| Religion | Islam, specifically the Chishti Order of Sufism |
|---|---|
| Other name(s) | Hazrat khaja Gharīb Nawāz |
| Personal | |
| Born | 1141 Khorasan (in modern Afghanistan) or Isfahan (in modern Iran) |
| Died | 1230 Ajmer |
| Senior posting | |
| Based in | Ajmer, Northern India |
| Title | Sultan-ul-Hind, (emperor of India) Shaikh, Khalifa |
| Period in office | Late 12th century and early 13th century |
| Predecessor | 'Uthmān Hārūnī |
| Successor | Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki |
Sultan-ul-Hind, Hazrat Shaikh Khwaja Syed Muhammad Mu'īnuddīn Chishtī (Ajmeri) (Persian/Urdu: خواجہ سیّد محمد معین الدین چشتی اجمیری ) was born in 1141 and died in 1230 CE. Also known as Gharīb Nawāz (غریب نواز), or 'Benefactor of the Poor', he is the most famous Sufi saint of the Chishtī Order of South Asia. He introduced and established the order in South Asia. The initial spiritual chain or silsila of the Chishti order in India, comprising Mu'īnuddīn Chishtī, Bakhtiyar Kaki, Baba Farid and Nizamuddin Auliya (each successive person being the disciple of the previous one), represents the initial great Sufi saints of Indian history.[1]
He was born in 536 A.H./1141 CE, in Sijistān, in Persian Khorasan, modern Iran[2]. He is also known as Sultān-e-Hind (The Sultan of India). He is a descendant of Muhammad through Ja‘far aṣ-Ṣādiq.
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Early life and background
Mu'īnuddīn Chishtī grew up in a Persian family. His parents died when he was only fifteen years old. He inherited a windmill and an orchard from his father. During his childhood, the young Mu'īnuddīn was different from others and kept himself busy in prayers and meditation. Legend has it that once when he was watering his plants, a revered Sufi, Shaikh Ibrāhim Qundūzī (also called Kunduzi, after the birth place of the Sheikh, Kunduz), came to his orchard. Young Mu'īnuddīn approached him and offered him some fruits. In return, Sheikh Ibrāhīm Qundūzī gave him a piece of bread and asked him to eat it. The Khwāja got enlightened and found himself in a strange world after eating the bread. After this he disposed of his property and other belongings and distributed the money to the poor. He renounced the world and left for Bukhara in search of knowledge and higher education.[3]
His paternal ancestry
Mu'īnuddīn Chishtī, son of Ghiyāsuddīn, son of Najmuddīn Zāhir, son of ‘Abd al-‘Azīz, son of Ibrāhīm, son of Idrīs, son of Mūsā al-Kāzim, son of Ja’far al-Ṣādiq, son of Imām Muḥammad al-Bāqir, son of Imām Zayn al-‘Ābidīn, son of Imām Ḥusayn, son of ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib.
His maternal ancestry
Umm al-Wara' al-Ma’rūf, daughter of Māh-e Nūr, daughter of Dawūd, son of ‘Abdullāh Hanbalī, son of Zāhid, son of Murās, son of Dawūd, son of Mūsā, son of ‘Abdullāh, son of Ḥasan Masnā, son of Imām Ḥasan, son of ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib.
Journeys
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Mu'īnuddīn Chishtī visited the seminaries of Samarkand and Bukhara and acquired religious learning at the feet of eminent scholars of his age. He visited nearly all the great centers of Muslim culture, and acquainted himself with almost every important trend in Muslim religious life in the Middle Ages. He became a disciple of the Chishtī saint 'Uthmān Hārūnī. They travelled the Middle East extensively together, including visits to Makkah and Medina.
Journey to India
Mu'īnuddīn Chishtī turned towards India, reputedly after a dream in which Prophet Muhammad blessed him to do so, and after a brief stay at Lahore he reached Ajmer along with Mohamad of Ghori after Prithviraj Chauhan lost Ajmer, where he settled down. There he attracted a substantial following, acquiring a great deal of respect amongst the residents of the city.
Founding of the Chishtī Order in India
He apparently never wrote down his teachings in the form of a book, nor did his immediate disciples, but he laid the foundations of the Chishtī order in the city of Ajmer in North India. His firm faith in Waḥdat al-Wujūd (Unity of Being) provided the necessary ideological support to his holy mission to bring about emotional integration of the people amongst whom he lived.
The central principles that became characteristics of the Chishtī order in India are based on his teachings and practices. They lay stress on renunciation of material goods; strict regime of self-discipline and personal prayer; participation in Samā' as a legitimate means to spiritual transformation; reliance on either cultivation or unsolicited offerings as means of basic subsistence; independence from rulers and the state, including rejection of monetary and land grants; generosity to others, particularly, through sharing of food and wealth, and tolerance and respect for religious differences.
He, in other words, interpreted religion in terms of human service and exhorted his disciples “to develop river-like generosity, sun-like affection and earth-like hospitality.” The highest form of devotion, according to him, was “to redress the misery of those in distress – to fulfill the needs of the helpless and to feed the hungry.”
It was during the reign of Emperor Akbar (1556-1605) that Ajmer emerged as one of the most important centers of pilgrimage in India. The Mughal Emperor undertook an unceremonial journey on foot to accomplish his wish to reach Ajmer. The Akbarnāmah records that the Emperor’s interest first sparked when he heard some minstrels singing songs about the virtues of the Walī (Friend of God) who lay asleep in Ajmer.
Mu'īnuddīn Chishtī authored several books including Anīs al-Arwāḥ and Dalīl al-'Ārifīn, both of which deal with the Islamic code of living.
Quṭbuddīn Baktiyār Kākī (d. 1235) and Ḥamīduddīn Nagorī (d. 1276) were Mu'īnuddīn Chishtī’s celebrated Khalīfas or successors who continued to transmit the teachings of their master through their disciples, leading to the widespread proliferation of the Chishtī Order in India.
Among Quṭbuddīn Baktiyār’s prominent disciples was Farīduddīn Ganj-i-Shakar (d. 1265), whose dargāh is at Pakpattan, (Pakistan). Farīduddīn’s most famous disciple was Nizāmuddīn Auliyā' (d. 1325) popularly referred to as Mahbūb-e-Ilāhī (God’s beloved), whose dargāh is located in South Delhi.
From Delhi, disciples branched out to establish dargāhs in several regions of South Asia, from Sindh in the west to Bengal in the east, and the Deccan in the south. But from all the network of Chishtī dargāhs the Ajmer dargāh took on the special distinction of being the ‘mother’ dargah of them all.
A recent Bollywood movie "Jodhaa Akbar", directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, includes a qawwālī in praise of Mu'īnuddin Chishtī ("Khwāja Mērē Khwāja"). It depicts the Emperor Akbar being moved by the song to join the whirling-dervish-like dance that accompanies the song. The song is composed by A.R. Rahman.
Sufis of the Chishtī Order
He had more than one thousand khalīfas and hundreds of thousands of disciples. Sufis of different orders became his disciples and took ijāzah from him. Among the famous Sufis who trace their lineage to him are: Quṭbuddīn Bakhtiyār Kākī,Farīduddīn Mas'ūd, Nizāmuddīn Auliyā', Amir Khusrau, Muhammad Hussain-i Gisūdarāz Bandanawāz, Ashraf Jahāngīr Simnānī, Aṭā' Hussain Fānī and Shāh Jamāl Bābā Bahaya Aurangabadī.
Today, hundreds of thousands of people – Muslims, Hindus, Christians and others, from the Indian sub-continent, and from other parts of the world – assemble at his tomb on the occasion of his 'urs (death anniversary).
Spiritual lineage
- 'Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib
- Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī
- 'Abdul Wāḥid Bin Zaid Abul Faḍl
- Fuḍayll ibn 'Iyāḍ Bin Mas'ūd Bin Bishr al-Tamīmī
- Ibrāhīm bin Adham
- Ḥudhayfah al-Mar'ashī
- Amīnuddīn Abū Ḥubayrah al-Baṣrī
- Mumshād Dīnwarī
Start of the Chishtī Order:
- Abū Isḥāq al-Shāmī
- Abū Aḥmad Abdāl
- Abū Muḥammad bin Abī Aḥmad
- Abū Yūsuf bin Sam'ān al-Ḥusaynī
- Maudūd Chishtī
- Sharīf Zandānī
- 'Uthmān Hārūnī
- Mu'īnuddīn Chishtī
Others Buried in the Maqbara enclosure
The famous Mughal generals Sheikh Mīr and Shāhnawāz Khān were buried in the enclosure of Mu'īnuddīn Chishtī's Maqbara after they died in the Battle of Deorai in 1659. Shāhnawāz Khān was the Emperor Aurangzeb's father-in-law.[4]
Blast at the Dargāh
A bomb went off inside the complex on Thursday 11 October 2007 evening killing three people and injuring 17 others. No suspects have been arrested.[5]
References
- ^ Bhakti poetry in medieval India By Neeti M. Sadarangani. Pg 60
- ^ Other accounts say that he was born in the city of Isfahān, which is in present-day Iran.
- ^ Embodiment of syncretic traditions- Mohammed Iqbal
- ^ History of Aurangzib: Based on Original Sources By Jadunath Sarkar Published by Longmans, Green, 1920, Pg 187 Public Domain
- ^ http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/oct/11ajmer.htm
Sources
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This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2009) |
- Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Ajmeri a symbol of peace & harmony
- Biography of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Hassan Chishti in Urdu
See also
- Ata Hussain Fani Chishti
- Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki
- Fariduddin Ganjshakar
- Nizamuddin Auliya
- Urs (Ajmer)
- Qadiriyyah
- List of Sufism related topics
- List of famous Sufis
- Sufism
- Sayyid
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