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Chishti Order

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Chishti Order
AbbreviationChishti
Formationc. 930 AD
TypeSufi order
HeadquartersHerat, Afghanistan
Key people
Abu Ishaq Shami – founder

The Chishtī Order (Persian: چشتی chishtī) is a tariqa, an order or school within the mystic Sufi tradition of Sunni Islam. The Chishti Order is known for its emphasis on love, tolerance, and openness.[1] It began with Abu Ishaq Shami in Chisht, a small town near Herat, Afghanistan about 930 AD.

Tomb of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, renowned saint of Chishti order
Tomb of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, renowned saint of Chishti order

The Chishti Order is primarily followed in Afghanistan and the Indian subcontinent. It was the first of the four main Sufi orders (Chishti, Qadiri, Suhrawardi and Naqshbandi) to be established in this region. Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti introduced the Chishti Order in Ajmer (Rajasthan, India) sometime in the middle of the 12th century. He was eighth in the line of succession from the founder of the Chishti Order, Abu Ishaq Shami. There are now several branches of the order, which has been the most prominent South Asian Sufi brotherhood since the 12th century.[2]

In the last century, the order has spread outside Afghanistan and the Indian subcontinent. Chishti teachers have established centers in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, Eastern and Southern Africa.

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Persian language

Persian language

Persian, also known by its endonym Farsi, is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and used officially within Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan in three mutually intelligible standard varieties, namely Iranian Persian, Dari Persian and Tajiki Persian. It is also spoken natively in the Tajik variety by a significant population within Uzbekistan, as well as within other regions with a Persianate history in the cultural sphere of Greater Iran. It is written officially within Iran and Afghanistan in the Persian alphabet, a derivation of the Arabic script, and within Tajikistan in the Tajik alphabet, a derivation of the Cyrillic script.

Sufism

Sufism

Sufism, also known as Tasawwuf, is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ritualism, asceticism and esotericism. It has been variously defined as "Islamic mysticism", "the mystical expression of Islamic faith", "the inward dimension of Islam", "the phenomenon of mysticism within Islam", the "main manifestation and the most important and central crystallization" of mystical practice in Islam, and "the interiorization and intensification of Islamic faith and practice".

Sunni Islam

Sunni Islam

Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word Sunnah, referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagreement over the succession to Muhammad and subsequently acquired broader political significance, as well as theological and juridical dimensions. According to Sunni traditions, Muhammad left no successor and the participants of the Saqifah event appointed Abu Bakr as the next-in-line. This contrasts with the Shia view, which holds that Muhammad appointed his son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor.

Abu Ishaq Shami

Abu Ishaq Shami

Abu Ishaq Shami was a Muslim scholar who is often regarded as the founder of the Sufi Chishti Order. He was the first in the Chishti lineage (silsila) to live in Chisht and so to adopt the name "Chishti", so that, if the Chishti order itself dates back to him, it is one of the oldest recorded Sufi orders. His original name, Shami, implies he came from Syria (ash-Sham). He died in Damascus and lies buried on Mount Qasiyun, where Ibn Arabi was later buried.

Chishti Sharif District

Chishti Sharif District

Chishti Sharif District, also known as Chisht District, is the most easterly district in Herat Province, Afghanistan, situated along the Hari River and one of its northern tributaries. It borders with Obe District to the west, Badghis Province to the north and Ghor Province to the east and south. The population was estimated at 23,100 in 2012. The district administrative center is the village of Chishti Sharif.

Herat

Herat

Herāt is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains in the fertile valley of the Hari River in the western part of the country. An ancient civilization on the Silk Road between the Middle East, Central and South Asia, it serves as a regional hub in the country's west.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordered by Pakistan to the east and south, Iran to the west, Turkmenistan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, Tajikistan to the northeast, and China to the northeast and east. Occupying 652,864 square kilometres (252,072 sq mi) of land, the country is predominantly mountainous with plains in the north and the southwest, which are separated by the Hindu Kush mountain range. Kabul is the country's largest city and serves as its capital. As of 2021, Afghanistan's population is 40.2 million, composed of ethnic Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Qizilbash, Aimak, Pashayi, Baloch, Pamiris, Nuristanis, and others.

Indian subcontinent

Indian subcontinent

The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia, situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The terms "Indian subcontinent" and "South Asia" are often used interchangeably to denote the region, although the geopolitical term of South Asia frequently includes Afghanistan, which may otherwise be classified as Central Asian.

Suhrawardiyya

Suhrawardiyya

The Suhrawardiyya is a Sufi order founded by Abu al-Najib Suhrawardi. Lacking a centralised structure, it eventually divided into various branches. The order was especially prominent in India. The ideology of the Suhrawardiyya was inspired by Junayd of Baghdad a Persian scholar and mystic from Baghdad.

Naqshbandi

Naqshbandi

The Naqshbandi is a major Sunni order of Sufism. Its name is derived from Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari. Naqshbandi masters trace their lineage to the Islamic prophet Muhammad through Abu Bakr, the first Caliph of Sunni Islam and Ali, the fourth Caliph of Sunni Islam. It is because of this dual lineage through Ali and Abu Bakr through the 6th Imam Jafar al Sadiq that the order is also known as the "convergence of the two oceans" or "Sufi Order of Jafar al Sadiq".

Ajmer

Ajmer

Ajmer pronounced [ədʒmeːr] (listen) is one of the major and oldest cities in the Indian state of Rajasthan and the centre of the eponymous Ajmer District. It is located at the centre of Rajasthan. It is also known as heart of Rajasthan. The city was established as "Ajayameru" by a Chahamana ruler, either Ajayaraja I or Ajayaraja II, and served as their capital until the 12th century CE.

Rajasthan

Rajasthan

Rajasthan is a state in northern India. It covers 342,239 square kilometres (132,139 sq mi) or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern side, where it comprises most of the wide and inhospitable Thar Desert and shares a border with the Pakistani provinces of Punjab to the northwest and Sindh to the west, along the Sutlej-Indus River valley. It is bordered by five other Indian states: Punjab to the north; Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to the northeast; Madhya Pradesh to the southeast; and Gujarat to the southwest. Its geographical location is 23.3 to 30.12 North latitude and 69.30 to 78.17 East longitude, with the Tropic of Cancer passing through its southernmost tip.

Guiding principles

The Chishti shaykhs have stressed the importance of keeping a distance from worldly power.[3] A ruler could be a patron or a disciple, but he or she was always to be treated as just another devotee. A Chishti teacher should not attend the court or be involved in matters of state, as this will corrupt the soul with worldly matters. In his last discourse to his disciples, Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti said:

Never seek any help, charity, or favors from anybody except God. Never go to the courts of kings, but never refuse to bless and help the needy and the poor, the widow, and the orphan, if they come to your door.[4]

Chishti practice is also notable for Sama: evoking the divine presence by listening to and losing oneself in a form of music and poetry, usually Qawwali.[5] The Chishti, and some other Sufi orders, believe that Sama can help devotees forget self in the love of Allah. However, the order also insists that followers observe the full range of Muslim obligations; it does not dismiss them as mere legalism, as some strands of Sufism have done.[5]

However some Qadiris point out that the Chishti Order and Moinuddin Chishti never permitted musical instruments, and cite a Chishti, Muhammad Ibn Mubarak Kirmani, the Mureed of Khwaja Fareed al-Deen Ganj-e-Shakar, who wrote in his Siyar al-Awliya that Nizamuddin Auliya said the following:[6]

"Sima' (to listen to Qawwali) is permissible if a few conditions are met. The singer must be an adult and not a child or a female. The listener must only listen to everything in the remembrance of Allah. The words that are sung must be free from obscenity and indecency and they must not be void. Musical instruments must not be present in the gathering. If all these conditions are met, Sima' is permissible".

“...Someone complained to the Sultan of the Mashaa’ikh that some of the dervishes danced in a gathering where there were musical instruments. He said, they did not do good as something impermissible cannot be condoned".

— Siyar al-Awliya[6][7]

Furthermore, Nizamuddin Auliya said:[6]

Musical instruments are Haram.

— Fawa'id al-Fu'aad[6][8]

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Qawwali

Qawwali

Qawwali is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing, originating in South Asia.

Nizamuddin Dargah

Nizamuddin Dargah

Nizamuddin Dargah is the dargah (mausoleum) of the Sufi saint Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya. Situated in the Nizamuddin West area of Delhi, the dargah is visited by thousands of pilgrims every week. The site is also known for its evening qawwali devotional music sessions. The descendants of Nizamuddin Auliya look after the whole management of dargah Sharif.

Sama (Sufism)

Sama (Sufism)

Sama is a Sufi ceremony performed as part of the meditation and prayer practice dhikr. Sama means "listening", while dhikr means "remembrance". These performances often include singing, playing instruments, dancing, recitation of poetry and prayers, wearing symbolic attire, and other rituals. Sama is a particularly popular form of worship in Sufism.

Allah

Allah

Allah is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from al-ilāh, which means "the god", and is linguistically related to the Aramaic words Elah and Syriac ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ (ʼAlāhā) and the Hebrew word El (Elohim) for God.

Qadiriyya

Qadiriyya

The Qadiriyya are members of the Sunni Qadiri tariqa. The tariqa got its name from Abdul Qadir Gilani, who was a Hanbali scholar from Gilan, Iran. The order relies strongly upon adherence to the fundamentals of Sunni Islamic law.

Nizamuddin Auliya

Nizamuddin Auliya

Muhammad Nizamuddin Auliya, also known as Hazrat Nizamuddin, and Mahbub-e-Ilahi was an Indian Sunni Muslim scholar, Sufi saint of the Chishti Order, and is one of the most famous Sufis from the Indian Subcontinent. His predecessors were Fariduddin Ganjshakar, Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki, and Moinuddin Chishti, who were the masters of the Chishti spiritual chain or silsila in the Indian subcontinent.

Practices

The Chishtis follow five basic devotional practices (dhikr).[9]

  1. Reciting the names of Allāh loudly, sitting in the prescribed posture at prescribed times (dhikr-i jali)
  2. Reciting the names of Allāh silently (dhikr-i khafī)
  3. Regulating the breath (pās-i anfās)
  4. Absorption in mystic contemplation (murā-ḳāba)
  5. Forty days or more days of spiritual confinement in a lonely corner or cell for prayer and contemplation (čilla)
Old man busy in zikr
Old man busy in zikr

Literature

Early Chishti shaykhs adopted concepts and doctrines outlined in two influential Sufi texts: the ʿAwārif al-Maʿārif of Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī and the Kashf al-Maḥjūb of Ali Hujwīrī. These texts are still read and respected today. Chishtis also read collections of the sayings, speeches, poems, and letters of the shaykhs. These collections, called malfūẓāt, were prepared by the shaykh's disciples.[10]

Spiritual lineage

Sufi orders trace their origins ultimately to the Islamic prophet Muhammad, who is believed to have instructed his successor in mystical teachings and practices in addition to the Qur'an or hidden within the Qur'an. Opinions differ as to this successor. Almost all Sufi orders trace their origins to 'Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Muhammad's cousin.

The traditional silsila (spiritual lineage) of the Chishti order is as follows:[11]

  1. Muḥammad
  2. Ali ibn Abu Talib
  3. Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (d. 728, an early Persian Muslim theologian)
  4. 'Abdul Wāḥid ibn Zaid Abul Faḍl (d. 793, an early Sufi saint)
  5. Fuḍayl ibn 'Iyāḍ ibn Mas'ūd ibn Bishr al-Tamīmī
  6. Ibrāhīm ibn Adham (a legendary early Sufi ascetic)
  7. Khwaja Sadid ad-Din Huzaifa al-Marashi Basra Iraq
  8. Abu Hubayra al-Basri Basra Iraq
  9. Khwaja Mumshad Uluw Al Dīnawarī
  10. Abu Ishaq Shamī (d. 940, founder of the Chishti order proper)
  11. Abu Aḥmad Abdal Chishti
  12. Abu Muḥammad Chishti
  13. Abu Yusuf Nasar-ud-Din Chishtī
  14. Qutab-ud-Din Maudood Chishtī
  15. Haji Sharif Zindani (d. 1215)
  16. Usman Harooni (d. 1220)
  17. Mu'īnuddīn Chishtī (Moinuddin Chishti) (1141–1230 or 1142–1236)
  18. Qutab-ud-Din Bakhtyar Kaki (1173–1228)
  19. Farīduddīn Mas'ūd ("Baba Farid", 1173 or 1175–1266)

After Farīduddīn Mas'ūd, the Chishti order divided into two branches:

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Muhammad

Muhammad

Muhammad was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monotheistic teachings of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. He is believed to be the Seal of the Prophets within Islam. Muhammad united Arabia into a single Muslim polity, with the Quran as well as his teachings and practices forming the basis of Islamic religious belief.

Ali

Ali

ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib was the last Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, the successor state to the Islamic prophet Muhammad's political dominions. He is considered by Shia Muslims to be the first Imam, the rightful religious and political successor to Muhammad. The issue of succession caused a major rift between Muslims and divided them into two major branches: Shia following an appointed hereditary leadership among Ali's descendants, and Sunni following political dynasties. Ali's assassination in the Grand Mosque of Kufa by a Kharijite coincided with the rise of the Umayyad Caliphate. The Imam Ali Shrine and the city of Najaf were built around Ali's tomb and it is visited yearly by millions of devotees.

Silsila

Silsila

Silsila is an Arabic word meaning chain, link, connection often used in various senses of lineage. In particular, it may be translated as "spiritual genealogy" where one Sufi Master transfers his khilafat to his khalîfa, or spiritual descendant. In Urdu, silsila means saga.

Hasan al-Basri

Hasan al-Basri

Abu Sa'id ibn Abi al-Hasan Yasar al-Basri, often referred to as Hasan of Basra for short, or as Hasan al-Basri, was an early Muslim preacher, ascetic, theologian, exegete, scholar, judge, and mystic. Born in Medina in 642, Hasan belonged to the second generation of Muslims, all of whom would subsequently be referred to as the tābiʿūn in Sunni Islamic piety. In fact, Hasan rose to become one of "the most celebrated" of the tābiʿūn, enjoying an "acclaimed scholarly career and an even more remarkable posthumous legacy in Islamic scholarship."

Khwaja Sadid ad-Din Huzaifa al-Marashi

Khwaja Sadid ad-Din Huzaifa al-Marashi

Khwaja Sadid ad-Din Huzaifa al-Marashi was a famous Sufi of the Chishti Order born in Marash in present-day Turkey during the 8th century. He was a disciple of Ibrāhīm bin Adham. He died on 14th Shawal 207 Hijri, which is 823 AD. It is said that imam Al-Shafi'i was also among his Khulafa.

Abu Hubayra al-Basri

Abu Hubayra al-Basri

Abu Hubayra Amin ad deen al-Basri was great Sufi of Chishti Order from Basra Iraq. He was disciple of Khwaja Sadid ad-Din Huzaifa al-Marashi and teacher of Khwaja Mumshad Uluw Al Dīnawarī Abu Hubayra al-Basri is important link of chain of Chishti Order. At the age of seven he memorized Quran by heart and became mureed of Khwaja Sadid ad-Din Huzaifa al-Marashi at the age of thirty.

Abu Aḥmad Abdal Chishti

Abu Aḥmad Abdal Chishti

Abu Aḥmad Abdal Chishti was a Sufi of the Chishti Order in the 10th century CE and a disciple of Abu Ishaq Shami and the master of Abu Muḥammad Chishti. He died in 966 CE. He was Syed and his father was ruler of Fargana. He died in Chisht in Afghanistan and buried there.

Abu Muḥammad Chishti

Abu Muḥammad Chishti

Abu Muḥammad Chishti was famous Sufi of Chishti Order.

Maudood Chishti

Maudood Chishti

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. He memorized the Qur'an by age 7 and completed his education when he was 16. His work includes two books, Minhaaj ul Arifeen and Khulaasat ul Shariah. He died in the month of Rajab at the age of 97 in 533 AH. He was buried at Chisht like many of the early Chishtiyya.

Shareef Zandani

Shareef Zandani

Shareef Zandani, also known as Nooruddin, was a Sufi saint in India. He was a successor to Maudood Chishti, 13th link in the Sufi silsila of the Chishti Order, and the peer of Usman Harooni.

Usman Harooni

Usman Harooni

Usman Harooni was an early modern wali or Sufi saint of Islam in India, a successor to Shareef Zandani, sixteenth link in the Silsila of the Chishti order, and master of Moinuddin Chishti. Usman Harooni was born in Haroon, Iran. His year of birth is variously given as 1096, 1116 and 1131 AD. He is also known by the nicknames Abu Noor and Abu Mansur.

History

Mughal princess Jahan Ara's tomb (left), Nizamuddin Auliya's tomb (right) and Jama'at Khana Masjid (background), at Nizamuddin Dargah complex, in Nizamuddin West, Delhi
Mughal princess Jahan Ara's tomb (left), Nizamuddin Auliya's tomb (right) and Jama'at Khana Masjid (background), at Nizamuddin Dargah complex, in Nizamuddin West, Delhi

The Encyclopedia of Islam divides Chishti history into four periods:

  • Era of the great shaykhs (circa 597/1200 to 757/1356)
  • Era of the provincial khānaḳāhs (8th/14th & 9th/15th centuries)
  • Rise of the Ṣābiriyya branch (9th/15th century onwards)
  • Revival of the Niẓāmiyya branch (12th/18th century onwards[12])

The order was founded by Abu Ishaq Shami ("the Syrian") who taught Sufism in the town of Chisht, some 95 miles east of Herat in present-day western Afghanistan.[13] Before returning to Syria, where he is now buried next to Ibn Arabi at Jabal Qasioun,[14] Shami initiated, trained and deputized the son of the local emir, Abu Ahmad Abdal.[15] Under the leadership of Abu Ahmad's descendants, the Chishtiya, as they are also known, flourished as a regional mystical order.[14]

The founder of the Chishti Order in South Asia was Moinuddin Chishti. He was born in the province of Silistan in eastern Persia around 536 AH (1141 CE) into a sayyid family claiming descent from Muhammad.[16] When he was just nine, he memorized the Qur'an, thus becoming a hafiz. His father died when he was a teenager; Moinuddin inherited the family grinding mill and orchard. He sold everything and gave the proceeds to the poor. He traveled to Balkh and Samarkand, where he studied the Qur'an, hadith, and fiqh.[17] He looked for something beyond scholarship and law and studied under the Chishti shaykh Usman Harooni (Harvani). He moved to Lahore and then to Ajmer, where he died. His tomb, in Ajmer, is the Dargah Sharif, a popular shrine and pilgrimage site.

Moinuddin was followed by Qutab-ud-Din Bakhtyar Kaki and Farīduddīn Mas'ūd 'Baba Farid'. After Fariduddin, the Chishti Order of South Asia split into two branches. Each branch was named after one of Fariduddin's successors.

  1. Nizamuddin Auliya – the Chishti Nizami branch
  2. Alauddin Sabir Kaliyari – the Chishti-Sabiri branch

It was after Nizamuddin Auliya that the Chishti Sufism chain spread throughout the Indian Peninsula. Two prominent lines of transmission arose from Nizamuddin Auliya, one from his disciple Nasiruddin Chiragh Dehlavi and the other from another disciple, Akhi Siraj Aainae Hind, who migrated to West Bengal from Delhi on Nizamuddin Auliya's order. Siraj Aanae Hind was followed by his notable disciple Alaul Haq Pandavi settled in Pandava, West Bengal itself. From this chain of transmission another prominent sub-branch of Chishti way emerged known as Ashrafia Silsila after the illustrious saint Ashraf Jahangir Semnani, who was the disciple of Alaul Haq Pandavi in the thirteen century A.D. Later, yet other traditions branched from the Chishti lineage; in many cases they merged with other popular Sufi orders in South Asia.

As a result of this merging of the Chishti order with other branches, most Sufi masters now initiate their disciples in all the four major orders of South Asia: Chishti, Suhrawadi, Qadri, and Naqshbandi. They do however teach devotional practices typical of the order with which they are primarily associated.

The Chishti order has also absorbed influences and merged at times with various antinomian faqiri Sufi groups, especially the Qalandar. Some Chishtis both past and present have lived as renunciants or as wandering dervish.[18]

The first Chishti master in the West was Ḥazrat Pīr-o-Murshid 'Ināyat Khān, who came to the West in 1910 and established centers in Europe and the U.S. His lineage-successors were Pīr Vilāyat 'Ināyat Khān (d. 2004) and Pīr Zīa 'Ināyat-Khān, the current head of the 'Ināyatīyya. This tariqat is unusual in that it accepts seekers of all faiths without asking conversion to formal Islam, a controversial practice but which is customary in the Nizāmi branch going back to Nizāmuddīn Auliya and later made written policy by Shah Kalīmullāh Jahanabadi in the early 1700s CE.

In 1937 the Sufi imam Al-Hajj Wali Akram founded the First Cleveland Mosque, made his Sufi affiliation public and during the 1950s started to introduce new members to the Chishti, making the mosque the first public Sufi center of the United States.[19][20] In more recent times, a more contemporary expression of traditional Chishti Sufi practices can be found in the establishment of the Ishq-Nuri Tariqa[21] in the 1960s, as a branch of the Chishti-Nizami silsila.[22]

In addition, a number of mixed-Sufi type groups or movements in Islam, have also been influenced by the Chishti Order proper.[23] The best known and most widespread example is of the Jamaat Ahle Sunnat, a Sunni Muslim sect with a huge international following, which is in essence not a proper Sufi organization, though adopting many Sufi customs and traditions.[24]

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Jahanara Begum

Jahanara Begum

Jahanara Begum was a Mughal princess and later the Padshah Begum of the Mughal Empire from 1631 to 1658 and again from 1668 until her death. She was the second and the eldest surviving child of Emperor Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal.

Nizamuddin Auliya

Nizamuddin Auliya

Muhammad Nizamuddin Auliya, also known as Hazrat Nizamuddin, and Mahbub-e-Ilahi was an Indian Sunni Muslim scholar, Sufi saint of the Chishti Order, and is one of the most famous Sufis from the Indian Subcontinent. His predecessors were Fariduddin Ganjshakar, Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki, and Moinuddin Chishti, who were the masters of the Chishti spiritual chain or silsila in the Indian subcontinent.

Jama'at Khana

Jama'at Khana

Jamatkhana is an amalgamation derived from the Arabic word jama‘a (gathering) and the Persian word khana. It is a term used by some Muslim communities around the world, particularly sufi ones, to a place of gathering. Among some communities of Muslims, the term is often used interchangeably with the Arabic word musallah. The Nizārī Ismā'īlī community uses the term Jama'at Khana to denote their places of worship.

Nizamuddin Dargah

Nizamuddin Dargah

Nizamuddin Dargah is the dargah (mausoleum) of the Sufi saint Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya. Situated in the Nizamuddin West area of Delhi, the dargah is visited by thousands of pilgrims every week. The site is also known for its evening qawwali devotional music sessions. The descendants of Nizamuddin Auliya look after the whole management of dargah Sharif.

Delhi

Delhi

Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders with the state of Uttar Pradesh in the east and with the state of Haryana in the remaining directions. The NCT covers an area of 1,484 square kilometres (573 sq mi). According to the 2011 census, Delhi's city proper population was over 11 million, while the NCT's population was about 16.8 million. Delhi's urban agglomeration, which includes the satellite cities Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Noida in an area known as the National Capital Region (NCR), has an estimated population of over 28 million, making it the largest metropolitan area in India and the second-largest in the world.

Abu Ishaq Shami

Abu Ishaq Shami

Abu Ishaq Shami was a Muslim scholar who is often regarded as the founder of the Sufi Chishti Order. He was the first in the Chishti lineage (silsila) to live in Chisht and so to adopt the name "Chishti", so that, if the Chishti order itself dates back to him, it is one of the oldest recorded Sufi orders. His original name, Shami, implies he came from Syria (ash-Sham). He died in Damascus and lies buried on Mount Qasiyun, where Ibn Arabi was later buried.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordered by Pakistan to the east and south, Iran to the west, Turkmenistan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, Tajikistan to the northeast, and China to the northeast and east. Occupying 652,864 square kilometres (252,072 sq mi) of land, the country is predominantly mountainous with plains in the north and the southwest, which are separated by the Hindu Kush mountain range. Kabul is the country's largest city and serves as its capital. As of 2021, Afghanistan's population is 40.2 million, composed of ethnic Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Qizilbash, Aimak, Pashayi, Baloch, Pamiris, Nuristanis, and others.

Ibn Arabi

Ibn Arabi

Ibn ʿArabī, nicknamed al-Qushayrī and Sulṭān al-ʿĀrifīn, was an Arab Andalusian Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher, extremely influential within Islamic thought. Out of the 850 works attributed to him, some 700 are authentic while over 400 are still extant. His cosmological teachings became the dominant worldview in many parts of the Muslim world.

Hafiz (Quran)

Hafiz (Quran)

Hafiz, literally meaning "memorizer", depending on the context, is a term used by Muslims for someone who has completely memorized the Quran. Hafiza is the female equivalent.

Balkh

Balkh

Balkh is a town in the Balkh Province of Afghanistan, about 20 km (12 mi) northwest of the provincial capital, Mazar-e Sharif, and some 74 km (46 mi) south of the Amu Darya river and the Uzbekistan border. Its population was recently estimated to be 138,594.

Hadith

Hadith

Ḥadīth or Athar refers to what most Muslims and the mainstream schools of Islamic thought, believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval of the Islamic prophet Muhammad as transmitted through chains of narrators. In other words, the ḥadīth are transmitted reports attributed to what Muhammad said and did.

Fiqh

Fiqh

Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is often described as the human understanding and practices of the sharia, that is human understanding of the divine Islamic law as revealed in the Quran and the Sunnah. Fiqh expands and develops Shariah through interpretation (ijtihad) of the Quran and Sunnah by Islamic jurists (ulama) and is implemented by the rulings (fatwa) of jurists on questions presented to them. Thus, whereas sharia is considered immutable and infallible by Muslims, fiqh is considered fallible and changeable. Fiqh deals with the observance of rituals, morals and social legislation in Islam as well as economic and political system. In the modern era, there are four prominent schools (madh'hab) of fiqh within Sunni practice, plus two within Shi'a practice. A person trained in fiqh is known as a faqīh.

Indo-Islamic rulers

From the 14th century onwards (during the rule of the Tughluqs), the Chishti Order came to be associated with political prosperity for the Indian subcontinent's Muslim kingdoms. The Delhi Sultanate, Bahmani Sultanate, Bengal Sultanate, and various provincial dynasties associated themselves with Shaikhs of the Chishti Order for good fortune. Shrines of prominent Shaikhs were patronised by ruling dynasties, who made pilgrimages to these sites. Often the founding member of a kingdom paid respects to a Chishti Shaikh as a way of legitimising their new state, and this Shaikh became closely associated with the whole dynasty. For example, fourteen successive Bengal Sultans considered Shaikh 'Ala Al-Haq to be their spiritual master.[25]

Several rulers of the Mughal dynasty of South Asia were Chishti devotees, and they associated with the Order in a similar fashion to the Mughals' predecessors. The emperor Akbar was perhaps the most fervent of them. It is said to be by the blessing of Shaikh Salim Chishti that Akbar's first surviving child, the future Jahangir, was born. The child was named Salim after the sheikh and was affectionately addressed by Akbar as Sheikhu Baba.

Akbar also credited the Chishti Shaikhs with his victory at the Siege of Chittorgarh.[25] Akbar had vowed to visit the Chishti dargah, the tomb of Moinuddin Chishti, at Ajmer if he were victorious. He fulfilled his vow by visiting the dargah with his musicians, who played in honor of the sheikh.

Shah Jahan's daughter, Jahanara Begum Sahib, was also a devout follower of the Chishti Order. Shah Jahan's son Aurangzeb patronised various Chishti shrines.

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Delhi Sultanate

Delhi Sultanate

The Delhi Sultanate, or the Sultanate of Delhi, was a Muslim empire based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent during the period of Medieval India, for 320 years (1206–1526). Following the invasion of South Asia by the Ghurid dynasty, five unrelated heterogeneous dynasties ruled over the Delhi Sultanate sequentially: the Mamluk dynasty (1206–1290), the Khalji dynasty (1290–1320), the Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1414), the Sayyid dynasty (1414–1451), and the Lodi dynasty (1451–1526). It covered large swaths of territory in modern-day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh as well as some parts of southern Nepal.

Bahmani Sultanate

Bahmani Sultanate

The Bahmani Sultanate was a Persianate Sunni Muslim empire of the Deccan in South India. It was the first independent Muslim kingdom of the Deccan, and was known for its perpetual wars with its rival Vijayanagara, which would outlast the Sultanate.

Bengal Sultanate

Bengal Sultanate

The Bengal Sultanate was a Sunni Muslim empire based in Bengal for much of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. It was the dominant power of the Ganges–Brahmaputra Delta, with a network of mint towns spread across the region. The Bengal Sultanate had a circle of vassal states, including Odisha in the southwest, Arakan in the southeast, and Tripura in the east. Its raids and conquests reached Nepal in the north, Assam in the east, and Jaunpur and Varanasi in the west. The Bengal Sultanate controlled large parts of the north, east and northeast South Asia during its five dynastic periods, reaching its peak under Hussain Shahi dynasty. It was reputed as a thriving trading nation and one of Asia's strongest states. Its decline began with an interregnum by the Suri Empire, followed by Mughal conquest and disintegration into petty kingdoms.

Alaul Haq

Alaul Haq

ʿAlā ul-Ḥaq wa ad-Dīn ʿUmar ibn As`ad al-Khālidī al-Bangālī, commonly known as Alaul Haq or reverentially by the sobriquet Ganj-e-Nābāt, was a 14th-century Islamic scholar of Bengal. Posted in Hazrat Pandua, he was the senior disciple and successor of Akhi Siraj, and a Bengal Sultanate government official.

Mughal Empire

Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. For some two hundred years, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus river basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to the highlands of present-day Assam and Bangladesh in the east, and the uplands of the Deccan Plateau in South India.

Akbar

Akbar

Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, popularly known as Akbar the Great, and also as Akbar I, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expand and consolidate Mughal domains in India.

Jahangir

Jahangir

Mirza Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim, known by his imperial name Jahangir, was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until his death in 1627. He was the third and only surviving son of Akbar and his chief empress, Mariam-uz-Zamani, born to them in the year 1569. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti.

Dargah

Dargah

A dargah is a shrine or tomb built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often a Sufi saint or dervish. Sufis often visit the shrine for ziyarat, a term associated with religious visitation and pilgrimages. Dargahs are often associated with Sufi eating and meeting rooms and hostels, called khanqah or hospices. They usually include a mosque, meeting rooms, Islamic religious schools (madrassas), residences for a teacher or caretaker, hospitals, and other buildings for community purposes.

Ajmer

Ajmer

Ajmer pronounced [ədʒmeːr] (listen) is one of the major and oldest cities in the Indian state of Rajasthan and the centre of the eponymous Ajmer District. It is located at the centre of Rajasthan. It is also known as heart of Rajasthan. The city was established as "Ajayameru" by a Chahamana ruler, either Ajayaraja I or Ajayaraja II, and served as their capital until the 12th century CE.

Shah Jahan

Shah Jahan

Mirza Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram, also known as Shah Jahan I, was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mughals reached the peak of their architectural achievements and cultural glory.

Aurangzeb

Aurangzeb

Muhi al-Din Muhammad, commonly known as Aurangzeb and by his regnal title Alamgir, was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling from July 1658 until his death in 1707. Under his emperorship, the Mughals reached their greatest extent with their territory spanning nearly the entirety of Indian subcontinent.

Jahanara Begum

Jahanara Begum

Jahanara Begum was a Mughal princess and later the Padshah Begum of the Mughal Empire from 1631 to 1658 and again from 1668 until her death. She was the second and the eldest surviving child of Emperor Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal.

Other notable Chishti shaykhs

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Maudood Chishti

Maudood Chishti

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. He memorized the Qur'an by age 7 and completed his education when he was 16. His work includes two books, Minhaaj ul Arifeen and Khulaasat ul Shariah. He died in the month of Rajab at the age of 97 in 533 AH. He was buried at Chisht like many of the early Chishtiyya.

Shareef Zandani

Shareef Zandani

Shareef Zandani, also known as Nooruddin, was a Sufi saint in India. He was a successor to Maudood Chishti, 13th link in the Sufi silsila of the Chishti Order, and the peer of Usman Harooni.

Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki

Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki

Quṭb al-Aqṭāb Khwājā Sayyid Muḥammad Bakhtiyār al-Ḥusaynī, Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī was a Sunni Muslim Sufi mystic, saint and scholar of the Chishti Order from Delhi, India. He was the disciple and the spiritual successor of Mu'in al-Din Chishti as head of the Chishti order, and the person to whom the Qutb Minar, Delhi is dedicated. Before him the Chishti order in India was confined to Ajmer and Nagaur. He played a major role in establishing the order securely in Delhi. His dargah located adjacent to Zafar Mahal in Mehrauli, and the oldest dargah in Delhi, is also the venue of his annual Urs festivities. The Urs was held in high regard by many rulers of Delhi like Qutb ud-Din Aibak, Iltutmish who built a nearby stepwell, Gandhak ki Baoli for him, Sher Shah Suri who built a grand gateway, Bahadur Shah I who built the Moti Masjid mosque nearby and Farrukhsiyar who added a marble screen and a mosque.

Fariduddin Ganjshakar

Fariduddin Ganjshakar

Farīd al-Dīn Masʿūd Ganj-i-Shakar was a 13th-century Punjabi Sunni Muslim preacher and mystic, who was one of the most revered and distinguished Muslim mystics of the medieval period. He is known reverentially as Bābā Farīd or Shaikh Farīd by Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs of the Punjab Region, or simply as Farīduddīn Ganjshakar.

Nasiruddin Chiragh Dehlavi

Nasiruddin Chiragh Dehlavi

Nasiruddin Mahmud Chirag-Dehlavi was a 14th-century mystic-poet and a Sufi saint of the Chishti Order. He was a disciple of Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya, and later his successor. He was the last important Sufi of the Chishti Order from Delhi.

Nur Qutb Alam

Nur Qutb Alam

Nūr Quṭb ʿĀlam was a 14th-century Bengali Islamic scholar, author and poet. Based in the erstwhile Bengali capital Hazrat Pandua, he was the son and successor of Alaul Haq, a senior scholar of the Bengal Sultanate. He is noted for his efforts in preserving the Muslim rule of Bengal against Raja Ganesha and pioneering the Dobhashi tradition of Bengali literature.

Ashraf Jahangir Semnani

Ashraf Jahangir Semnani

Sultan Makhdoom Ashraf Jahangir Semnani (Urdu: سلطان سید مخدوم اشرف جہانگیر سمنانی; was an Iranian Sufi saint from Semnan, Iran. He was the founder of the Ashrafi Sufi order. He is India's third most influential Sufi Saint after Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer and Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi.

Burhanuddin Gharib

Burhanuddin Gharib

Burhanuddin Gharib was an Indian Sufi of the Chishti Order.

Bande Nawaz

Bande Nawaz

Muhammad bin Yusuf Al-Hussaini, commonly known as Banda Nawaz Gaisu Daraz, was a Hanafi Maturidi scholar and Sufi saint from India of the Chishti Order.

Salim Chishti

Salim Chishti

Salim Chishti (1478–1572) was a Sufi saint of the Chishti Order during the Mughal Empire in India.

Ata Hussain Fani Chishti

Ata Hussain Fani Chishti

Ata Hussain Fani (1816–1893), also known as Ata Hussain Gayavi or Haji Ata Hussain Chishti Monami Abulolai, was a Sufi saint of the Chisti Order in South Asia. He was the first Sufi to go into the completely non-Muslim locality of Gaya and spread Islam. He was also a writer, poet, linguist, and orator. He died as the Ghaus, which is the highest degree of spirituality a Sufi could attain in his time.

Khwaja Ghulam Farid

Khwaja Ghulam Farid

Khwaja Ghulam Farid or Khwaja Fareed (1845–1901) was a 19th-century Sufi poet from Punjab. He was a member of the Chishti Nizami Sufi order.

Source: "Chishti Order", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 14th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chishti_Order.

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See also
Notes
  1. ^ Ernst, Carl W. and Lawrence, Bruce B. (2002) Sufi Martyrs of Love: The Chishti Order in South Asia and Beyond Palgrave Macmillan, New Yorks 1234567 4039-6026-7
  2. ^ Rozehnal, Robert. Islamic Sufism Unbound: Politics and Piety in Twenty-First Century Pakistan. Palgrave MacMillan, 2007. Print.
  3. ^ Sufi martyrs of love By Carl W. Ernst, Bruce B. Lawrence, p. 4.
  4. ^ Chishti, Hakim Moinuddin (1991). The Book of Sufi Healing. Rochester: Inner Traditions International. ISBN 0-89281-324-5.
  5. ^ a b Sufi martyrs of love By Carl W. Ernst, Bruce B. Lawrence, p. 5.
  6. ^ a b c d Hussain, Zahid (22 April 2012). "Is it permissible to listen to Qawwali?". TheSunniWay. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  7. ^ Muhammad bin Mubarak Kirmani. Siyar-ul-Auliya: History of Chishti Silsila (in Urdu). Translated by Ghulam Ahmed Biryan. Lahore: Mushtaq Book Corner.
  8. ^ Nizamuddin Auliya (31 December 1996). Fawa'id al-Fu'aad: Spiritual and Literal Discourses. Translated by Z. H. Faruqi. D.K. Print World Ltd. ISBN 9788124600429.
  9. ^ Nizami, K.A. -0141 "Čishtiyya." Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W. P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2011. Brill Online. Augustana. 6 April 2011.
  10. ^ Böwering, Gerhard. "Cestiya." Encyclopaedia Iranica. Online Edition. Vol. 5. 1992. Web. http://www.iranica.com/articles/cestiya>.
  11. ^ Muhammad Zakariya Kandhalvi. Mashaikh-e-Chisht. Trans. Majlisul Ulama of South Africa., available at Scribd
  12. ^ Nizami, K.A. "Čishtiyya". Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W. P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2011. Brill Online. Augustana. 6 April 2011 http://www.brillonline.nl/subscriber/entry?entry=islam_COM -0141>.
  13. ^ ORIGIN OF CHISHTIES Archived 27 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 15 August 2008.
  14. ^ a b The Sufis of Britain: an exploration of Muslim identity By Ron Geaves. Cardiff Academic Press, 2000, p. 87.
  15. ^ Encyclopaedia of Indian philosophy, Volume 2 By Vraj Kumar Pandey. Anmol Publications, 2007, p. 78.
  16. ^ Nizami, K.A. "Čishtī, Ḵhwādja Muʿīn al-Dīn Ḥasan". Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W. P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2011. Brill Online. Augustana. 6 April 2011 http://www.brillonline.nl /subscriber/entry?entry=islam_SIM-1623>.
  17. ^ Haeri, Muneera. The Chishtis: A Living Light. Oxford University Press, USA, 2000. Print.
  18. ^ Frembgen, Jurgin Wasim. Journey to God: Sufis and Dervishes in Islam. Oxford University Press, USA, 2008, pp. 94–95. ISBN 978-0-19-547642-2.
  19. ^ Miller, Rasul (18 March 2020). "Sufi Al-Hajj Wali Akram: 20th Century Black American Muslim Pioneer". Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  20. ^ Miller, Rasul. "The Black American Sufi: A History". Archived from the original on 5 May 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  21. ^ Popular in South Asia, in particular parts of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. See Annemarie Schimmel, in article 'The Chishti Sufis of South Asia—Tradition and Evolution in the 20th Century' in Anderoon: Sufi Journal, Vol 82, np, nd
  22. ^ Schimmel, as cited above
  23. ^ M Z Akhund 'Sufis in the Subcontinent and their impact on Islamic society' Lahore, Navratna Pubs, Urdu Bazar, 1957. pp 12, 109–115
  24. ^ Akhund, 114–115
  25. ^ a b Maxwell., Eaton, Richard (2004). Temple desecration and Muslim states in medieval India. Hope India Publ. pp. 22–31. ISBN 81-7871-027-7. OCLC 705284564.
  26. ^ *Hayate Makhdoom Syed Ashraf Jahangir Semnani(1975) Second Edition (2017) ISBN 978-93-85295-54-6, Maktaba Jamia Ltd, Shamshad Market, Aligarh 202002, India
  27. ^ Ahamed Mohiyudheen Noorishah Jeelani
  28. ^ Omer Tarin article in 'Muse India' journal online. Special Sufi literature feature,V. No73, May–June 2017]
References
  • Haeri, Muneera (2000) The Chishtis: a living light Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, ISBN 0-19-579327-7
  • Ernst, Carl W. and Lawrence, Bruce B. (2002) Sufi Martyrs of Love: The Chishti Order in South Asia and Beyond Palgrave Macmillan, New York, ISBN 1-4039-6026-7. Excerpts
  • Farīdī, Iḥtishāmuddīn (1992) Tārīk̲h̲-i iblāg̲h̲-i Cisht Āl Inḍiyā Baz-i Ḥanafī, Delhi, OCLC 29752219 in Urdu with biographies
  • Āryā, Ghulām 'Alī (2004) Ṭarīqah-i Chishtīyah dar Hind va Pākistān: ta’līf-i Ghulām‘alī Āryā Zavvār, Tehran, ISBN 964-401-200-3 in Persian
  • Chopra, R.M., "SUFISM", 2016, Anuradha Prakashan, New Delhi. ISBN 978-93-85083-52-5.

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