ahmad — called al-Rami for his long sojourn in Rum); then Sayyid Yahya al-Zahid, son of Sayyid Muhammad, whose mother Sakina was of the descendants of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (peace be upon him) — he was called al-Zahid, "the ascetic," for his piety and abstinence, and passed in the year six hundred and eighty in Kufa; then Sayyid Abu Abdillah al-Jili, known as al-Jili for his residence in Gilan, titled Ghina al-Din, who passed in the year four hundred and fifteen near Gilan.
[Several passages here repeat and elaborate the same names across the pages of the scroll; the line above gives the continuous descent.]
An account of Sayyid Abu Salih Jangi Dost, son of Sayyid Abu Abdillah — his noble mother being Zaynab, daughter of Husayn Faris, of the descendants of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (by one account, of the descendants of Zayd the Martyr, son of Imam Zayn al-Abidin). They held residence in Gilan. He had two noble sons who were, for the descendants of Adam, a glory and a crown and a banner: the Ghaus al-Thaqalayn, master of the two worlds, Sayyid Abdul Qadir al-Gilani (peace be upon him); and Sayyid Abu Ahmad Abdullah (peace be upon him), who passed in his youth in Gilan. Their mother was the pure Sayyida Umm Muhammad A'isha, a woman of holy miracles and lofty station.
Sheikh Muhyi al-Din Sayyid Abdul Qadir al-Gilani, son of Sayyid Abu Salih Musa Jangi Dost, son of Sayyid Abdullah al-Jili, son of Sayyid Yahya al-Zahid, son of Sayyid Muhammad al-Rami, son of Sayyid Dawud, son of Sayyid Musa al-Thani, son of Sayyid Abd al-Salih, son of Sayyid Musa [al-Jawn], son of Sayyid Abdullah al-Mahd, son of Sayyid Hasan al-Muthanna, son of the elder grandson Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba, son of the Commander of the Faithful Ali ibn Abi Talib (may God ennoble his face) — [and through Fatimah al-Zahra] to the Prophet ﷺ.
His blessed kunya was Abu Muhammad; his title, Muhyi al-Din, "reviver of the faith." His honoured mother was the pure and blessed Umm al-Khair Fatimah, called Umm al-Jabbar, daughter of Sayyid Abdullah al-Sawma'i — and her own chain the scroll traces back, through Sayyid Ali al-Uraydi, to Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, Imam Zayn al-Abidin, Imam Husayn, and to the Commander of the Faithful, peace be upon them all.
The scroll pauses here in praise of the Ghaus-e-Azam — that the tongue of men and jinn falls short of his description, and that after the Prophet ﷺ and the pure Imams, none reached his rank in guiding the people of his age; may God reward him on behalf of all the worlds with the best of reward.
It is related that eleven noble sons of the Ghaus-e-Azam came to distinction:
First — Sayf al-Din Abu Abdillah Abdul Wahhab, born in Sha'ban 522, passed on the twenty-fifth of Shawwal 593; a scholar and man of miracles, a teacher at the great Qadiriyya college. Second — Sharaf al-Din Abu Muhammad Isa (kunya Abu Abd al-Rahman), a scholar of the mystic sciences and author of Jawahir al-Ardiyya; he settled in Egypt and passed there in 573. Third — Shams al-Din Abu Muhammad Abdul Aziz, of luminous heart and abundant learning, gentle of character; he journeyed to the land of Sinjar and passed there. Fourth — Jamal al-Din Abu Abd al-Rahman Abdul Jabbar, trained in the presence of his noble father. Fifth — Taj al-Din Abu Bakr Abdul Razzaq, Sharaf al-Islam, of fine form and great learning and justice; born in Dhu'l-Qa'da 528, passed in Baghdad on the sixth of Shawwal 603.
Sixth — Abu Ishaq Ibrahim, who honoured the city of Wasit and passed there in the year six hundred and something, on the twenty-fifth of Dhu'l-Qa'da. Seventh — Abu Abdillah Abd al-Rahman, born c. 520, passed on the twentieth of Safar 589. Eighth — Abu Zakariyya Yahya, born on the sixth of Rabi al-Awwal 550, passed on the fifteenth of Sha'ban 600, buried beside his brother Sayyid Abdul Wahhab. Ninth — Abu'l-Fadl Muhammad, Rais al-Ashab and Jamal al-Masajid, passed in Baghdad on the twenty-fifth of Dhu'l-Qa'da 600, buried in Basra. Tenth — Diya al-Din Abu Nasr Musa, Siraj al-Fuqaha and Zayn al-Muhaddithin, a refined man of letters; he journeyed to Damascus, born in Rabi al-Akhir 535, passed on the eve of Jumada al-Akhira 618, buried in Basra. [Eleventh] — and his further son, as named among the eleven.
The scroll then follows the descendants of these sons — most fully the line of Abdul Wahhab — through the generations that carried the family onward, as continued in the recorded chain.
The closing portions of the scroll set out the later nasab in the hands of family scribes — among them the chain of Sayyid Mirak Andrabi: Sayyid Shams al-Din, son of Sayyid Ibrahim, son of Sayyid Ahmad, son of Sayyid Majd al-Din, son of Sayyid Habib-Allah, and onward through Jamal al-Din, Taj al-Din, Shams al-Din, Mu'in al-Din, Shihab al-Din, Mahmud, Abdullah, and Hasan al-Askari — joining the chain of the Imams: Imam Taqi, Imam Naqi, Imam Musa al-Kazim, Imam Musa al-Rida [in the order as written], Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, Imam Zayn al-Abidin, Imam Husayn the martyr of Karbala, and Fatimah al-Zahra, daughter of the master of creation, Muhammad al-Mustafa ﷺ.
This Shajra was copied from the hand of Sayyid Nizam Shah, dwelling in the village of Kanshar, and after him Sayyid Ahmad Shah, and through the succeeding Shahs of the family — a chain of scribes preserving the record down the generations.
The scroll closes with the ten given glad tidings of Paradise: Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, Umar al-Faruq, Uthman Dhu'l-Nurayn, Ali al-Murtaza, Talha, Zubayr, Abu Ubayda, Sa'd, Sa'id, and Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf — followed by the mention of Khalid al-Walid, Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, A'isha al-Siddiqa, and Abdullah ibn Umar (may God be pleased with them all).