THE SUFI SAINT OF AJMER

Recently Laxmi Dhaul has joined the Chishtiyya

group. She is the author of The Sufi Saint of
Ajmer (Thea Enterprises; 2001) and some other
book dedicated to Hazrat Nizamuddin Awliya.
Ive read the first mentioned book some years ago.
It so happened that Ismail returned from the USA.
We made an appointment to meet one another
halfway between our homes and that happened to
be in Amsterdam. We made a walk and had a talk.
During our walk we entered one of the excellent
bookshops of Amsterdam, called Au Bout du
Monde. And there at the end of the world
Ismail picked up a book with a very attractive
book jacket depicting a photo of visitors to the
dargah of Khwaja Gharib Nawaz (Patron of the
Poor), the title by which Khwaja Moinuddin
Chishti is known. These visitors carry a beautiful
embroidered covering for the shrine of the Sufi
saint of Ajmer, which they later on wish to present.
You see the visitors surrounding this covering and
holding part of it and thus many participate in this
simple devotional ritual.
Laxmi Dhauls book is a devotional book and this
is enhanced by the many inspiring photographs.
When I open her book at random you can see on
page 82 women silently sitting in meditation,
while on the page next to it attention has been
given to love of God or divine love. Dhaul writes:
Divine love is conceived, by the Sufi, as all
embracing and the highest stage t be attained. By
transgressing various stages, such as longing,
fellowship and love, will the Sufi pass directly into

the true knowledge of the divine mysteries

(marifa).
The subjects of Laxmi Dhauls book are among
others the arrival of Khwaja Gharib Nawaz in
India, his early life, Ajmer and its history, the
shrine in Ajmer, ceremonies, rituals and the
annual urs, Sufi silsilas, samaa and qawwali,
principle tenets of Chishti Sufism, all in all filling
almost a hundred pages on a large format. What
can be learned from these pages? Perhaps it is
best to end with a quote of Khwaja Gharib Nawaz
(p.59): The more one learns about the essence of
things the more one wonders.
THE MEDITATIONS OF KHAWAJA MUIN
UDDIN HASAN CHISHTI
What makes the teachings of the Sufis so
inspiring? It is because you realize that they come
from personal experiences. In The Meditations
youll read what Khwaja Gharib Nawaz said on
different occasions. It is a subjective study, based
on his published and unpublished books, his
discourses and his letters. Some of these
teachings, which have been published by Sharib
Press in Southampton, are easy to understand,
some are very deep. The meditations of Khwaja
Gharib Nawaz give an authoritative perspective to
his insight into things that really matter.
The translator, Dr. Zahurul Hassan Sharib, has
lived and breathed the ambience of the Khwaja of
Ajmer for many years, overlooking the Sufis tomb
from his study window.

The book jacket shows an illustration by Jamil. You

see Khwaja Usman Haruni who is being followed
by Khwaja Gharib Nawaz, who is carrying all the
luggage of his murshid on his head.
According to Khwaja Gharib Nawaz these 13
things are necessary for a dervish;
1. Search for God.
2. Search for a spiritual guide and teacher.
3. Respect.
4. Surrender.
5. Love.
6. Piety.
7. Constancy.
8. Perseverance.
9. To eat less.
10.
To sleep less.
11.
Seclusion.
12.
Prayer.
13.
Fast.
As now it is the month of fasting, let us see what
Khwaja Gharib Nawaz has said about fasting: The
real fast is to have no spiritual and mundane
desires, which means and implies to have no
desire for paradise, wealth or worldly position and
power. To think about other than Allah and to
desire paradise are things which break the fast.
He also says: The people who keep the fast
abstain from eating and drinking. But it is not the
real fast. It is an unreal fast in fact. In such a fast
things other than Allah are not renounced. The
idea of the self continues to dominate. Such a fast
is useful in so far as that a person may realize the

pangs of hunger and thirst of other people and

may extend help and sympathy to the sufferers.
And as it now the time of fasting, let us abstain
from more words.
THE CHISHTIS A LIVING LIGHT
I often think back of the days in which a Chishti
pir told tales about the early Chishtis who settled
in India. They became so familiar to me, that their
teachings became a living light to me. Muneera
Haeri is of Scottish origin. This is something of
course she could not help. The subject matter of
her first book was something she was in control of,
as she became the author of The Chishtis A
living Light. She recounts the life and teachings
of six early Sufis of the Chishti order by giving
each one a separate chapter.
The introduction however starts with the meeting
of an American representative of the Chishti order.
He is a Hakim - someone with knowledge of
traditional medicine - who saw her advanced state
of pregnancy and gave her some advice on
childbirth. This first connection with the Chishtis
was by means of healing. Two years later she
meets another lover of the Chishtis, a
homeopathic physician from Delhi who had
opened a clinic for the poor near the shrine of
Hazrat Nizamuddin Awliya.
Later on Muneera Haeri is inspired to write about
the healers of the heart like Khwaja Moinuddin
Chishti and the 5 Chishtis succeeding him. By
adding a chapter about Soofi Saheb, the living
light of the Chishtis is carried across space and

time to the South Africa of a hundred years ago.

The book ends with some short remarks about
Sufism today.
It is said that for many decades Khwaja
Moinuddin Chishti lived the life of a wandering
dervish. He stayed at lonely places and when
people saw him, many considered him to be an
insignificant drifter. The final words of the
epilogue, however, are:
The lamps you put off
By considering them useless and insignificant
These are the lamps
Which will spread the light.
AMIR KHUSRAW THE POET OF SULTANS
AND SUFIS
Amir Khusraw has been my introduction to the
Chishtis of India. It so happened that during my
first visit to India I stayed in a house at a walking
distance of the tombs of Hazrat Nizamuddin
Awliya and his murid Amir Khusraw. My host took
me to their dargahs and explained something of
the text sung by the qawwals in Urdu. She also
acquainted me with the fact that the two Chishtis
had been so close that they would have liked to be
buried in the same grave if that would be allowed
by Islam. As that was not the case the habit was
first to visit the grave of the disciple and then go
to the shrine of his murshid.
Hazrat Amir Khusraw was probably born in Delhi.
According to Sunil Sharma, the author of Amir
Khusraw The Poet of Sultans and Sufis he wrote
this about it:

Delhi is the twin of pure paradise,

A prototype of the heavenly throne
On an earthly scroll.
Hazrat Amir Khusraw (1253-1325) was a courtier,
poet, writer, musician and Chishti Sufi. Hazrat
Amir Khusraw had an irresistible personality. He
became the most beloved disciple of Hazrat
Nizamuddin Awliya. When the two met the unseen
lovers hearts became joined. The two strangers
came together:
Eshq aamad-o shod chu khunam andar rag-o pust
Taa kard maraa tahi-o por kard ze dust
Ajzaa-ye-wojudam hamagi dust gereft
Naamist maraa bar man baqi hama ust.
Love came and spread like blood in my veins and
the skin of me,
It filled me with the Friend and completely
emptied me.
The Friend has taken over all parts of my
existence,
Only my name remains, as all is He.
He dedicated himself with a sincere devotion to
his murshid. One day he placed a poem praising
Hazrat Nizamuddin Awliya before his murshid,
who then asked: What do you desire? He then
asked for the sweetness of language. The
command came forth: Bring that bowl of sugar
from under the cot and sprinkle it over your head
and eat some of it. Hazrat Amir Khusraw did so
and consequently the sweetness of his words
captured the world from east to west. His poetry
became so well known that even the greatest of

Sufi poets, Hafez of Shiraz, did not mind to earn

some money by copying one of the manuscripts of
Hazrat Amir Khusraw.
One of his most beautiful poems can be found at
he opening of his Divan:
The cloud rains and I am separated from the
Friend.
How can my heart be separated from the Friend
on such a day?
The cloud, the rain, I - and the Friend taken away.
I am alone, crying, the cloud is alone and the
Friend is alone.
Greenery, newly-sprouted, joyful air, a green
garden.
The nightingale, disgraced, remains separated
from the rosegarden.
O, what are You doing to me,
With the root of every hair
Of Your tresses, bound together?
I am enchained by being tied up, and all of a
sudden, alone

This is how it sounds in Persian:

Abr mibaarad-o man mishavam yaar jodaa

Chun konam del bechonin ruz ze deldaar jodaa
Abr-o baran-o man-o yaar setaada budaa
Man jodaa keria konaan, abr jodaa, yaar jodaa
Sabza naw-khiz-o havaa khorram-o bostaan-e
sarsabz
Bolbol-e-ruye-siyah maanda ze golzaar jodaa
Ay maraa dar tahe har mui ze zolfat-e bandi
Che koni band ze bandam hama yakbaar jodaa.
Hazrat Amir Khusraw was away from Delhi when
his murshid passed away. When he returned from
that trip he approached the grave of Hazrat
Nizamuddin Awliya with torn clothes, weeping
eyes and blood racing to his heart. Then he said:
O Muslims! Who am I to grieve for such a king,
rather let me grieve for myself for after the King
of Shaykhs I will not have long to live. After that
he only lived for six months, then passed away. He
was buried near the dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin
Awliya, may God shower their blessings on
murshid and murid!
THE PATH OF TASAWWUF
Hazrat Mohammad Khadim Hasan has written a
booklet with the above title, which has been
translated from Urdu into English. The author
starts by dealing with all kinds purity, i.e. of the
body, of thoughts, of the heart and of the soul. He

writes about the refinement of the ego and the

purification of the heart. In this respect some
practices have been described.
When writing about recollection he sees it as the
first step to contemplation. The first form of
contemplation, according to him, is imagination,
then contemplation takes place in the mind, then
in the heart and finally when the soul becomes the
abode of contemplation, all veils will be lifted and
the Truth will be revealed.
In The Path of Tasawwuf Hazrat Nawab Sahib
describes some essentials of the Sufi way. He ends
by quoting Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti: Not until
one obtains Murshids instructions will one reach
ones destination.
An on-line copy of The Path of Tasawwuf can be
found at:
http://www.muslim-canada.org/Nawab2.htm
CONTEMPLATIVE DISCIPLINES IN SUFISM
Mir Valiuddin is the author of Contemplative
Disciplines in Sufism. I liked the following detail:
You can see a photo on the dust cover of the book
and the text accompanying it says that it is an
extremely rare photograph of this most shy and
unassuming man.
In the pages of this book an attempt has been
made to enunciate the contemplative disciplines in
Sufism as practised by the great Sufis and eminent
Shaykhs. A description in four stages has been
given:

1. Purification of the self. This means cleansing

the sensual self from its blameable, animal
propensities and embellishing it with laudable
and angelic attributes.
2. Cleansing of the heart. This means the
erasing from the heart its love for the
ephemeral world and its worry over grieves
and sorrow, and establishing in their place an
ardent love for God alone.
3. Emptying the innermost consciousness from
all thoughts that would divert attention from
the remembrance of God.
4. Illumination of the spirit. This means filling
the spirit with the effulgence of God and the
fervour of His love.
The practices of several of the great Sufi orders in
regard to the above stages have been mentioned.
Mir Valiuddin states that the Chishtis give the
advice to practice loud remembrance of God. It
increases the heat of the heart and in turn
generates love for God. According to him it is by
love alone that the salik, the traveller on the Sufi
path, attains all the high stages thereof. It is by
love alone that immutability after perishability, life
after lifes loss and eternal existence after
extinction are obtained.
THE TALE OF THE FOUR DERVISHES And
Other Sufi Tales
When I was in India Ive seen a curious but very
pleasant healing method in action. It consisted of
the reading of the Tale of the Four Dervishes at
the bed of the patient. Scholars deny that Hazrat
Amir Khusraw has been the author, but whatever

may be the truth, it can be said that these tales

are of excellent quality.
Amina Shah has retold these tales. This is what
she writes in her introduction:
When the great 13th Century Sufi teacher
Nizamuddin Awliya was ill, his disciple Amir
Khusraw the eminent Persian poet recited to
him this Sufi allegory. To mark this event,
Nizamuddin on his recovery, placed this
benediction upon the book:
Who hears this story will, by the divine power, be
I health.
Mir Amman of Delhi translated the work a
century and a half ago into Urdu, and ever since it
has been regarded as a classic of that language,
under the title of Bagh o Bahar (Garden and
Spring), a chronogram which, when decoded by
the Abjad System, produces the date of its
completion: Year 1217 of the Hijra Era.
It is widely believed that the recitation of the
story will restore to health the ailing, and that the
allegorical dimensions of the adventures of the
Dervishes contained in it are part of a teachingsystem which prepares the mind of the Seekerafter-Truth for spiritual enlightenment.
SUFI MARTYRS OF LOVE: THE CHISHTI
ORDER IN SOUTH ASIA AND BEYOND
The Chishti order is the oldest of the major Sufi
orders still in existence. Carl W. Ernst and Bruce
B. Lawrence in their Sufi Martyrs of Love pay

attention to the founders of the Chishti order,

Chishti practices and the seminal texts of the
Chishtis. Strange to say, but the appendix is one of
the highlights of the book. It contains a partial
translation of the Akhbar al-Akhyar as written by
Shaykh Abdal-Haqq Muhaddith of Delhi, which
recounts the life of several great Sufis from the
twelfth to the late sixteenth century. The Shaykh
accents the pivotal role of the Chishtis. It starts
with the description of the life and teachings of
Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti. The Shaykh relates
where Khwaja Sahib came from and that he
settled in Ajmer. The collection of sayings of the
Khwaja of Ajmer may or may not be authentic, but
it has had a pervasive tone for the entire Chishti
discipline: Always maintain loyal to the inner
travel. Do not cease to search for the ocean of
knowledge and love, which is the domain of
Allah!
In other chapters attention has been given to
subjects like: what is a Sufi order, major Chishti
shrines, and colonial and modern day Chishtis.
As for the political attitude of the Chishtis it is to
stay away from rulers:
Be a dervish and sit in solitude;
Do not ask for food from anyone.
Know that contentment is a kingdom,
A mansion full of pearls and jewels.
Do not yourself go near the Sultan;
Know that he Sultan is such a one
That when you long for the Sultan,
There will be fear and danger for you.

The central spiritual practice of the Chishtis is the

audition of music in order to evoke the divine
presence. To its adherents, what was distinctive
about the Chishti order was its religious practice.
Sayyid Ashraf Jahangir Simnani (d. 1425) has
given this summary:
The style of life (of the Chishti masters) is to
build a house in a city or town and call the people
away from vanity towards God. They always turn
away from the world and those who seek it. Their
distinctive sign is he practice of spiritual discipline
and ascetic striving. They aim at poverty and
denial, and they keep company with the poor and
beggars, giving them food. They are masters of
listening to music (sama) and they love the people
of music. They celebrate the death anniversaries
of their masters, and they greatly prefer the poor
to the rich. They themselves wash the hands of the
stranger and themselves provide fire and food to
the poor. They never give the rich man a place
higher than the poor man, and their feasts are
bountiful. Through their internal concern for the
heart, the disciple turns away from the love of the
world and they soon make the disciple repent.
Let us return to the appendix and look at part of
the biography of Shaykh Nur Qotb-e Alam. He has
said: The Shaykhs of old had set 99 stages for the
completion of the spiritual quest. The Shaykhs of
our silsila have fixed on 15 stages, of which this
faqir has selected 3:
1. Taking account before God demands an
account from you.
2. Whoever thinks that he has been righteous for
even a day has deceived himself.

3. The true worship of the faqir is to repel

thoughts of other than God.
Whoever acts according to these three principles
God willing he will complete the work of the
traveller.
THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ARTS TUTINAMA / TALES OF A PARROT
The Chishti shaykh Ziyauddin Nakhshabi (d. 1350)
wrote the Tales of a Parrot. The Chishtis have at
times made use of teaching in the shape of tales.
The translation from Persian into English by
Muhammad A. Simsar has beautifully been
published, as 48 full-page miniatures have been
added to the 52 tales. As for the tales the wellknown construction of a tale within a tale has
been used. Although the stories go back a long
time and have an Indian origin, shaykh Nakhshabi
has introduced his own Sufi ideas in them. A
parrot is the storyteller. Let us not dwell on the
overall structure (some would however say that
the structure is the message) and simply tell one
tale out of the tales as told by the parrot. At a
certain moment in one of the tales a bloodletter
appears. During Nakhshabis time bloodletting
was a common healing practice. The usual method
was by cupping. After washing and drying the
skin, a heated glass cup with a rounded edge was
firmly pressed against the skin. As the air inside
the glass cooled a partial vacuum was formed thus
drawing the blood to the skin under the cup.
Another method was by venesection, which
consisted of drawing blood from a vein in the arm.
A physician performed this method. The cupping
was done by a man called a bloodletter, usually a

barber who practised both professions in a public

bath. In the near future youll read everything you
always wanted to know about the tale of:
The Bloodletters Emulation of the Merchant
It is said that in one of the distant cities of
Khwarazm there was a merchant of much wealth
and property whose name was Abd al-Malik. He
was always trying to find ways to make more
money, so he frequented the gatherings of the
learned men as well as those of the poor.
One day he thought: I have been engaged in
many kinds of business in different parts of the
world, but now I am going to follow the Quranic
precept:
He who does a good deed shall be rewarded
tenfold.
Having decided upon this, he proceeded to carry
out his decision. Whatever wealth he possessed he
distributed for charity. Whatever riches he had he
gave as alms to the poor. He did not even had
enough money left for his breakfast.
That night in a dream he saw a monk. He asked
him: Who are you?
The monk replied, I am the spirit of your good
fortune. Since you have given all your wealth for
charity and all your money to the poor, you must
not be left to starve. Tomorrow morning I will

reappear in this form before you. At that time you

must hit me on the head with a cudgel and I will
fall down and turn into gold. Whenever you cut off
a part of me that part will grow back again and
whatever
limb
you
remove
another
will
immediately grow in its place.
O, Nakhshabi, relinquish whatever wealth you
possess.
How long will you charity and benevolence
disdain?
For the sake of God donate to someone a pure
gold coin
And a thousand will later be your well deserved
gain.
The next day when the night-travelling monk the
moon was entering the temple in the west, and
when the great, devout wayfarer the sun was
spreading the carpet of light in the sky, and at the
moment when the bloodletter was trimming the
beard and the moustache of Abd al-Malik, the
monk appeared.
Abd al-Malik arose and hit him on the head
several times with a cane. The monk immediately
fell down and turned into gold. Abd al-Malik gave
a few silver coins to the bloodletter and warned
him not to divulge the secret.
The bloodletter surmised that if anyone struck a
monk on the head, that monk would turn into gold.
He went home and made preparations for a feast
inviting several monks to be his guests. After the
dinner was over, he fetched a heavy stick and hit

the monks on their heads with such force that

their scalps were cut and blood began to flow like
a stream. When the monks started to scream and
wail with pain, a large crowd gathered. They
bound the bloodletter securely and took him along
with the monks to the magistrate of the city.
The magistrate asked: Why did you beat up those
poor people and crack their heads open?
The bloodletter replied: I was in the house of Abd
al-Malik when a monk came to see him. He beat
him on the head several times with a cane and the
monk immediately turned into gold. I thought that
anyone who hit a monk on the head could cause
him to turn into gold. With this temptation I
invited the monks to be my guests and struck a
few blows on their heads. Not only their condition
failed to change, but the whole affair ended in a
great fiasco.
The magistrate summoned Abd al-Malik and
asked him: what is this bloodletter claiming?
Abd al-Malik answered: This man lives on my
street. For several days his senses have been
affected and his mind has become deranged. He
wanders around all day like a madman and talks
nonsense. Otherwise why would a sane person act
in such a manner or an intelligent man utter such
words? He needs care, proper treatment, medicine
and potions. He must be taken to a doctor. He
must be sent to a capable physician. It is a pity
that such a bloodletter should be wasted and it is
regretful that his skill should be lost.

The words of Abd al-Malik met with the approval

of the magistrate. He made excuses to the monks
and ordered that the bloodletter be released.
O Nakhshabi, conduct your true self with integrity.
When will you ever forsake thought of worldly
possession!
Fools will imitate unsuitable actions of others.
To maintain self-esteem, you should always use
discretion.
ETERNAL GARDEN: MYSTICISM, HISTORY
AND POLITICS AT A SOUTH ASIAN SUFI
CENTER
Khuldabad the name conjures up a sunny day in
early November, one of those days when
everything seems to be in perfect order - thus
Annemarie Schimmel starts the introduction to the
book of Carl Ernst about the Chishtis in the South
of India. She continues: In the early afternoon the
qawwals had arrived, and we were transported
into the world of mystical delight, carried back
through the centuries to the days when the musicloving Burhanuddin Gharib lived here and
expressed his love of God in mystical dance. Carl
Ernst has produced a historical and a somewhat
dry, scholarly study about Deccani Sufism. His
empathy for shaykh Burhanuddin Gharib is
however also rather clear, for as St Augustine has
held: Res tantum cognoscitur quantum diligitur,
which means as we all know One can only
understand something to the extent that one loves
it.

Here is a teaching of shaykh Burhanuddin Gharib

about the music of the Sufis, which he liked so
very much. He discerns four types:
1. Lawful samaa, in which the listener is totally
longing for God and is not at all longing for
the created.
2. Permitted samaa, in which the listener is
mostly longing for God and only a little for the
created.
3. Disapproved samaa, in which there is much
longing for the created and a little for God.
4. Forbidden samaa, in which there is no
longing for God and all is for the created.
But the listener should know the difference
between doing the lawful, the forbidden, the
permitted and the disapproved. And this is a
secret between God and the listener.
So although cast in a legal form, the shaykhs
analysis of the listeners motivation puts the
burden of responsibility on the individuals
conscience, for - as Carl Ernst states - the object
of ones love is by its nature secret from the law.
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SHAIKH FARIDUD-DIN GANJ-I-SHAKAR
A man from Lahore came to shaykh Hasan
Muhammad Chishti and said: In this time there is
no one worthy of listening to Sufi music. He
replied: If that was the case, the world would be
destroyed. The man said: In past days there were
men like shaykh Baba Farid, shaykh Nizamuddin
Awliya and shaykh Nasiruddin. Now there is no
one like them. The Chishti shaykh replied: In

their time men said the very same thing. This

anecdote doesnt come from The Life and
Times as written by Khaliq Ahmad Nizami.
Everything else you wanted to know about Baba
Farid and were afraid to ask, has been mentioned
in the scholarly and inspiring study of Khaliq
Ahmad Nizami.
A qawwal once sang some poetry when visiting
Nizamuddin Awliya at a time when Nizamuddin
Awliya had not yet been initiated into the Sufi path
and had not yet found a shaykh. The singer first
described the inner qualities of shaykh Bahauddin
Zakariya of Multan. His words had no effect at all
on the young listener, but when he paid attention
in his songs to Baba Farid, Nizamuddin Awliya, felt
a great love entering his heart although he had
never met Baba Farid. This psychological accident
has been described by a poet in the following
couplet:
Hadies-e hosn-e u naagaah firo khaandand dar
gusham
Dar aamad eshq o yakbare be-bord aql az man o
husham.
Suddenly the description of his beauty
came to the ears of mine,
Love entered and at once
took away the reason and understanding of mine.
The words of the qawwal in some way or other
evoked the loving presence of Baba Farid. The
following anecdote however, makes it clear that
Baba Farid was no soft fool:

A poorly dressed dervish came to Baba Farid who

gave him something and permitted him to depart.
The dervish remained standing and asked the
shaykh to give him the comb, which he had taken
out from its cover and placed on the prayercarpet. As the comb was not worth anything and
had been long used by the shaykh, he did not reply
to the request. The dervish began to shout loudly:
If the shaykh gives me this comb, he will receive
plenty of blessings. Be off, Baba Farid replied,
and do not disturb me any more. I throw you and
your blessings into the river.

Baba Farid liked the needle (unity) and disliked

the pair of scissors (bringing about separation.
He advised his disciples to recite this couplet in
their intimate conversations with God:
Az hazrat-e-to se chiz mikhaham
Vaqt-e khosh o aab-e dida o raahat-e del
From Your presence I ask for three things:
A happy time, tears and repose of the heart.
Baba Farid was a friend of God and it is only
natural that we wish to be a friend of a friend of
God.
THE PLANIVERSE
The year is 1981, and in the computer lab of a
large university a group of graduate students and
their professor are hard at work on the
departmental mainframe, graphically modeling an
imaginary two-dimensional world. The project is

going well, extraordinarily well, when one student

suddenly notices that the world they are building
on-screen is inhabited!
So begins A.K. Dewdneys tale of discovery and
communication with the two-dimensional
civilization of Arde. Since its original publication
in 1984 The Planiverse has developed a kind of
cult readership, following in the footsteps of
Edward Abbots nineteenth-century classic
Flatland. As a kind of mental puzzle or
brainteaser, it challenges and delights, inviting
readers to imagine just how a two-dimensional
world might actually work. But the book is also a
Sufi fable, written by a member of the Chishti
order, serving as a cautionary tale about the
difficulties of communication from one totally alien
world to another, and suggesting that it is not only
Yendred and his fellow 2-D Ardeans who cannot
imagine dimensions beyond those they see.
THE BOOK OF SUFI HEALING
Several years ago weve visited a Sufi place in
Budapest, Hungary. While we were sitting near
the shrine of shaykh Gl Baba - a very pleasant
and peaceful place surrounded by a well-kept rose
garden suddenly some members of a Sufi order
entered and took out their musical instruments
and started to sing the beautiful Elahis of Yunus
Emre. They explained later on to us that they
visited the childrens hospital in Budapest in order
to bring about healing by means of a musical
therapy developed by their shaykh.
Audition to music also takes a very important
place among the Chishtis. The music is a means to

concentrate on the divine Beloved. A side-effect

may be healing. The Chishtis also pay attention to
other kinds of healing. Prayers, special zikrs, the
reading of The Tale of the Four Dervishes and so
on are among the Chishti methods of healing.
When a Chishti shaykh is being approached for
help his visitors also may ask him questions about
health issues as the Sufis work with the whole
person.
Shaykh Hakim Moinuddin Chishti is the American
author of The Book of Sufi Healing. He has spent
some time in Afghanistan in the company of local
Sufis and healers before meeting his murshid in
Ajmer, India. He writes that central to the doctrine
of Sufi healing are the connections between
health, the heart, wholeness and holiness. The
Sufis have a holistic view in this respect and they
work with the physical as well as the subtle
aspects of a person. Among the many topics
treated are dietary recommendations of the
Prophet, food and health, the preparation of
herbal formulas, healing with essential oils,
illnesses that may arise at the various stages of
the souls evolution, fasting, prayers and
talismans.
I remember sitting in the company of a Chishti pir
in Ajmer, when an English artist entered. This
Englishman told from the start that he was not
interested in Sufism. He however was received
with Eastern hospitality and left a few days later.
He was given a talisman and to my surprise he
was quite willing to accept it. It was tied around
the upper part of his arm and he received he
instruction never to take it off. He then went to
the North of India to make a trek through the

mountains. In the midst of nature he took a bath in

a natural pond and removed his talisman, which
he carefully deposited on a flat rock. After taking
his bath to his dismay he found out that the
talisman had disappeared. He then travelled all
the way back to the Chishti pir in Ajmer and when
they met he asked to be initiated into his Sufi
order.
THE CULTURE OF THE SUFIS
God is beautiful and he loves beauty! Beauty is
certainly one of the aspects of The Culture of the
Sufis. You only have to turn to the chapter as
written by Dr. Zahurul Hassan Sharib dealing with
the poetry of the Sufis. Abu Said Abil-Khair wrote
this quatrain about outer and inner beauty:
God, in Whose hand is the whole universe wide,
Has given you two good things side by side;
One is beauty of character to be friendly with
others,
And the second is beauty of the face, so that
others in friendship with you abide.
The book contains 15 chapters dealing with
subjects like the origin of Sufism, initiation in the
Sufi order, rituals and practices, the moral and
ethical culture of the Sufis, their states and
stations as well as their doctrines, women and
Sufism, supernatural powers and the recollection
of death. The Chishti point of view dominates,
although there is also attention to the testament of
Muhyiddin ibn al-Arabi and the one of the Rose
of Baghdad, shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani.

The value of the book have been enhanced by the

extensive bibliography and the select discography,
while the 9 illustrations make The Culture of the
Sufis a beautiful book. Love for the divine beauty
can make you dance as Khwaja Uthman Haruni
tells us:
I do not know why, at last, to have a longing look, I
dance!
But I feel proud of the fondness that before the
Friend, I dance!
You strike the musical instruments and lo! Every
time, I dance!
In whatever way You cause me to dance, I abide o
Friend, I dance!
Come, o Beloved! See the solemn spectacle that in
the crowd of the intrepid and daring,
With a hundred probabilities of ignominy and
disgrace, in the heart of the market, I dance!
Blessed is the state of drunkenness that I trample
underfoot a hundred pieties!
How fine and excellent the abstinence that with
the robe and the turban, I dance!
I am Uthman Haruni and a friend of shaykh
Mansur,
The people rebuke and ridicule me and on the
gallows, I dance!
THE COUPLETS OF BABA FARID
Maqbool Elahi has given the complete set of
couplets of Baba Farid as written in the Punjabi
language together with their English translations.

These poems form part of the Holy Granth of the

Sikhs. Here are some examples:
Life is wife and Death her husband.
Husband takes his wife away
After yes to his proposal.
How can she hold back the day?
And:
It is a mystery deep and baffling
Worldly life - a hidden fire!
Allah hath done me a favour
Else I too wouldve burnt entire.
Passing by a field of water-melons, Baba Farid
picked up the skin of a water-melon and was
contemplating on the beauty of its colour, design
and texture when the owner of the field started
giving him a beating, taking him for a thief:
Farid! The door of dervishes
is so hard to enter
Fain would I have walked it past
With worldly masses
But for a bundle of pretence
Where o where to dump it.
And:
Dervishes I have tested well
And found their faith skin deep
I havent met a single one
Who knows the ways so steep.
Punjabi - the language of the land of the five (panj)
streams (ab)) lends itself so sweetly to mystical

thoughts, so here in English is a fifth and final

poem:
Says Farid! My playmates!
When God will send His call
This swan will humbly walk to Him
And in the dust will fall.
PEARLS OF THE PARROT OF INDIA THE
WALTERS ART MUSEUM KHAMSA OF AMIR
KHUSRAW OF DELHI
What the sun of Tabriz was to the Mawlana of
Rum, that or more could be found in the
relationship between shaykh Nizamuddin Awliya
and his favourite disciple Amir Khusraw. Whatever
the truth may be the poetry of Parrot of India
the nickname of Amir Khusraw - has left a lasting
impression on the Chishti order.
Ami Khusraw was well acquainted with the works
of many famous poets. In a passage of the preface
to the Ghurrat al-Kamaal (The Prime of
Perfection) he remarks according to John Seyller,
the author of the Pearls: I examined most of
the forms of poetry that could be produced
through imagination and studied constantly the
works of the great masters. From these I culled
what was sweet and thus acquired a real taste for
the pleasures of poetry. My eyes and intellect
brightened when I saw the writings of Anwari and
Sanai, and whenever I beheld a poem bright as
gold-water I chased it like a running stream. Every
diwan I came across, I not only studied but
imitated in my compositions.

Later on his choice of a model to emulate could

not have been better, for Nizamis Khamsa
(Quintet) is widely regarded as the apogee of
Persian literature. Amir Khusraws own Quintet
has been discussed by John Seyyller. Next to that
attention has been given to the life of Amir
Khusraw, the context of Mughal painting, and the
painting cycles in Islamic manuscript illustration.
There is a commentary on the miniatures
incorporated in the Khamsa of Amir Khusraw.
The many full-colour Persian miniatures make this
a book worthwhile to be mentioned in this series
of Chishti books.
NIZAM AD-DIN AWLIYA MORALS FOR THE
HEART
Amir Hasan Sijzi has had an excellent idea. He has
recorded the conversations of shaykh Nizamuddin
Awliya. The resulting book is a fundamental plank
in the Sufism of the Chishtis. The translation from
Persian gives a clear picture of what is taking
place in a Chishti circle. The shaykh is talking and
gets inspired to change the subject, he recites
some poetry, then he tells a tale, and when a
visitor enters again the atmosphere changes and
that what is taking place is adapted to the people
present.
One day shaykh Nizamuddin Awliya told this story:
In Lahore there was a scholar renowned for his
eloquence. One day he came to the qazi of Lahore
and said: I desire to go on pilgrimage to the
Kaba. Give me permission that I may go. The qazi
replied: Why do you want to go? At present your
discourses and counsels are benefiting many
people.

The scholar refrained from going. After another

year had lapsed, he again approached the qazi and
again sought permission to go to Mecca. Again the
qazi ordered him to stay, and again he convinced
that scholar to remain in Lahore.
The third year came and the scholar approached
the Qazi once more: I am overcome with desire to
visit the Kaba. Please give me permission that I
may go. O master, replied the qazi, if you are
overcome with the desire to visit the Kaba, what
need do you have to ask permission of me or to
seek my consultation? You should simply go.
Then upon the blessed lips of the master came
these words: In love there is no need of
consultation.
THE SHRINE AND CULT OF MUIN AL-DIN
CHISHTI OF AJMER
P.M. Currie makes it clear that several teachings
and events attributed to Khwaja Moinuddin
Chishti are probably incorrectly attributed. The
scholars studying classical Chishti Sufism have a
different point of view than the ordinary people
who visit the shrine of the Khwaja of Ajmer in all
their devotion. There are also Sufis like Hazrat
Khadim Hasan, whose Moin ul-Arwah has been
read by me, and who states that some of the
teachings attributed to Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti
are authentic while others are later additions. I
also like the attitude of Peter Lamborn Wilson
when he mentions the Diwan attributed to
Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti. He writes (Im quoting
him by heart) that if these poems are wrongly

attributed to Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, then at

least it can be said that they have been written by
someone with quite some spiritual development.
Currie deals with the quest for the historical
Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, the legendary one, the
history of his shrine, the visit to Ajmer, the
Khuddam, i.e. the descendants of those who
arrived together with Khwaja Sahib in Ajmer, the
head of the Chishti order, and the administration
of the dargah.
As for legends, they at times have their own place
in Sufism. Shaykh Dhol-Nun of Egypt once
explained how he returned to God (tawba). He was
in the desert and there he saw that a lame bird
was getting its sustenance in a miraculous way. A
golden plate descended from heaven and on it was
the daily food for the bird. This strange event has
been explained by shaykh Ibn al-Arabi in a
symbolic way. He related it to an experience of the
soul.
It is said about Fariduddin Attar that he one day
paid little attention to a dervish who visited his
store. The dervish then asked him: How will you
die? Fariduddin Attar answered him in a careless
way that he would die just like the dervish. The
dervish then dropped dead at that very moment
and this made a big impression on Fariduddin
Attar. It doesnt matter much if this event actually
took place, as it is a teaching story among the
Sufis explaining something of the station of tawba,
the return to God.
It is of course only proper to find out the truth
regarding the authenticity of the teachings of
Khwaja Sahib. The Sufis however have an extra

tool, i.e., their intuitive unveiling (kashf), which is

not for sale in universities for orientalists. Currie
at times also makes serious mistakes as an
orientalist out of a certain carelessness. It is clear
that he has remained an outsider. The door to
Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti has remained closed to
him.
NOTES FROM A DISTANT FLUTE SUFI
LITERATURE IN PRE-MUGHAL INDIA
Bruce B. Lawrence in his Notes not only pays
attention to the spiritual kings of India - the
Chishti Sufis - but also discusses some shaykhs of
the Suhrawardi, Firdawsi, and Maghrebi Sufi
orders. Lawrence presents several poems in the
original Persian language. What you see below is
my transcription and my translation of at first a
poem of Masud-e-Bakk:
Gar az khodiye khwish berun aai to
Dar pardaye tawhid darun aai to
Var az ravesh-e chun o cheraa bargozari
Az khod shode bi cheraa o chun aai to
If outside your own self you would go,
Into the veil of unity you would go.
And if you would go beyond the why and when,
Leaving yourself, into the without why and when
you would go.
Amir Hasan writes about shaykh Qotboddin
Bakhtiyar Kakis ecstasy when he heard the two
final lines of a poem of shaykh Ahmad-e-Jam:

Jaan bar in yek bayt daade-ast aan bozorg

Aari in kawhar ze kaani digar-ast
Koshtegaan-e khanjar-e taslim raa
Har zamaan az ghayb jaani-ye digar-ast.
On this verse that great being gave up his soul
This jewel truly came from a special mine:
Those slain by the sword of submission
Get all the time another life from the unseen.
Shaykh Hamidoddin Nagawri writes this:
Kaarist waraai elm raw aanraa baash
Dar bande gohar mabaash raw kaan raa baash
Del hast maqaame gaah begozaar o biaa
Jaan manzele aakherast raw jaan raa baash.
There is a work beyond knowledge, realise that,
go!
Do not work to get jewels, be the mine, go!
The heart is a temporary abode, leave it and
come!
The soul is the final abode, realise that, go!
THE SUFI SAINTS OF THE INDIAN
SUBCONTINENT
"The Sufi Saints of the Indian Subcontinent" deals
with the life and teachings of 126 important Sufis
from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. They come
from the Chishti, Qadiri, Suhrawardi, Naqshbandi
and other Sufi orders.

In case you like to expand your knowledge of

Sufism why not read something, which describes
those who were the living embodiment of Sufism?
Dr. Sharib (1914-1996), who was the head of the
Gudri Shahi order of the Sufis, has been able to
present the view of an insider to the Sufis of the
Indian Subcontinent.
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SHAIKH
NIZAMUD-DIN AULIYA
Some of the Sufis are a lover of God, but Hazrat
Nizamuddin Awliya was a beloved of God. His
concern for the weak and the destitute endeared
him to the people who found spiritual solace in his
company. He found it difficult to eat, because
some people in Delhi had gone to sleep without
their meals. Inspired by the tradition of the
Prophet he was called Mahbub-e-Elahi, the
beloved of God:
All Gods creatures are His family.
And he is the most beloved of God
Who does most good to His creatures.
The shaykh was a teacher par excellence. He did
not believe in spinning fine ideas, but expressed in
his life the accumulated wisdom of the Sufi path.
His life and the teachings have been described in
an inspiring way by Khaliq Ahmad Nizami. After
depicting his early life, the meeting with shaykh
Baba Farid has been described. The shaykh
welcomed him thus:
The fire of your separation has burnt many hearts.
The storm of desire to meet you has ravaged many
lives.

The old shaykh noticed the nervousness of the

potential disciple and said: Every newcomer is
nervous. After having been accepted as a murid
the way of purification had to be travelled before
the way of illumination could be entered. Hazrat
Nizamuddin Awliya in due course even became the
head of the Chishti order.
Why are we still talking about him? It is because
he demonstrated in his life two types of devotion
to God, i.e. intransitive and transitive devotion. In
the first type of devotion the benefit, which
accrues is confined to the devotee alone. It
consists of prayers, fasting, pilgrimage, recitation
of the zikr, etc. The transitive type of devotion
brings advantage and comfort to others. It is
performed by spending money on others, showing
affection to the people, etc. The reward of
transitive devotion is limitless.

The following quatrain is by Nizamuddin

Awliya himself:
yam be sar-e-kye to pyn pyn
Rukhsr be b-e-dde shyn shyn
Bchre rah-e wasl-e to jyn jyn
Jn mdeham o nm-e to gyn gyn
I came to the end of Your street, running, running.
Tears came down my cheek, washing, washing.
Union with You, I am helplessly seeking, seeking.
My soul I surrender while Your name I am
reciting, reciting.

Siraj
A dervish is a friend of God and a friend of a friend
is a friend, so why not be a friend of a dervish?