Rose of Baghdad – Abdul Qadir Jilani
Abdul Qadir, founder of the Qadiri Order, figures in an incident which gave him his title of Rose of Baghdad. It is related that Baghdad was so full of mystical teachers that when Abdul Qadir arrived at the city it was decided to send him a message. The mystics therefore dispatched to him, at the city’s outskirts, a vessel, full to the brim with water. The meaning was clear: ‘The cup of Baghdad is full to the limit.’
Although it was winter and out of season, Abdul Qadir produced a full-blown rose which he place on top of the water, to indicate both his extraordinary powers and also that there was room for him. When this sign was brought to them, the assembly of mystics cried out: ‘Abdul Qadir is our Rose,’ and they hastened too usher him into the city.
