Khwaja Gharib Nawaz Mu’in-ud-Din Chishti, founder of Chishti Sufism in India

Raziuddin Aquil

The Dargah of patron saint of Hindustan, Khwaja Gharib Nawaz Mu’in-ud-Din Chishti at Ajmer in Rajasthan attracts a large number of disciples round the year. The annual Urs, or death anniversary of the saint, especially witnesses lakhs of pilgrims, rich and poor alike, descending from all over and seeking blessings and benediction for a variety of purpose. Ritual Sufic chadars are also presented by leaders across the political spectrum in India as well as from abroad. The highlight of Urs celebration in the year 2015 was the chadar offered by the then US President, Barack Obama, with prayers for peace and tolerance in a world marred by political violence in the name of religion.

The widespread veneration of Sufi figures like the Khwaja of Ajmer stems from the fact that they rose above traditional religious rituals and discriminations to speak in the language of love and tolerance for the whole of mankind. As the Sufis would say, everything is from God, whom they considered a friend, and since everything is God’s creation, there is an aspect of God in everything – a position articulated in the doctrine of wahdat-ul-wujud, or unity of existence. Viewed from this perspective, a little bit of love and respect for all of God’s creations can take care of much of the difficulties in the world around us.

In his lifetime, Mu’in-ud-Din Chishti preached that the best form of prayers included: listening to the grievances of the suffering people; helping the needy; and feeding the hungry. The Khwaja would also say that people with the following three characteristics could legitimately be considered as friends of God: river like generosity; affection like that of sun; and modesty and hospitality of earth. None of them discriminate in what they have to offer. Not for nothing people from all walks of life and above narrow religious and political boundaries continue to flock to his Dargah for eight hundred years now, and even when there may be so much distaste for political violence in the name of Islam.

Complete submission to the will of their beloved God helped Sufis combat adversities – social, economic or natural. In a miracle story attributed to the Khwaja as early as the middle of the 14th century, it was reported that a Sultanate official, Malik Ikhtiyar-ud-Din Aibak, went to meet Mu’in-ud-Din Chishti and offered a cash grant, which the Sufi Sheikh refused to accept. Malik Ikhtiyar-ud-Din was shocked to see that the Baba was sitting on a carpet, under which a whole canal of gold coins was flowing! He was told to take away his nazrana or gift which had no value for the Khwaja.

In the above anecdote, there were several considerations, which were hedged through a miracle, or karamat, a typical trope in Sufi practices: first, questions regarding halal / haram nature of Ikhtiyar-ud-Din’s income; second, medieval muftis and muhtasibs, conscience-keepers of the time, were much more ruthless than the modern-day income tax commissioners; third, Sufis took pride in their poverty than being embarrassed by their new-found richness; fourth, the Sufi may not be sure whether his family of several sons would be able to handle this, gracefully.

In a similar incident, one of the Khwaja’s spiritual successors, Hamid-ud-Din, who had settled down in nearby Nagaur, rejected a huge cash grant from another Sultanate official. Before doing so, Hamid-ud-Din had consulted his wife and the venerable lady confirmed her Sufi-husband’s apprehensions by saying they were happy, despite their poverty, which they were able to handle through cultivation of a small portion of land and spinning a few yards of clothes – both were sufficient for their creature comfort.

Sufis were sharply critical of the hypocrisies, especially involving religious rituals. For them, natural calamities like earthquakes and plague and terror-attacks of the kind led by Changez Khan in the 13th century (who by the way was not a Muslim) were punishments sent from above for the wretchedness of the men on earth. In such situations, when people would rush seeking help from Sufis they would be told it was too late to intervene and save them from the disaster. They should run for their lives, praying to God for help, and prayers may not work either for people’s niyat was not good and that is why the punishment.

This was summed up in a Persian quartet, Ruba’i, quoted by another famous medieval Chishti Sufi master, Hazrat Nizam-ud-Din Auliya:

Giram ke namazhai bisyar kuni

Wa-z-rozai dahar beshumar kuni

Ta dil na kuni ze ghussai wa kine tahi

Sad man gul bar sare yak khar kuni

(Agreed that you perform a lot of namaz

And also keep fast for many days

Yet if your heart isn’t cleansed off anger and hatred

It’s like dumping a hundred mounds of flowers on top of a thorn).

Speaking in such a critical language for the need for reform within and just a little bit of humanism or compassion, Mu’in-ud-Din and a series of his successors – Qutb-ud-Din Bakhtiyar Kaki (shrine at Mehrauli, south Delhi), Farid-ud-Din Ganj-i-Shakar, more popularly known as Baba Farid (buried at Pak Patan, Ajodhan, in Punjab, now in Pakistan), Nizam-ud-Din Auliya (Dargah in central Delhi) and Nasir-ud-Din Chiragh Dilli (tomb in south Delhi) – created a whole sacred geography of Islam in the Indian subcontinent, with the successors and disciples of each of these saints spreading and creating a network of popular piety that has stood the test of time for centuries together.

This practice of spiritually-oriented Islam is in sharp contrast to political Islam which thrives on violence and terror, despite the fact that Islam is supposed to be a religion of peace. Sufi saints have shown, through their practice, that this claim of peace with all is not an empty rhetoric. This is despite the fact that Sufi traditions have not shied from claiming that Islam has spread in large parts of the subcontinent through the blessed presence of early Sufi masters. Small Muslim communities emerged wherever Sufis settled down. 

Mid-14th century Sufi literature presents Mu'in-ud-Din Chishti as an Islamiser, whose arrival at Ajmer was resented by Prithviraj Chauhan. By late-15th and early-16th century, the Dargah was attracting a large number of devotees, who offered flowers and chadars and prayed for their wellbeing - mannats of different kinds. Many of these devotees were not Muslims, but had faith in the miraculous powers of the saint. The charismatic appeal of the saint and his shrine was fully established in the sacred geography of Hindustan by the time of the Mughal emperor Akbar, in the latter half of the 16th century. However, Sufi texts were already referring to Mu'in-ud-Din Chishti as Sultan-ul-Hind from mid-14th century onwards. Thus, this image of Mu'in-ud-Din as the patron saint of Hindustan has a long history. 

The Chishtis wanted to steer clear of politics, and yet would be viewed as important sources of legitimacy for political regimes - both because of their large followers and miraculous powers they reportedly enjoyed. In his own time, Mu'in-ud-Din Chishti interacted with the Delhi Sultan Shams-ud-Din Iltutmish, and on his request let his successor in the Chishti silsila, Qutb-ud-Din Bakhtiyar Kaki, stay in Delhi and bless the capital city with his presence. Mu'in-ud-Din himself preferred to live in Ajmer, which he believed was the command to him by Prophet Muhammad as received in a dream. Mu'in-ud-Din was from Sistan in Iran, he saw the dream in Baghdad in Iraq and, thus, came to settle down in India. Ajmer in Rajasthan was going to be his blessed home, transforming it as a major centre of Sufi pilgrimage. The Chishti silsila itself started in Chisht in Afghanistan of the good old medieval period. Sufi exemplars associated with the silsila travelled far and wide with their message of peace, love and tolerance, which remained their defining characteristics in the past and continues in the present.