Description

LINEAGE

Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti (R.A) was blessed with a strong lineage to the Holy Prophet (S.A.W) through his father, Khwaja Ghayyas-Uddin Hasan, who was the descendant of Hazrat Imam Hussein (R.A), son of Hazrat Ali (R.A).

 

LIFE

The name of Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz (R.A) is Sayyad Hassan Chishti Sanjari (R.A). He was born in 537 Hijri, in a village named Sanjar in Irak. He was also known as Moinuddin Chishti or Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz. His father Hazrat Sayyad Ghayyas-Uddin (R.A) was a well-known person of great piety, and his mother Bibi Oummul Wara (R.A) was also a very pious and God-fearing person. She was the cousin of Hazrat Sheik Abdul Qadir Jilani (R.A), so Hazrat Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz (R.A) was also the nephew of Hazra Ghaws-e-Azam (R.A).

Khwaja Saheb (R.A) spent his early life in Khorasan and got his early education at his house. When he was nine years of age, he learned and memorize the Holy Quran. After a long time, he was moved to a Madrassa, where he focused primarily on the hadiths and Ayat, and received his education very early.

He was eleven years old when his beloved father died in 544 A.H. He was internally broken, concerning his father’s death. At that time, the Tatar invaders had reached Khorasan and ransacked the province. Nearly a year had passed since the death of Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz’s (R.A) father, when the Tartars again ransacked Khorasan and began the same drama. Khwaja Saheb (R.A) was disappointed to see these actions of awful devastation.

On a hot day, while he was watering his plants, between the months of Sha’aban and Zul-Hijjah in the year 544 AH/1150 AD, a mystic, Ibrahim Qandoozi suddenly arrived. Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti (R.A) offered to him extreme courtesy and a warm welcome and gave him a bunch of grapes. The mystic was very glad and satisfied by the hospitality and the respect. The mystic wanted to repay Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti (R.A). He took out a little portion of the oil cake and upon chewing a bite of it, asked Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti (R.A) to eat the rest of it. As soon as he had taken a bite, he went into a strange transformation. He felt repulsiveness for everyday matters and looked to seek after the higher temperance and search out reality.

After the demise of his dad, he had acquired a grindstone and the plantation, which established his kind of revenue. He sold his grindstone and the plantation and circulated the returns of these among the destitute, the poverty-stricken, and poor people. Khwaja Sahab (R.A) got married at the age of 53. He had 3 sons and 1 daughter.

 

TEACHING

Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti (R.A) was a source of encouragement and illumination, and his colloquies reveal great spiritual perceptiveness. They are contained in a book entitled Daleel-ul-Arefeen written by his premier caliph and Sajjada Nashin Hazrat Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki of Osh (R.A).

Mysticism and mystics – He says that “Mysticism is a name and not a custom. By simply being acquainted with and studying mysticism, the bone does not get a Sufi. It is the inner life that marks one out as a fortune-teller. A fortune-teller must have an exact understanding of godlike knowledge. He should surrender his will to the Will of God. He should be kind, cordial, and genteel, devoid of any trace of haughtiness or arrogance, or superiority. He should be gratified, down-to-earth, and gentle, reposing his utmost trust in God. The ambition to win converts and to win applause or fame is foolish and vain. On the antithesis, the essential ambition should be to be nearer to the Friend and to be accepted by the Friend.

Prayer – He emphasizes the consequence of prayer and says that it’s a great necessity for the development of the soul. He does not circumscribe prayer in its criminations, expressions, and meaning, giving a broad connotation to the word “prayer” According to him, prayer consists of selfless service, sympathy, and fellow-feeling. So, helping the weak ones, the displeased, the necessitous, to feed the puckish, and to have the imprisoned freed, all constitute prayers.

Fasting – According to him, the real fast is the self-denial of all religious and worldly supplications.

Music – He says that there are three conditions attached to Sama (music); those relating to time, place, and community of interest.

Khwaja Sahab used to say that the beauty of one’s soul is found in:

• Giving food to the hungry,
• Helping the oppressed,
• Solving the problem of the needy, and
• Approaching one’s enemy with compassion and good manners.

Khwaja Sahab (R.A) always practiced what he preached to others. He always called people towards Allah and encourage everyone to perform namaz, about which he said, “Namaz is the ascension (Miraj) of a believer, so we must try our best to preserve it.”

 

MIRACLES

It has been found that Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti (R.A) executed more than 5,000 miracles while staying in India and in the countries, he visited in the Middle East and Arabia.

Hazrat Khwaja (R.A) came to this world as a born Wali. His mother related that at the time of her pregnancy every night, after midnight till dawn, she was hearing voice of ‘tasbih and tehlil’ from inside of her own body, that is she was hearing the tasbihs of Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz (R.A) before his birth.

At that time Ajmer was a place where shirk, kufr, and sorcery were predominating. Everyone there seemed to be lost in the darkness of ignorance and in the wilderness of polytheism. Khwaja Sahab (R.A) lighted on, the light of Imaan and Islam and started to preach the gospel of truth and the message of peace to everybody, thus Islam and Imaan started to illuminate the hearts of millions of people.  The light of truth spread so fast, that in a very short time in every corner of Hindustan, people embraced Islam and filled their hearts with the name of Allah and His beloved Prophet (SAW).

In every step of Khwaja Sahab’s (R.A) life, people witnessed Karamat, some people who went for Hajj, every year they used to say, that they saw and met Khwaja Sahab (R.A) performing Hajj, but when returning from Hajj, they were informed that Khwaja Sahab (R.A) stayed in Ajmer and did not leave his home even for a single day.

One day, an elderly person sorrowfully went to the holy person who was around then playing out his petitions. She revealed to him that the lead representative had killed her child for no fault of his and asked the incomparable Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti (R.A) for equity. He, taking his strolling stick, requested the lady to show where the body from her child was lying. His devotees likewise followed him. Putting the dismantled head in its legitimate situation on the cadaver, he implored God to reestablish the existence of the dead man in the event that he was blameless. The young fellow got up entire.

 

LEGACY

In the year 633 Hijri, in the month of Rajab, Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz (R.A) left the world, it was seen on his blessed forehead, clearly written in shining Arabic golden letters, “Haaza habibullahi maata fi hubbillahi”, that is “This is the beloved of Allah, he left the world in the love of Allah.”

Millions of his devotees assisted his funeral, and his son Hazrat Khwaja Sayyad Fakhruddeen (R.A) performed imaamat for his janaza. Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz (R.A) was buried in Ajmer Shareef, and from that time his “Dargah Shareef” became the center of the spirituality of Hindustan. Every year the Urs Shareef of Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz (R.A) is celebrated from first to sixth in the month of Rajab in Ajmer and millions of people all over the world come to attain blessings. It is observed that after the Hajj occasion, where Muslims gather in the greatest number, the second place after Hajj occasion, where Muslims gather most in one place, is in Ajmer on the occasion of Urs Shareef of Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz (R.A). Khwaja Sahab (R.A) remains the Badshah of Hindustan, this is why he is called Sultan-Ul-Hind.

Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti (R.A) was an incredible spiritualist artist and has left an assortment of sonnets in Persian. Among his different books, all written in Persian, are:

• Anis-ul-Armah
• Hadis-ul-Ma’arif
• Risala Maujudia
• Kanj-ul-Israr
• Kashf-ul-lsrar
• Afaq-o-Anfas

 

LOCATION