Shaykh Abd al-Qadir Gilani's Lineage  by Sh. G. F. Haddad
“there has recently been a surge of claims stating that Sayyid
Abd Al Qadir Jilani was infact not a Sayyid. Most of the points
these people use are (1) He was of Persian origin (2) He never
claimed to be a Sayyid except once which could be interpreted
differently (3) None of the people around him considered him a
Sayyid or specified he was one (4) the first person to claim
this was his grandson. They say of all the evidence All what was
found was a verse attributed to one of his offspring in which he
says, "...and my forefather was the Messenger of Allah: " They
say It was perhaps the interpretation of some of the learned
people of the saying of the Prophet "I am the grandfather
[forefather] of every pious person."”  A poet once said,
"Nothing is held true anymore - when the light of day needs a
proof."  Ibn Khaldun said that the questioning of lineage by one
devoid of religion and genealogical knowledge carries no
authority and amounts to no more th