Hazrat Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya

Raziuddin Aquil

Chishti Sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya (died 1325) was a living legend of his time in Delhi in the late-thirteenth and early-fourteenth centuries. Nizamuddin had continued the chain, order or silsila of Chishti Sufi shaikhs as the foremost disciple of Khwaja Fariduddin Ganj-i-Shakar (died 1265), popularly known as Shaikh Farid or Baba Farid, who was a much respected guru-like figure in Punjab’s shared cultural tradition. The Sultans and their associates enjoyed enormous political power during the period and some even tried to create difficulties for Nizamuddin Auliya. Their boorish behaviour was mostly forgiven and consigned to the forgettable past, whereas reports of both horrendous violence and good governance have survived in Sufi circles and through them in popular memories and historical records. There is lesson here for all concerned: while the charisma of Hazrat Nizamuddin has survived for over seven centuries, no one is really bothered where a Khalji or Tughluq might be lying buried–often in the debris of their own making.

Like his tomb or dargah in Delhi today, a large number of devotees–both poor souls and power elite–thronged Nizamuddin’s jama‘at-khana (hospice). Though he wanted to steer clear off the reigning Sultans, he allowed a number of leading courtiers, members of ruling families and even some crooks to become his disciples–hoping to make some change in their heart so that they learn to respect other beings. Histories of violent past have shown how men in power abuse and bodily mutilate those who do not have any capacity to even resist them. Forcing someone to eat human excreta, vegetarian food, or even a chapati, for that matter, is not such a big crime in the annals of history. Mercifully, there have also been people who have advocated sanity and basic human dignity, cutting across institutional boundaries of religions.

Hazrat Nizamuddin’s prominent disciples Amir Khusrau (father of classical Hindustani musical traditions) and Ziyauddin Barani (historian and political ideologue) have portrayed him in glorious terms, and his own malfuzat (conversations and teachings) have been put together in a volume called Fawa’id-ul-Fu’ad (Benefiting the Heart) by another disciple, nobleman and poet, Amir Hasan Sijzi. Checked and corrected by Nizamuddin himself, the text is a must-read for anyone wishing to learn how to lead a civilized human life in a world otherwise full of violations of different kinds. One chapter recording the discussion in the hospice on a blessed Thursday of the holy-month of Ramazan illustrates how to deal with the tricky issue of converting non-Muslims to Islam and whether it was worth it.

It is recorded in Fawa’id-ul-Fu’ad that a disciple arrived in the middle of a discussion, along with a Hindu whom he addressed as his brother. When both were seated, Nizamuddin asked the disciple whether the said brother of his had any interest in Islam. The disciple replied that it was precisely for that very purpose that he had brought him to his feet so that by the blessing of his glance he might become a Muslim. With tears in his eyes, the Sufi shaikh remarked that force or persuasion cannot change anyone’s heart, though purification of the soul and spiritual satisfaction was possible through the grace of the company of a devout Muslim.

In this context, Nizamuddin narrated the story of conversion of the king of Iraq who was entrusted by second Caliph Umar to the company of a pious Muslim. The dethroned king had earlier refused to embrace Islam even under the threat of execution, but the company of the virtuous Muslim made such an impact on him that he subsequently returned to the Caliph and professed his faith in Islam. The former king also reminded the new Caliph that he alone will be responsible for the destruction of an otherwise prosperous country of Iraq. Further, Nizamuddin also commented on the dichotomy of moral integrity of Islam and Muslims through the story of a Jew who stayed in the neighbourhood of a first generation Iranian Sufi master, Bayazid Bustami. When Bayazid passed away, the Jew was asked by some persons as to why he did not become a Muslim at the hands of the shaikh. The Jew retorted as to what kind of Muslim they wanted him to become, adding that if Islam was what Bayazid practiced he would not be able to attain it and if it were the way Muslims lived he was sick of it.

The above observations, read together with other anecdotes of conversion recounted by Nizamuddin, clearly show that he was not altogether disinterested in proselytization. He, indeed, believed that conversion was possible through gradual cultural transformation or through occasional cataclysmic change of heart. More importantly, though some fanatical antagonists could have accused Nizamuddin of missing the opportunity to convert that non-Muslim visitor, for the Chishti master reform within was the best means for the propagation of the faith. A good Muslim should be a fine human being, and he should be continuously searching his own soul.  

Earlier version of the article was published in the Sunday Guardian: http://www.sunday-guardian.com/analysis/nizamuddin-is-revered-not-khalji-or-tughlaq