Sultan-ul-Mashaikh, Mehboob-e-Ilahi, Hazrat Shaikh Khwaja Syed Muhammad Nizamuddin Auliya (1238 - 3 April 1325) , also known as Hazrat Nizamuddin, was a famous Sufi saint of the
Chishti OrderThe Chishtī Order is a Sufi order within the mystic branches of Islam which was founded in Chisht, a small town near Herat, Afghanistan about 930 CE. The Chishti Order is known for its emphasis on love, tolerance, and openness. The doctrine of the Chishti Order is based on walāya, which is a...
in the
Indian SubcontinentThe Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
, an order that believed in drawing close to God through renunciation of the world and service to humanity. He is one of the great saints of the Chishti order in India. His predecessors were
Moinuddin ChishtiSultan-ul-Hind, Moinuddin Chishti was born in 1141 and died in 1230 CE. Also known as Gharīb Nawāz "Benefactor of the Poor" , he is the most famous Sufi saint of the Chishti Order of the Indian Subcontinent. He introduced and established the order in South Asia...
, Bakhtiyar Kaki and
Fariduddin Ganjshakar. In that sequence, they constitute the initial spiritual chain or
silsilaSilsila is a 1981 Bollywood film directed by Yash Chopra. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bhaduri, Sanjeev Kumar and Rekha, with Shashi Kapoor in a special appearance.-Plot:...
of the Chisti order, which is widely prevalent in India and Pakistan.
Nizamuddin Auliya, like his predecessors, stressed upon the element of love as a means of realisation of God. For him his love of God implied a love of humanity. His vision of the world was marked by a highly evolved sense of secularity and kindness. It is claimed by the 14th century historiographer
Ziauddin BaraniZiauddin Barani was a Muslim historian and political thinker who lived in India during Muhammad bin Tughlaq and Firuz Shah's reign. He was best known for composing the Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi, a major historical work on medieval India, which covers the period from the reign of Ghiyas ud din Balban to...
that his influence on the Muslims of Delhi was such that a paradigm shift was effected in their outlook towards worldly matters. People began to be inclined towards mysticism and prayers and remaining aloof from the world.
Life
Nizamuddin Auliya was born in Badayun,
Uttar PradeshUttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
(east of
DelhiDelhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
). At the age of five, after the death of his father, Ahmad Badayuni, he came to Delhi with his mother, Bibi Zulekha. His biography finds mention in
Ain-i-AkbariThe Ain-i-Akbari or the "Institutes of Akbar", is a 16th century, detailed document recording the administration of emperor Akbar's empire, written by his vizier, Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak...
, a 16th century document written by Mughal Emperor Akbar’s
vizierA vizier or in Arabic script ; ; sometimes spelled vazir, vizir, vasir, wazir, vesir, or vezir) is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in a Muslim government....
,
Abu'l-Fazl ibn MubarakShaikh Abu al-Fazl ibn Mubarak also known as Abu'l-Fazl, Abu'l Fadl and Abu'l-Fadl 'Allami was the vizier of the great Mughal emperor Akbar, and author of the Akbarnama, the official history of Akbar's reign in three volumes, and a Persian translation of the Bible...
.
At the age of twenty, Nizāmuddīn went to Ajodhan (the present
PakpattanPakpattan is the capital city of the Pakpattan District in the Sahiwal Division in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Pakpattan is one of the ancient cities of Pakistan. It is the city that has the shrine of the well-known Sufi of all times, Baba Fareed...
Sharif in
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
) and became a disciple of the Sufi saint
Fariduddin Ganj-i-Shakkar, commonly known as Baba Farid. Nizāmuddīn did not take up residence in Ajodhan but continued with his theological studies in Delhi while simultaneously starting the Sufi devotional practices and the prescribed litanies. He visited Ajodhan each year to spend the month of Ramadan in the presence of Baba Farid. It was on his third visit to Ajodhan that Baba Farid made him his successor. Shortly after that, when Nizāmuddīn returned to Delhi, he received news that Baba Farid had expired.
Nizāmuddīn lived at various places in Delhi, before finally settling down in Ghiyaspur, a neighborhood in Delhi undisturbed by the noise and hustle of city life. He built his
Khanqah here, a place where people from all walks of life were fed, where he imparted spiritual education to others and he had his own quarters. Before long, the
khanqah became a place thronged with all kinds of people, rich and poor alike.
Many of his disciples achieved spiritual height, including
Shaikh Nasiruddin Muhammad Chirag-e-DelhiNasiruddin Mahmud Chirag-e-Delhi was a 14th century mystic-poet and a Sufi saint of the Chishti Order. He was a murid of noted Sufi saint, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, and later his successor...
, and
Amir KhusroAb'ul Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrow , better known as Amīr Khusrow Dehlawī , was an Indian musician, scholar and poet. He was an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent...
, noted scholar/musician, and the royal poet of the
Delhi SultanateThe Delhi Sultanate is a term used to cover five short-lived, Delhi based kingdoms or sultanates, of Turkic origin in medieval India. The sultanates ruled from Delhi between 1206 and 1526, when the last was replaced by the Mughal dynasty...
.
He died on the morning of 3 April 1325. His shrine,
the Nizāmuddīn DergāhNizamuddin Dargah is the dargah of one of the world's most famous Sufi saints, Nizamuddin Auliya. Situated in the Nizamuddin West area of Delhi, the dargah is visited by thousands of Muslims every week, and sees a fair share of Hindus, Christians and people from other religions...
is located in Delhi, and the present structure was built in 1562. The shrine is visited by people of all faiths, through the year, though it becomes a place for special congregation during the death anniversaries, or
'UrsUrs is the death anniversary of a Sufi saint in South Asia, usually held at the saint's dargah . South Asian Sufis being mainly Chishtiyya, refer to their saints as lovers and God as beloved...
, of Nizāmuddīn Auliyā' and
Amīr KhusroAb'ul Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrow , better known as Amīr Khusrow Dehlawī , was an Indian musician, scholar and poet. He was an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent...
, who is also buried at the Nizāmuddīn Dargāh.
Key beliefs
Besides believing in the traditional Sufi ideas of embracing God within this life (as opposed to the idea that such partial merger with God is possible only after death), by destroying the ego and cleansing the soul, and that this is possible through considerable efforts involving Sufi practices, Nizamuddin also expanded and practised the unique features introduced by past saints of the Chisti Sufi order in India. These included:
- Emphasis on renunciation and having complete trust in God.
- The unity of mankind and shunning distinctions based on social, economic, religious status.
- Helping the needy, feeding the hungry and being sympathetic to the oppressed.
- Strong disapproval of mixing with the Sultans, the princes and the nobles.
- Exhortation in making close contact with the poor and the downtrodden
- Adopting an uncompromising attitude towards all forms of political and social oppression.
- A bold stance in favour of Sema
Sama is a Sufi ceremony performed as dhikr. Sama means "listening", while dhikr means "remembrance". These rituals often includes singing, playing instruments, dancing, recitation of poetry and prayers, wearing symbolic attire, and other rituals...
, which some considered unislamic. Perhaps this was with the view that this was in consonance with the role of music in some modes of Hindu worship, could serve as a basis of contact with local people and would facilitate mutual adjustments between the two communities. In fact QawwaliQawwali is a form of Sufi devotional music popular in South Asia, particularly in the Punjab and Sindh regions of Pakistan, Hyderabad, Delhi, and other parts of northern India...
, a form of devotional music, was originally created by one his most cherished disciples: Amir Khusro.
Nizamuddin did not much bother about the theoretical aspects of Sufism, believing rather that it were the practical aspects that counted, as it was anyway not possible to describe the diversified mystical experiences called spiritual states or stations which a practicing Sufi encountered. He discouraged the demonstration of
KeramatIn Islamic philosophy, irfan, and mysticism, keramat is a "thaumaturgic gift" akin to the miracles of prophets.Sufis believe that, whereas miracles can only be performed by prophets and are a testament to their prophethood, karaamaat are extraordinary things performed by Awliyaa' who are not...
and emphasized that it was obligatory for the Auliya (which roughly means the friends of God) to hide the ability of Keramat from the commoners. He also was quite generous in accepting disciples. Usually whoever came to him saying that he wanted to become a disciple was granted that favour. This resulted in him being always surrounded by people from all strata of society.
Ancestral history
The eldest son of 'Alī al-Naqī was
Ḥasan al-'AskarīHasan al-‘Askarī was the eleventh of the Twelve Imams. His given name was Hasan ibn ‘Alī ibn Muhammad...
and the other son was Ja'far Bukhārī. After the death of 'Ali al-Naqi, Hasan al-Askari became the accepted Imām of both Shī'ah and Sunnī Muslims. Ḥasan al-'Askarī was killed at the age of 28. He had one son,
Muḥammad al-MahdīMuḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mahdī is believed by Twelver Shī‘a Muslims to be the Mahdī, an ultimate savior of humankind and the final Imām of the Twelve Imams...
, who, at the age of five after the death of his father, disappeared from public view. That was in the time of the 'Abbāsid Caliphs. Knowing about the killings of all the Imāms and family members of the descendants of Muḥammad, Ja'far Bukhārī migrated to
BukharaBukhara , from the Soghdian βuxārak , is the capital of the Bukhara Province of Uzbekistan. The nation's fifth-largest city, it has a population of 263,400 . The region around Bukhara has been inhabited for at least five millennia, and the city has existed for half that time...
in
UzbekistanUzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
. After a few generations, one of his descendants called 'Alī, known as Dāniyāl, the grandfather of Nizāmuddīn Auliyā', migrated to the city of Badāyūn in Uttar Pradesh, India.
Ancestral lineage
- Muḥammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
- 'Alī bin Abī Ṭālib
' |Ramaḍān]], 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661).His father's name was Abu Talib. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam...
- Husayn bin 'Alī
Hussein ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib was the son of ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib and Fātimah Zahrā...
- 'Alī bin al-Husayn Zayn-ul'Ābidīn
- Muḥammad al-Bāqir
Muḥammad ibn ‘Alī al-Bāqir was the Fifth Imām to the Twelver Shi‘a and Fourth Imām to the Ismā‘īlī Shī‘a. His father was the previous Imām, ‘Alī ibn Ḥusayn, and his mother was Fatimah bint al-Hasan...
- Ja'far al-Ṣādiq
- Mūsā al-Kāḍhim
- 'Alī al-Riḍā
‘Alī ibn Mūsā al-Rizā was the seventh descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the eighth of the Twelve Imams, according to Shia sect of Islam...
- Muḥammad al-Taqī
Muhammad al-Taqī or Muhammad al-Jawād was the ninth of the Twelve Imams of Twelver Shi'ism. His given name was Muhammad ibn ‘Alī ibn Mūsā, and among his titles, al-Taqī and al-Jawād are the most renowned...
- 'Alī al-Naqī
- Ja'far Bukhārī
- 'Alī Aṣghar Bukhārī
- Abī 'Abdullāh Bukhārī
- Aḥmad Bukhārī
- 'Alī Bukhārī
- Husayn Bukhārī
- 'Abdullāh Bukhārī
- 'Alī , known as Dāniyāl
- Aḥmad Badāyūnī
- Nizāmuddīn Auliyā'
Spiritual history
He was merely sixteen or seventeen years old when he first heard the name of
Farīduddīn Ganjshakar, and feelings of love and respect arose in his heart right then. He narrates to his disciples that he never felt the same after hearing or even meeting any other sufi. The love kept increasing like a burning fire. If his classmates would like to have some work out of him they used to invoke the name of Bābā Farīd, and he never refused anything asked in his name. He didn't feel the same for anyone else in his entire lifetime. He became his disciple after completing his studies at the age of 20. He visited him thrice in his lifetime.
Spiritual lineage
- Islamic Prophet Muḥammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
- 'Alī bin Abī Ṭālib
- al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī
- 'Abdul Wāḥid Bin Zaid Abul Faḍl
Abdul Waahid Bin Zaid Abul Fadl was an early day Sufi Saint, a successor to Hasan al-Basri, second link in the Sufi Silsilah of Chishti Order, and the Master of Fudhail Bin Iyadh.He is also reported to have received education from Imam Abu Hanifah....
- Fuḍail Bin 'Iyyādh Bin Mas'ūd Bin Bishr al-Tamīmī
Fudhail Bin Iyadh Bin Masood Bin Bishr Al-Tamimi aka Abul Fadhl and Abu Ali, was an early day Sufi Saint, a successor to Abdul Waahid Bin Zaid, third link in the Sufi Silsilah of Chishti Order, and the Master of Ibrahim Bin Adham....
- Ibrāhīm bin Adham
Ibrahim ibn Adham is one of the most prominent of the early ascetic Sufi saints.The story of his conversion is one of the most celebrated in Sufi legend, as that of a prince renouncing his throne and choosing asceticism closely echoing the legend of Gautama Buddha.Sufi tradition ascribes to...
- Hudhaifah al-Mar'ashī
- Abu Hubairah Basri
- Mumshad 'Uluw al-Dinawarī
Start of the Chishti Order:
- Abū Isḥāq al-Shāmī
Abu Ishaq Shami was a Muslim scholar who is often regarded as the founder of the Sufi Chishti Order because he was the person in the Chishti silsila who was the first to live in Chisht. The name Shami implies he came from Syria or even from Damascus...
- Abū Aḥmad Abdāl
- Abū Muḥammad bin Abī Aḥmad
- Abū Yūsuf bin Sāmān
Abu Yusuf Bin Samaan Al-Husaini aka Nasiruddin was an early day Sufi Saint, a successor to his maternal uncle and master Abu Muhammad Bin Abi Ahmad, eleventh link in the Sufi Silsilah of Chishti Order, and the father and Master of Maudood Chishti. Khwajah Syed Abu Yusuf Bin Sam'aan Al-Husaini...
- Maudūd Chishtī
Maudood Chishti was an early day Sufi Saint, a successor to his father and master Abu Yusuf Bin Saamaan, twelfth link in the Sufi silsilah of Chishti Order, and the Master of Shareef Zandani. He was born around 430 Hijri in the city of Chisht. He initially received education from his father...
- Sharīf Zandānī
Shareef Zandani aka Nooruddin, was an early day Sufi Saint, a successor to Maudood Chishti, thirteenth link in the Sufi Silsilah of Chishti Order, and the peer of Usman Harooni.He was born around 492 Hijri in a city Zandanah, Iraq....
- Usmān al-Hārūnī
Usman Harooni was an early day Sufi Saint, a successor to Shareef Zandani, fourteenth link in the Sufi Silsilah of Chishti Order, and the Master of Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti.He was born Haroon, Iran around 526 HijriHe died 617 Hijri....
- Mu'īnuddīn Chishtī
Sultan-ul-Hind, Moinuddin Chishti was born in 1141 and died in 1230 CE. Also known as Gharīb Nawāz "Benefactor of the Poor" , he is the most famous Sufi saint of the Chishti Order of the Indian Subcontinent. He introduced and established the order in South Asia...
- Quṭbuddīn Bakhtiyār Kākī
Qutub ul Aqtab Hazrat Khwaja Syed Muhammad Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki was a renowned Muslim Sufi mystic, saint and scholar of the Chishti Order from Delhi, India. He was the disciple and the spiritual successor of Moinuddin Chishti as head of the Chishti order. Before him the Chishti order in India...
- Farīduddīn Mas'ūd
- Nizāmuddīn Auliyā'
His students
He had more than 600 khalifas (a khalifa is a disciple who is given the authority to take his own disciples and thus propagate the spiritual lineage) who continued his lineage all over the world. Some of his most famous disciples are:
Nasiruddin Chiragh Dehlavi
He was the spiritual successor of Nizamuddin Auliya. He is considered fifth amongst the big five of the Chisti order in India (the others being Moinuddin Chishti, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, Fariduddin Ganjshakar, Nizamuddin Auliya in that order). His shrine is in Chirag Dilli, New Delhi, India.
Amīr Khusro
He was the most loved disciple of his master. He was so close to his master that once Nizāmuddīn Auliyā' said, "If sharī'ah allows me I would like him to be buried with me in the same grave." He also said that whoever comes to visit his grave must visit the grave of Amīr Khusro first and then his. He died within a few months of his master's death. He was buried at the feet of his master. His shrine is in Nizāmuddīn Dargāh, New Delhi.
Aqi Seraj
He was given the title of
Ā'inah-e-Hind (Mirror of India) by Nizāmuddīn Auliyā' and lived with him for a long time. He was amongst the earliest disciples of Nizāmuddīn Auliyā', who sent him to Bengal. His shrine is in
GaurGour, or Gaur , as it is spelt mostly in modern times, or Lakhnauti is a ruined city, in the Malda district of West Bengal, India, on the west bank of the Ganges river, 40 kilometers downstream from Rajmahal.-History:...
,
West BengalWest Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
.
Burhanuddin Gharib
He is also amongst the earliest disciples of Nizamuddin Auliya and lived with the master until his last breath. After the death of Nizamuddin Auliya, he went to the Deccan, and the place where he lived became famous thereby. His shrine is in
KhuldabadKhuldabad Urdu: خلد آباد is a city and a Taluka of Aurangabad district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Initially it was known as Rauza meaning garden of paradise...
in Maharashtra.
Jalaluddin Bhandari
He is also amongest the earliest disciples of Nizamuddin Auliya. He ran the Langar khana of Nizamuddin Auliya. After the death of Nizamuddin Auliya, he went to the Deccan with Burhanuddin Gharib, and became famous by the name of Bhandari. His shrine is in Fatehabad in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra.
Syed Mahmood Kashkinakar
He holds a very special position in Islamic mysticism. He is believed to be alive in the invisible world even after his death in the visible world. There are miracles in the literature of the Chisti order which are attributed to this.
Syed Ahmed Badepaa
His tomb is in First Lancer. On the order of his Peer, he left everything in Delhi and moved to the Deccan to propagate Deen Islam along with the famous Syed Burhanuddin.
Quotations
- The wilayat (domain) of gnosis and faith can suffer decay. The wilayat of compassion can not.
- The love of Auliya (saints) is stronger than their reason.
- The lock of spiritual perfection has very many keys. All those keys are to be possessed. If one does not open it, others can.
- He who has knowledge, reason, and love, is deserving to become a caliph of the Sufi sheikhs.
- So long as is possible, give relief to your heart, because the heart of a good Muslim is the palace of the manifestations of Allah.
His descendants
Nizamuddin Auliya did not marry. However he had one brother named Jamaluddin. He told him, "your descendants will be my descendants". Jamaluddin had one son named Ibrahim. He was nurtured by Nizamuddin Auliya after Jamaluddin's death. Nizamuddin Auliya sent his nephew to
BengalBengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
in Eastern
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
along with one of his most famous disciples (khalifa) Aqi Seraj, famously known as Aaina-e-Hind. Ala-ul-Haq Pandwi (the master (
PirPir or Peer is a title for a Sufi master equally used in the nath tradition. They are also referred to as a Hazrat or Shaikh, which is Arabic for Old Man. The title is often translated into English as "saint" and could be interpreted as "Elder". In Sufism a Pir's role is to guide and instruct his...
) of Maqdoom Ashraf Jehangir Simnani), one of the most famous Sufis of the Chisti order, became his disciple and khalifa. Ala-ul-Haq Pandwi married his sister-in-law to Ibrahim. They had one son, who was the most famous Chisti Sufi of
BiharBihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
, known as Fariduddin Tavaela Bukhsh. He was married to the daughter of Ala-ul-Haq Pandwi. He became the khalifa of Hazrat Noor Qutb-e-Aalam Padwi (the eldest son and spiritual successor of Ala-ul-Haq Pandwi). His
shrineA shrine is a holy or sacred place, which is dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon or similar figure of awe and respect, at which they are venerated or worshipped. Shrines often contain idols, relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated....
is one of the most famous shrines in Chandpura,
Bihar SharifBihar Sri is the district headquarters of Nalanda district in the state of Bihar in eastern India.-History:The ancient Odantpuri University was located here, an important centre for the learning of Buddhism. Odatpuri is center of Buddhist culture...
,
BiharBihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
. Many of his descendants are very famous Sufis, namely Moinuddin Sani, Naseeruddin Sani, Sultan Chisti Nizami, Bahauddin Chisti Nizami, Deewan Syed Shah Abdul Wahab (his shrine is in Choti Takiya, Biharsharif), Sultan Sani, Amjad Hussain Chisti Nizami, among others. He spread Chisti Nizami order all over Northern India. Ijaza of his Silsila (order) is present in all the existing khanqahs of Bihar. His descendants still reside in Biharsharif and can be found in many parts of the world. However, those still looking after Nizamuddin Auliya's shrine in Delhi are the descendants of his sister's son.
The Chisti Nizami order
Nizamuddin Auliya was the founder of the Chisti Nizami order. He had hundreds of disciples (khalifa) who had Ijaza (khilafat) from him to spread the order. Many of the sufis of the Chisti Nizami order are recognised as great sufis; the following is a list of notable sufis of the Chisti Nizami order, which includes his descendants as well as his disciples:
Muhammad Hussaini Gisudaraz BandanawazSyed Muhammad Hussaini, commonly known as Hazrat Khwaja Banda Nawaz Gaisu Daraz , was a famous Sufi saint from India of the Chishti Order, who advocated understanding, tolerance and harmony among various religious groups.Gaisu Daraz was a murid of the noted Sufi saint of Delhi, Hazrat Nasiruddin...
,
GulbargaGulbarga is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the administrative headquarters of Gulbarga District. It was formerly part of Nizam's Hyderabad state...
(near Hyderabad),
KarnatakaKarnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
; Ala-ul-Haq Pandwi & Noor Qutb-e-Alam Pandwi,
PanduaPandua or Hazrat Pandua or Firuzabad is a historical city, presently lying in the ruined condition in Malda district of the Indian state of West Bengal. Pandua is now almost synonymously known as Adina, a small town located about 18 km North of Malda Town.The city was probably founded by...
,
West BengalWest Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
; Makhdoom Ashraf Jahangir Simnani, Kachaocha, Uttar Pradesh; Faqruddin Faqr Dehlvi,
MehrauliMehrauli is a neighbourhood in the South West district of Delhi in India. It represents a constituency in the legislative assembly of Delhi. The area is located close to Gurgaon.-History:...
,
New DelhiNew Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
; Shah Niyaz Ahmad Barelvi ,
BareillyBareilly is a prominent city in Bareilly district in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Standing on the Ramganga river, it is the capital of the Bareilly division and the geographical region Rohilkhand...
,
Uttar PradeshUttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
; Shafruddin Ali Ahmed & Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, Chirag Dilli,
New DelhiNew Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
; Zainuddin Shirazi,
BurhanpurBurhanpur is an important city in Madhya Pradesh state, India. It is the administrative seat of Burhanpur District. It is situated on the north bank of the Tapti River, southwest of Bhopal and northeast of Mumbai...
,
Madhya PradeshMadhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
; Muhiuddin Yousuf Yahya Madani Chishti,
MedinaMedina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
; Kaleemullah Dehlvi Chishti,
DelhiDelhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
; Nizamuddin Aurangabadi; Nizamuddin Hussain, and Meerza Agha Mohammad; Muhammad Sulman Taunswi,
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, Mohammad Meera Hussaini, Hesamuddin Mankpuri.
Famous Branches
Nizamuddin Auliya was an unparalleled sufi of his time amongst all the existing sufi orders of that time. Many of his contemporaries were doubtless very powerful spiritual leaders, but he was the most famous of all. In his career of approximately 70 years as a sufi he saw the reign of seven rulers of the Delhi sultanate. The kings were very loyal to him and respectful of him. When he first arrived as the Qutb of Delhi he settled down at a lonely place on the outskirts of Delhi, Ghyaspur. But he became so famous that Ghyaspur became the main hub of Delhi and so densely populated that he wanted to leave that place but did not. He was buried in the campus of his khanqah. Ghyaspur is now a central locality of
New DelhiNew Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
, and is known after his name Nizamuddin. The area is so vast that it is divided into four parts:
Nizamuddin DargahNizamuddin Dargah is the dargah of one of the world's most famous Sufi saints, Nizamuddin Auliya. Situated in the Nizamuddin West area of Delhi, the dargah is visited by thousands of Muslims every week, and sees a fair share of Hindus, Christians and people from other religions...
(where his shrine is situated), Nizamuddin East, Nizamuddin West and Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station.
The branches
The Chisti order branched out with Nizamuddin Auliya to form the Chisti Nizami order. Another branch which started with another disciple of Baba Farid was the Chisti Sabiri branch. People started adding Nizami gracefully after their name. He spiritually made many great sufis amongst his students, descendants and the sufis of the Nizami order.
The other branches are as follows:
Naseeria
His disciple Nasiruddin Muhammad Chirag-e-Dehli started the Nizamia Naseeria branch.
Hussainia
The Hussaini branch is named for
Muhammad Hussaini Gisudaraz BandanawazSyed Muhammad Hussaini, commonly known as Hazrat Khwaja Banda Nawaz Gaisu Daraz , was a famous Sufi saint from India of the Chishti Order, who advocated understanding, tolerance and harmony among various religious groups.Gaisu Daraz was a murid of the noted Sufi saint of Delhi, Hazrat Nasiruddin...
. He was the most famous and loved disciple of Nasiruddin Muhammad Chirag-e-Dehli. The khanqah he established in Gulbarga, Karnataka is still in existence. He is the most famous sufi of South India.
Niyazia
Shah Niyaz Ahmad Barelvi, in the 19th century started the Niyazia branch. He was a great Sufi of
South AsiaSouth Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
.
Serajia
The Nizamia Serajia branch was started by Serajuddin Aqi Seraj. This branch is also known as Chistia Serajia.
Ashrafia
The Chistia Ashrafia branch was started by
Ashraf Jahangir SemnaniHazrat Khawaja Syed Makhdoom Ashraf Jahangir Semnani was a Sufi Saint of both the Chishti and Qadiri Orders of Sufism....
, the most famous sufi saint of
Uttar PradeshUttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
. He established a khanqah, still in existence at Kachaucha, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Faridia
The Chistia Serajia Faridia order was started by Fariduddin Tavaelabukhsh, a descendant of Nizamuddin Auliya and a sufi of the Serajia branch of the Chisti order. This branch is also known as Nizamia Serajia Faridia.
King's disrespect leads to his own doom
One of the kings of the
Delhi sultanateThe Delhi Sultanate is a term used to cover five short-lived, Delhi based kingdoms or sultanates, of Turkic origin in medieval India. The sultanates ruled from Delhi between 1206 and 1526, when the last was replaced by the Mughal dynasty...
during Nizamuddin Auliya lifetime was
Qutb-ud-din Mubarak ShahQutb-ud-din Mubarak Shah Khilji was the third and last ruler of the Khilji dynasty in Sultanate of Delhi, India. Qutb-ud-din Khilji was the son and successor of Alauddin Khilji....
, the last ruler of the
Khilji dynastyThe Khilji Sultanate was a dynasty of Turko-Afghan Khalaj origin who ruled large parts of South Asia from 1290 - 1320. They were the second dynasty to rule the Delhi Sultanate of India...
. Legend has it that disrespect of Nizamuddin Auliya caused the king's death. Qutb-ud-din Mubarak Shah used to assemble all the leading figures and famous personalities of Delhi in his court every weekend. Once a courtier complained to him that Nizamuudin Auliya never came to the court. The King declared, "Order him in my name to come to my weekend gathering, else he will be hanged." When Nizamuddin Auliya's disciple, Amir Khusrau, related this to his master, he ignored the message, and did not even answer. As the weekend approached, his disciples became concerned for his life. On the day before the weekend, Nizamuddin Auliya went to the grave of his mother and came back looking unperturbed, telling his disciples to go home and sleep as usual. The next morning, everyone was very tense and worried, but Nizamuddin Auliya remained unperturbed. Shortly, news came that there had been a rebellion in the palace, and the king had been brutally killed.
Titles given to Nizamuddin Aulia
- Mehboob-e-elahi (Beloved of God)
- Sultan-ul-mashaiq
- Dastageer-e-dojahan
- Jag ujyare
- Qutb-e-dehli
Urs
The Urs (death anniversary) of Nizamuddin Auliya is celebrated at the Nizamuddin Dargah on the 17th of Rabi II (Rabi-ul-Aaqir), and that of Amir Khusro on the 18th of Shawwal.
In popular culture
Arziyan, a
qawwaliQawwali is a form of Sufi devotional music popular in South Asia, particularly in the Punjab and Sindh regions of Pakistan, Hyderabad, Delhi, and other parts of northern India...
in the film
Delhi 6 (2009) composed by
A. R. RahmanAllah Rakha Rahman is an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and philanthropist. Described as the world's most prominent and prolific film composer by Time, his works are notable for integrating eastern classical music with electronic music sounds, world music genres and...
is dedicated to Nizamuddin Auliya.
Further reading
- The Life and Times of Shaikh Nizam-u'd-din Auliya, by Khaliq Ahmad Nizami; Idarah-i Adabyat-i Delli, 1991.
- Nizam Ad-Din Awliya: Morals for the Heart, by Bruce B. Lawrence; 1991, Paulist Press. ISBN 080913280X.
- Khwajah Nizamuddin Auliya, by Abdurrahman Mumin; Qazi Publishers and Distributors, 1998, ISBN 8185362599.
- Sheikh Nizamuddin Auliya, by Khaliq Ahmad Nizami; National Book Trust, 2004, ISBN 8123741480.
- The Dargah of Nizamuddin Auliya, by Laxmi Dhaul; Pallee, Anoop Kamath, Rupa & Co., 2006. ISBN 8129109387.
- Fawa'id al-Fu'ad : Spiritual and Literary Discourses of Shaikh Nizamuddin Awliya. Originally Compiled by Amir Hasan 'Ala' Sijzi Dehlawi. English translation with introduction and historical annotation by Ziya-ul-Hasan Faruqi. New Delhi, D.K. Printworld, 1996, 495 p., $50. ISBN 81-246-0042-2.
See also
- Ali Hujwiri
- Amir Khusrau
- Ata Hussain Fani Chishti
Hazrat Ata Hussain Fani , also known as Ata Hussain Gayavi or Haji Ata Hussain Chishti Monami Abulolai, was a famous Sufi saint of the chisti order in South Asia. He was the first Sufi to go in the complete non-Muslim locality of Gaya and spread Islam...
- Fariduddin Ganjshakar
- Khwaja Bande Nawaz
Syed Muhammad Hussaini, commonly known as Hazrat Khwaja Banda Nawaz Gaisu Daraz , was a famous Sufi saint from India of the Chishti Order, who advocated understanding, tolerance and harmony among various religious groups.Gaisu Daraz was a murid of the noted Sufi saint of Delhi, Hazrat Nasiruddin...
- Moinuddin Chishti
Sultan-ul-Hind, Moinuddin Chishti was born in 1141 and died in 1230 CE. Also known as Gharīb Nawāz "Benefactor of the Poor" , he is the most famous Sufi saint of the Chishti Order of the Indian Subcontinent. He introduced and established the order in South Asia...
- Nasiruddin Chiragh Dehlavi
- Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki
Qutub ul Aqtab Hazrat Khwaja Syed Muhammad Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki was a renowned Muslim Sufi mystic, saint and scholar of the Chishti Order from Delhi, India. He was the disciple and the spiritual successor of Moinuddin Chishti as head of the Chishti order. Before him the Chishti order in India...
- Shah Niyaz Ahmad Barelvi
- Sufi Saints of Aurangabad
Aurangabad furnished a genial soil for the spread of the religion of the Prophet, and was the centre of great missionary movements in the 8th century of the Hijri. The district is home to the earliest of Sufi saints of the Deccan. The town of Khuldabad contains the shrines of the most famous saints...
- Zar Zari Zar Baksh
Zar Zari Zar Baksh, or Shah Muntajab ud din, was one of the earliest Sufis of the Chishti Order, the most dominant of all the Sufi orders in the Indian subcontinent. He was sent to the Deccan by Nizamuddin Auliya of Dehli in the beginning of the 8th century Hijri...
External links