Hadrat Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti (R.A)
Khawaja Moinuddin was born in Sajiz village on Monday the 14 of Rajab A.H. 537 and had his early education and upbringing in Khorasan. His father died when he was 15. He had two brothers. On the division of the property left by his father, he got a garden and a water-mill and made a living by the income derived from it. On contact with Ibrahim Kanduzi (the ecstatic) majzub. Who one day came to his garden, he lost interest in wordy possessions, sold the garden and other belongings and distributed the proceeds among the poor. He then set out in search of God. He first went to Bokhara and then to Samarkand where he learnt the Quran by heart and acquired worldly knowledge. He them proceeded to Iraq adding to his knowledge in the company o scholars and religious persons like Shaikh Najmuldin Kubra, Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani, Shaikh Ziauddin and Shaikh Shahabuddin Suharwardi. In Harvan village he become disciple of Hardrat Shaikh Usman Harvani.
From Ghazna, Khawaja Moinuddin reached Lahore and stayed near the Mazzars of Shailkh Hussain Zanjani and Shaikh Ali Usman Hajveri. He remained in Lahore for some months and left for Delhi where he stayed near the tomb of Shaikh Rashid Makki which had a mosque adjacent to it. Delhi and Ajmer were then under the sovereignty of Raja Prithvi Rai(also known as Rai Pithora), whose agents created hinderances in the way of Khwaja Moinuddin and his companions, but he overcame all these obstacles. Under Khawaja Sahib’s influence, Hindus embraced Islam in large numbers, including some of Rai Pithora’s countries and nobles; Apprised of this, Rai Pithora ordered Khawaja’s arrest. Or, hearing of it, Khwaja Moinuddin said: I have handed Pithora to Muslims; soon after, Sultan Shahabuddin Ghori defeated Rai Pithora at Tarawari in A.H. 588. Rai Pithora was captured near the bank of Sarasvati river and put to death. After the victory, Islam spread all over India. Under influence of Moinuddin and his spiritual descendants, as many as 9 million Hindus were converted to Islam. Today the descendants of these converts count more then 36. Khwaja’s life style was that of extreme simplicity, his hermit-like dress was double stitched and was usually patched with rages. In his early ascetic days, he would fast for 7 days on end, and break the fast with a piece of bread. Khawaja Moinuddin slept little. Usually he offered his morning prayers with the ablution performed for the previous evening prayer. He had the Quran in the morning and at night.
The Chistia silsila originated form the town of Chisht situated in Afghanistan. Some 66 miles East of Herat, Chisht is now a small village on the banks of river Hari Rood known, as Khawaja Chisht. Chishita order flourished in the sub-continent, while its other branches did not survive for long in other Islamic countries. Shaikh Abu Ishaque Shami (d. 329 A.H.) pioneered silsila Chishtia.
In the Indo-Pakistan sub-continet, it was Kahwaja Moinuddin Sijzi who laid foundations of the Chishti silsila and worked out its principles at Ajmer which was then the seat of Chauhan Rajput politics power. Khawaja Sahib was the embodiment of Islamic virtues and had gained fame for this remarkable spiritual achievements. He also performed numerous Karamat (miracles).
Prof. Khaleeq Ahmad Nizami writes: ‘Ajmer was not merely the seat of Chouhan power; it was religious centre also where thousands of pilgrims assembled from far and near, Shaikh Moinuddin’s determination to work out the principles of Islamic tassawuf at a place of such political and religious significance shows great self confidence. The Kahawaja worked in the midst of a Hindu population which looked ask once at every foreigner. Khawaja Moinuddin’s stay in Ajmer must have been a serious trial for the promotion of Islam. On his success or failure in Ajmer depended the future of the Islamic sufic movement in Hindustan.”
The ruler and the high cast Hindus disliked Khawaja Sahib nevertheless the common peoples flocked to him. Khawaja Moinuddin’s life was that of simplicity, piety and devotion to the cause of Islam. He always laid stress to assist the helpless and to feed the hungry.
He had an extraordinary capacity of overlooking faults and for remissions. He held his disciples and Khalifas most dear. Food was cooked in abundance in his public kitchen and the poor, travelers, strangers, students, guest, beggars, had their fill. For his kitchen he did not take a single pie from anyone. When all was spent, he lifted the corner of his prayer carpet for the deceased and burial , when all had left the graveyard he sat by himself by the grave.
At the mention of the Day of Resurrection he fell to weeping and sometimes cried cloud. Kahwaja Sahib followed religious injunctions and was very particular about observing religious ceremonies. He recited the Duaa frequently and advised his disciples to do the same. When he expatiated on the sayings of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W) he was overcome with tears. He was transported when he referred to the life of the Prophet (S.A.W). He has said somewhere in his writings: the presence of the Holy Prophet. There would be no place for a person; where will he go “he said”. Having said this Khawaja Sahib cried aloud.
All though his life, Khawaja Sahib was transported by love of Allah; he was equally carried away by his love of the holy Prophet (S.A.W). SAMAA or music is permissible in Chishti traditions. Khawaja had a taste for it. It is recorded in Dalil-ul-Arifin that once, when residing in Hazrat Abu Yousuf Chishti’s monastery, hearing the following verses in the musical assembly he remained in a state of trance for two days.
“The lover is carried way by the longing for the beloved
And is transported by the memory of his love.
Tomorrow when the people would fell lost on the Day of Resurrection. Thy name will resound in the breast and ears.”
Khawaja Sahib maintains that music leads to insight into Creator. It is a blessing in three ways, i.e. illumination, states and signs; and these pertain to the soul heart and the body.
TEACHINGS
Khawaja Mo’in-ud-Din Chishti’s teachings are extremely illuminating ,’ They may be summarized as follow:-
1. To Trust in God and no to desire any thing from anyone else:
2. One who is God’s friend must be found to have the following attributes:, Company of the righteous generosity, kindness and courtesy.
3. Three thing are the ornament of the soul: Befriending the enemy, hiding one’s own poverty and sorrows and sufferings from others, complete trust in God;
4. The steadfast disciple is one who says the morning prayer and is intoxicated by its enjoyment and memory till the next morning;
5. To be subject to some calamity or disease is a token of sound faith;
6. Love the poor, and avoid lying the backbiting;
7. God loves him who loves poverty and sickness.
8. One who repudiates prayer and the law of God is an infidel;
9. Alms giving is more praise-worthy than a thousand voluntary prayers;
10. Abusing a believer is like adultery with one’s own mother or sister, the prayer of such a person is not heard.
11. One who helps the needy is the friend of God. If a person engaged in prayer or a religious duty is approaching by a needy person, he should stop his prayer or religious duty, and attend to him and help him according to his means;
12. The highest piety is to remember death;
13. Three persons shall never in-hale the fragrance of paradise; the dervish who tells lies, a miser and a fraudlent merchant;
14. In addition to the prescribed acts of worship (prayer and fast), the following five acts of devotion are incumbent upon the sufic. Serving one’s parents, reciting the Qu’ran respecting and be-friending the ulema, paying a visit to Khana Ka’ba, devotion to the spiritual guide;
15. Apart from other sinful acts, the neophyte must abstain from these sins: laughing in a graveyard, eating and drinking there, for it is a place of warning, oppression, and not to tremble on taking God’s name;
16. The proof of the Arif’s love is this that apart from repeating God’s name he should be attached to nothing else;
17. For the Ahl-e-Tariqat on the way to Saluk the following ten things are imperative: Observance of paryer and fast, fear of God, Steadfastness in Shari’at, abstinence in food, less sleeping, les talking, less intercourse with people, search for truth, desire for a perfect spiritual guide, respect, resignation, love an avoidance of excess;
18. Likewise the following are necessary for Ahl-e-Haqeeqat: To be perfect in ma’rfat to abstain from doing harm and giving pain to others, holding such converse with people as may do them good here and the world to come, to be courteous, to cultivate privacy, love and hold others dear and think one self to be less than others, submissions to the will of God, patience and resignance in adversity, humility, sympathy and pity, contentment and reliance on God, frequent recital of Darud;
19. To recite Darud frequently;
20. Praise God and perform routine duties before the spiritual guide and abstain from relating his experience to anyone else;
21. Reading the writings of the auliya is beneficial.
It is related in Sair-ul-Aqtab that on the night Hardrat Kahawaja Moin-ud-Din passed away, he shut the doors of his closet after evening prayer and directed his friends not to come there. His special intimates lingered near the closet and they heard all along the thumping of feet heard when the lovers of God are in a state of ecstasy. Late in the night the sound stopped. After the morning prayer his special disciples knocked at the door the called out but received no reply from within. They broke open the door the found that Hadrat Khawaja had passed away. On his forehead was written in characters of light “Haza Habib Ma’fi hubb Allah. (God’s beloved emerges in His love).
He died on Monday, the sixteh of Rajab 633 A.H. The greatest miracle of Hazrat Khawaja Mo’in-ud-Din Chishti Ajmeri is that due to the efforts of the line established by him as many as nine million persons embraced Islam. His second miracles was that whatever sinner and dissolute he looked at forthwith repented of his sins for ever. Dargah of Chishti still Khawaja Mo’in-ud-Din vibrates with spiritual power.