TH Darimi

History of khaja-1 / Birth and Turning point

1 Base of Islamic Spirituality



It was narrated on the authority of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: While we were one day sitting with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), there appeared before us a man dressed in extremely white clothes and with very black hair. No traces of a journey were visible on him, and none of us knew him. He sat down close by the Prophet (peace be upon him), rested his knee against his thighs, and said: O Muhammad, Inform me about Islam. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: Islam is that you should testify that there is no deity except Allah and that Muhammad is His Messenger, that you should perform salah, pay the Zakah, fast during Ramadan, and perform Hajj to the House, if you are able to do so.



The man said: You have spoken truly. We were astonished at his questioning him (the Messenger) and telling him that he was right, but he went on to say: Inform me about Iman.
He (the Messenger of Allah) answered: It is that you believe in Allah and His angels and His Books and His Messengers and in the Last Day, and in qadar (fate), both in its good and in its evil aspects. He said, You have spoken truly. Then he (the man) said, Inform me about Ihsan. He (the Messenger of Allah) answered: It is that you should worship Allah as though you could see Him, for though you cannot see Him yet (know that) He sees you. He said, Inform me about the last Hour. He (the Messenger of Allah) said, About that, the one questioned knows no more than the questioner. So he said: Well, inform me about the signs thereof. He said, They are that the slave-girl will give birth to her master, that you will see the barefooted, naked, destitute, the herdsmen of the sheep competing with each other in raising lofty buildings. Thereupon the man went off.



I waited a while, and then he (the Messenger of Allah) said: O Umar, do you know who that questioner was? I replied: Allah and His Messenger know better. He said: That was Jibril (the Angel Gabriel). He came to teach you your religion. [Muslim]



Here we have two things to note. First one is that the Ihsan is an undivided part of the Islamic religion which taught through the abovesaid conversation. So, it is not true that the way of Ihsan which is to train the believers to be thinkful of Allah always and what is called Islamic spirituality -Thaswavvuf- is not a part of our religion. The second thing is the definition of Ihsan. It is to worship Allah as we could see Him. So, it is to have the belief that Allah sees us every time. So, it is full of act of mind to create such an influential feel. This feel brings and fulfills the meaning of piety. Our worship will be at its best when performed with that feeling. Ihsan, therefore, means striving for excellence in achieving piety, through an overwhelming feeling of closeness to Allah. It is the meaning of spirituality in Islam.



The word Ihsan has two another meanings also that have been reported in the Quran and the sunnah. One, is to treat people with kindness, graciousness and generosity, towards everybody such as parents, relatives, orphans, the poor, Muslims in general and all of creation. Two, is excellence and striving for perfection in actions, whether they be acts of worship, habitual daily acts or interactions with others. So by these meanings the Thaqwa is being completed. It is what Allah almighty wants from us. He exalted says: O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except as Muslims. [in submission to Him](Al Imran: 102) which means that they should remain steadfast in their obedience and piety to God. As per the definition and meaning Ihsan is something hard to practice. Because it is fully act of mind. Even if it is an act of body the Ihsanic part of it needs the mentel support to be counted as a good deed. The human mind is related with his conscious and senses. These essential elements are most often seldom unite. So, we want to unify the aforesaid inner elements before tame the mind. We cannot tame it unless we train the mind thoroughly. So, every muslim aught to train himself to be an obedient to Allah the master in order to be piety. Then the question turns to who will be the trainer?. Do we in need of such a trainer and menter?.



There are some victorious people in this life. Who won with Ihsan. They could worship, act and behave as their God seeing them. They successfully inculcated the Ihsan with all means in their whole life; In their deeds, treats and relations. They inherited this greatness from their ancestors. Who were purer than them. They also inherited this greatness from their ancestors as well. And so on as the chain reach to the Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him). And regarding him he was mentered and guided by Allah almighty himself. He clearly states: My Lord has reformed me and perfected my reform (Al shoukani). They -those who belongs to this chain- could train others. It easy for them to guide others to the way they moved on in their life and experienced. Their guidence is known as Tharbiya.



2 Tharbiya



In Islamic culture there are two types of guids (shuyookh). One is of Knowledge. It is to nourish ones brain in order to tame it to be obedient by searching, finding its Creator. The second is of heart. It is to purify ones soul in order to control every internal moves to be gentle and acceptable. The first one imparts knowledge in a very general manner and the second one takes to the utmost destination. The aforesaid chain is of the second kind of shuyookh. They engages themselves in the puurifying activities from the very beginning. They follow the piety men in whole aspects of life and establish a life close to Allah. They undergo different spiritual process by their masters who are striving to shape their diciples as per the spiritual values. They are the spiritual leaders of Islamic community. They are most often called Sufies and their way as Sufism. Sufism is mystical branch of Islam. Sufis represent the innermost tenets of Islam. It emphasizes self-awareness, tolerance, righteousness, and universal love for all. It comprises a number of mystical paths aimed at determining the nature of humanity and God, as well as facilitating the experience of divine love and wisdom in the world.



Sufis attempted to purify their inner selves via strict introspection and mental struggle in order to eliminate even the tiniest trace of selfishness and achieve ikhlas, or absolute purity of intention and action. Sufisms ultimate goal is union with God. Sufism believes that love of God equals love of humanity, and that service to humanity equals service to God.
Sufism instilled in its adherents an attitude of tolerance. The characteristics of Sufism are, Fana: Spiritual union of devotee with Allah and Zikr: Continual remembrance of God. They see as Allah for the entire cosmos, He and being are one. It is not an easy task to be uplifted to this stage. As regards to a shaykh, our scholars say that the spiritual guide has to have conditions that he must fulfill before he is considered fit to guide others. As per this he must be knowledgeable of all things that are individually obligatory. He must be a knower of Allah. He must be well acquainted with the methods of purifying the souls and means to train them. He must have permission from his own Shaykh from the chain to guide others.



But anyway the base of Islam stands on Shareeath. It is the way of life commanded by Allah. So, anybody could not get rid of it in this life. A Sufi saint may state that I am very close to Allah, and he may do some miracle on the eyesight of people on its account, but if he is arguing that I am beyond the range of Shareea we could not consider him even as a Muslim. For this understanding the Islamic scholars are giving us different illustrative examples. Some of them say that Shareea and Tariqa are like a body and a soul. Picturising the entire life journy, some others compare Shareea with a ship, Tariqa with a sea and Haqiqah is the aim which is a pearl to get from the sea. First a man has to go on board of a ship in order to get a pearl from the sea. Shareea is this ship. Only then he can dive into the sea, that is into Tariqa. So, it is must to lean Shareea before entering Tariqa. That means we must get basic knowledge about Shareea.



Islam Deen is a system of tarbiya that addresses both the inner and the outer states of people, comprising divine adab and laws, whereby a person may attain happiness in both worlds. This tarbiya occurs in three basic areas. The first is belief, the second is worshipes and the third is morals. Tasawwuf is a system of discipline which teaches ways of finding peace by introducing the heart to allah and thereby attaining peace through these three. So, we can say Thasawwuf is to purify our hearts. This is a high task and we need special support of a special mentor. It is of the Sufi Shaikh. The guidence of such a saint (Shaykh) is called Tarbiya. For the Tarbiya there are several orders. These orders are called Tareeqa. All true tariqas have a lineage that is traceable to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) through his relative companions.



By the grace of Allah almighty our land linked with Sufism and Sufi orders from very early days. Because India is land of beliefs. And in most Indian indigenous religions there are rituals and concepts similar to of Sufism like yoga, music and holy dances. Even though real Sufism has no any connection with such arts, some of the Sufi orders in India and abroad embraced numerous indigenous Indian concepts. The main Sufi orders are live here and the chain of the saints in popularly known as sisilahs. Silsila means chain. One of such Silsilah is Qadiriyya. During Mughal control, Sheikh Abdul Qadir and his sons, Sheikh Niamatullah, Mukhdum Muhammad Jilani, and Miyan Mir founded the Qadri silsila, which was popular in Punjab. Shah Badakhshani was another well-known saint of this order. This silsilah was followed by Mughal princess Jahanara and her brother Dara Shiok. Moreover the Qadiriyya order being the biggest one among the Sufi orders of India and World as well.



One another being Suhrawardi Silsilah. The Suhrawardi order arrived in India at the same time as Chistis arrived, although it was most active in Punjab and Multan. Shihabuddin Suhrawardi (be his soul be blessed) built this Sisila in Baghdad, and Bahauddin Zakariya established it in India. Suhrawardis received Sultans subsidies and actively participated in politics. Because A Sufi, according to Suhrawardy order, should have three qualities: property, knowledge, and mystical enlightenment. Naqshbandi Silsilah is one another. Khwaja Bahauddin Naqshbandi founded this Silsila in India. It was further spread by Sheikh Baqi Billah and Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi (1563 – 1624). They were known as silent Sufis because they practised quiet heart meditation. Unlike onother Sufies, who believed that the connection between man and God was that of a lover and beloved, the Sufis of this silsilah felt that it was that of a slave and master. They were opposed to liberal policies of Akbar, including awarding high status to numerous non-Muslims, abolishing jizya, and prohibiting cow slaughter. They were also opposed to sama (religious music and dance) and pilgrimages to the tombs of saints. Shattari Silsilah which Sheikh Sirajuddin Abdullah Shattar (1406 AD) founded and Kubrawiya Order which was founded by Sheikh Najmuddin Kubra and Firdausia Silsila from eastern India are onther orders.



Among these orders there is a totally different and made for every other in simplicity and easiness silsilah. It is Chishti Silsilah. Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti (may Allah bless his soul) designed the Chishti order in India (1143-1223 AD). In 930 AD, it began in Chist, a little hamlet near Herat in Afghanistan.
Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti founded his khanqah (a location for spiritual retreat and character improvement) in Ajmer to help the lowest members of society. Accordingly this order presented for the Islamic spiritual world a number of great saints. The notable one among them were: Baba Fariduddin Ganj-i-Shakar (may Allah bless his soul) (c.1175 – 1265 CE) - commonly known as Baba Farid. His operations were limited to Hansi and Ajodhan (in modern Haryana and the Punjab respectively). His perspective was so broad and humanistic that some of his words were later referenced in the Sikh Adi Granth. Another one is Nizamuddin Auliya (may Allah bless his soul) (c. 1238 – 1325 CE) was a Muslim ruler who lived at Delhi from 1238 to 1325 CE. Sheikh Burhanuddin Gharib (may Allah bless his soul) is among them. In the 13th century, he founded the Chisti order in the Deccan.



3 Khwaja Muinuddin Chishty (R)
Birth and turning point of the life:



Khwaja Mueenuddeen Chishty (R), was born in Senjar in Seistan (or Sajisthan) province (East Persia then, now in Afghanistan) in around 533 Hijra (1138-39 A.D.) in a well respected family. His father, Khwaja Ghayasuddin, and mother, Syeda Bibi Ummulwara (commonly called Bibi Mahe-Noor), were the descendants of Hazrat Ali (R) through his sons Imam Hassan and Imam Hussain(R). Khwaja Mueenuddeen lost both of his father and mother at an early age of sixteen years. He inherited an orchard and millstone which were his means of livelihood. One day when Khwaja Sahib was working in his orchard, a pious darvish (a stringe saint), named Ebrahim Qandoozi, came and sat under the shade of a tree. When Khwaja Mueenuddeen saw him, he brought a bunch of grapes and presented it to his guest. The visitor ate the grapes and was delighted. He then took something out of his bag, chewed it, then offered it to his young host. Khwaja Sahib ate it without any hesitation, and at once the light of wisdom and knowledge dawned upon the young Khwaja.



Immediately he disposed of all of his worldly belongings and distributed the money amongst the poor. Having thus broken all the ties with worldly affairs, he set off for Samarkand and Bukhara then the great centres of learning for religious education and knowledge.



When Khwaja Mueenuddeen had acquired the best knowledge and wisdom of the time, he travelled widely in search of a spiritual guide (Shaykh) who could provide him with the best spiritual guidance. He came to know of Hazrat Khwaja Usman Harooni (R) who was the greatest scholar and unrivalled spiritual guide of that period. In the very first meeting, Khwaja Mueenuddeen completely submitted himself to his Shaykh and remained in the company of this great divine spiritual leader, for twenty years and served him devotedly, passing through the various stages of spiritual life. Thus the great Shaykh trained and elevated Khwaja Mueenuddeen to the highest spiritual attainments.



Khwaja Mueenuddeen became a scholar of great repute. He interpreted the true Islamic message of love for mankind and through that, he taught love for the Almighty Creator. He preached the Quranic philosophy of unity of religion and worked out its potentialities for the whole of humanity. As Khwaja Mueenuddeen (R) became accomplished and perfect in every respect, his divine tutor and mentor Shaykh Usman Al Harooni(R) took him to Hajj. Both then proceeded to Mecca and performed the Hajj, and then they went to Madina and stayed there for some time, to receive blessings from the prophet of Islam Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). One night, while he was in a trance, he was ordered by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him): O Mueenuddeen, Proceed to India and show the Path of Truth to the people there. As per the spiritual command, Khwaja Mueenuddeen Chishty left Medina for India.



Getting the command to start to India, he began a journey in which he contacted with great saints of that time to get their blessings and to know the spiritual situation of the Muslim Ummah. Shaikh Najmuddeen Kubra, Shaikh Najibuddeen, Shaikh Abdul Qahir Suhrawardi, Shaikh Abu Saeed Tabrizi, Shaikh Mahmud Isfahani, Shaikh Nasiruddeen Astarabadi and Shaikh Abdul Wahid.. are some of them. Also he visited nearly all the great centers of Islamic cultural centres in those days namely, Samarqand, Bukhara, Baghdad, Naishapur, Tabriz, Ispahan, Sabzawar, Mihna, Khirqan, Astarabd, Balkh and Ghaznin and aquainted himself with trends in Muslim religious life in the middle ages. With great experiences and wisdom khaja Mueenuddeen (R) marched toward India, along with his disciples (Mureeds) who accompanied him throughout the journey. He first reached Herat a city in western Afganistan. Then he moved to Sabzwar a central city in present Iran.



The ruler of sabzwar Mohammed Yadgar was very tyrant dictator and crual. At the same time he was a shiate also. As from Shia sect he had a hatred towards the Sufi saints. As khaja Mueenuddeen (R) and his disciples tented there in a garden belonged to the ruler the servents afraid of the misbehavior of the ruler. They came to Khaja (R) to move somewhere but he refused their want smiling and assured them that nothing disappointing will happen. As expected, the ruler Muhammad Yadgar came to know that some faqirs have tented in his garden and became furious. He rushed to the garden and shouted at the servents. Approaching Khaja(R) the leader to drag him out of the garden, khaja Mueenuddeen (R) looked at him and due to some stange feel he got trembled and whithin a short while he fell fainted.



Khaja (R) ordered to rush some water on his face and he waked up with total change which induced him to leave every thing behind and receive Khaja Mueenuddeen Chishty (R) as his murshid and he became one of his decsiples. He left the throne and followed khaja Mueenuddeen Chishty on his way. This journey was full of such miraculous experiences. So, as he was heading to India the number of disciples have increased.



From sabzwar the holy team reached Ghazni. There they met with Sayed Abdul Wahid(R), khaja Bakhtiyar Kaki(R), Sayed Khaja Fakhruddeen Gurdezi(R) and some others also. They all followed him and countinued their way to India. Moving on their way was paved with several difficulties. There were no gentle roads to ride or walk. There were no enough water and food and no one assisted them on the way. But their determination was strong enough to cross and pass every thing. The climped the mountains and get off the hills and then to the valleys forgotten the hunger and thirst they arrived at Punjab.



4 To India



In the time of arrival of Khaja (R), India, especially north India was under the rule of King Shihabuddeen Muhammad Ghori. King Shihabuddeen Muhammad Ghori (1162-1206), was at first a governor of the Ghorid dynasty at Ghazni, a province in Afghanistan from 1173 to 1202 and Ghorid Sultan from 1202. He conquered various kingdoms in India as far south as Delhi. His successor, General Qutbuddeen Aybak was the first Muslim Sultan of Delhi, where his heirs ruled until 1290. Muhammad Ghori is credited with launching Muslim rule in India. Widening his land and power Muhammad Ghori attacked the north-western regions of the Indian Subcontinent many times. The arrival of Khaja Mueenuddeen Chishty (R) along with his disciples was just after of such a battle. In this battle which he faught with Prithviraj Chauhan the Rajput ruler of Delhi and Ajmeer he was defeated in the Battle of Tarain in Haryana. Even Khaja Mueenuddeen Chishty(R) hered the news of the defeat of a Muslim King he couldnot be anxious and he responded as: You are dependents of swords while we are of faith.