Initiation into the Sufi Order

Hazrat Amir Khusro inherited from his father not only an honourable place in the society of the day and a
high status at the royal court but also the tradition of respect for Sufis and men of piety.

When he was eight years old, his father took him to Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. As his father was entering
the door of the great Saint's Khanqah, the young Hazrat Khusro audaciously said that it was up to him and
not his father to choose his Pir. His father left him outside the door and went in alone to talk to the saint. In
the meantime, Hazrat Amir Khusro composed the a quatrain in Persian in order to test the spiritual
capabilities of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. Hazrat Amir Khusro affirmed to himself that he would only
become a mureed of Hazrat Nizamuddin if a satisfactory answer was provided to the following quatrain:

“
Toa aan shahey ke bur aiwaan-e-qasrat

Kabutar gar nashinad baaz gardad.

Gharib-e-mustamandey bur dar amad,

Beyayad androon yaa baaz gardad.

You are that great a king that, if on the roof of your grand palace a pigeon were to sit, it
becomes a skylark.

A poor and humble soul has come to your door, should he enter or should he go away? ”
Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya immediately replied and sent the following reply to Hazrat Amir Khusro in the
same form as the initial quatrain:

“
Beyayad androon mard-e-haqiqat

Ke baa maa yak nafas hamraz gardad.

Agar ablay buwad aan mard-e-naadaan,

Azaan raahey ke aamad baaz gardad.

Do come in, oh truthful soul, so that we may become close and become trusted friends.

But if you are ignorant and have no wisdom, then you better go back the way you came. ”
When Hazrat Khusro heard the quatrain, which to him was a perfect reply, he entered the room and
became a mureed of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya — faithfully serving his master throughout his life.

Love for his Pir

A unique story illustrates Hazrat Amir Khusro's unbounded devotion and love for his Pir.
Once a poor man, having heard of the reputation of Hazrat Nizamuddin's munificence, came
to Delhi from a distant part of India in the hope of getting assistance from him to solve his
financial problems. Incidentally, the saint had nothing to offer him that day except a pair of
his old shoes. Greatly disappointed the poor man nevertheless thanked the saint and left to
return to his village.

On his return journey, he stayed at an inn for the night. Coincidentally, the same night Hazrat
Amir Khusro, who was returning to Delhi from a business trip in Bengal, was also staying in
the same inn. Hazrat Amir Khusro at the time traded in jewellery and precious stones and was
considered to be one of the most wealthy citizens of Delhi. The next morning, when Hazrat
Amir Khusro got up, he remarked: "Boo-e-Sheikh mee ayad" (I smell my Pir's fragrance
here).

After finding the source of the scent, he found the man and asked him if he had been to see
Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya during his stay in Delhi. The man replied in the affirmative and
told Hazrat Amir Khusro the story of his meeting with Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, whilst
holding up the pair of shoes to show how old and of little value they were.

Hazrat Amir Khusro at once asked the man to give him the shoes in exchange for his entire
wealth to which the man duly obliged. Overjoyed at this totally unexpected good fortune, the
poor man thanked Hazrat Amir Khusro profusely and went away rejoicing. Amir Khusro
eventually reached his Master and placed the pair of shoes at his feet. After explaining that he
exchanged his entire wealth for the pair of shoes, Hazrat Nizamuddin remarked "Khusro,
Bisyaar arzaan kharidi" (Khusro, you got them very cheap).

Most of the compositions of Hazrat Khusro, particularly his masnavis are full of praise of
Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. This is demonstrated by the following couplets:

“ Nizamul Haq (Din) is the right hand of the Prophet ‫;ﷺ‬

”
the blue sky is but a corner of his prayer carpet.

“ His words scatter away the treasure of truth,

and his countenance radiates like the sun for those who pray at dawn.

His Pir's Love for him

About his love for Amir Khusro, Hazrat Nizamuddin used to say: "If Shariat permitted, I would have
preferred to rest with Khusro in one and the same grave." So great was the attachment of the Pir to
his mureed, he expressed in a Persian verse:

If they put a saw upon my head and asked me to give up Khusro, I would prefer to give my
“ head rather than to leave Khusro. ”
When Hazrat Amir Khusro was not in Delhi, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya would write to him. Such letters
expressive of the Sufi master's affection and love for his favourite disciple, who was addressed therein
as Turkullah (God's Turk), were preserved by Hazrat Amir Khusro with great care. In accordance with the
will of Hazrat Amir Khusro, the letters are said to have been buried along with him after his death.

When Hazrat Amir Khusro attached himself to Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, he renounced whatever he
possessed of worldly things. The master was so deeply attached to his mureed that he often prayed "O
God, forgive me for the sake of the fire of love burning in the heart of this Turk."

Association with Kings

Hazrat Amir Khusro enjoyed the title of Nayak (a perfect master of music). With this poetic talent and
comprehensive knowledge, combined with a mastery in prose, Hazrat Amir Khusro at first found his way to
the court of Sultan Ghiyasuddin Balban who ascended the Delhi throne in 664 AH (1265 AD). There he
was patronised by Malik Chajju Kishli Khan, a cousin of the Sultan.

Hazrat Amir Khusro saw the rise and fall of several kingdoms, in Delhi, yet he maintained his association
with each successive monarch and tried to win his favour through his eulogies. Thus we see that he sang
the praises of Alauddin Khalji (695-715 AH / 1295-1315 AD), Qutubuddin Mubarakshah (715-720 AH /
1315- 1320 AD) and Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq (720-725 AH / 1320-1324 AD). These rulers, on their part,
treated Hazrat Amir Khusro with respect and honoured him, taking pride in him for his scholarly
achievements, intelligence, wisdom and above all, his piety and purity of heart. He thus earned the title
of Tut-i Hind (Parrot of India).

Alauddin Khalji gave him 100 tanka (gold coins) annually, and Hazrat Khusro, as a token of
acknowledgement, recorded all the conquests of the king in beautiful masnavi called "Khazain-ul-Futuh"
Another masnavi "Taj-ul-Futuh" commemorates the victories of Jalaluddin Firuzshah in 718AH (1318 AD).
Hazrat Amir Khusro also dedicated his masnavi "Nuh-Sipihr" to Qutubuddin Mubarakshah.

Bughra Khan, son of Ghiyasuddin Balban and the ruler of Samana (in Panjab) always favoured the poet.
When Bughra Khan's war against his son Kaiqubad resulted in peace, He asked Hazrat Amir Khusro to
write a full-length masnavi to commemorate the happy reunion of father and son. Hazrat Khusro thus
composed "Qiranu's-Sadain" in 688 AH (1289 AD) in six months.

Legacy

Writing in his publication, Shir al-Ajam, Allama Shibli Nomani, the famous theologian and historian of Islam
in India, eulogises Hazrat Amir Khusro's genius and illuminating contributions to the oriental literature in his
following paragraphs:

During the past 600 years, India has not produced such an intellectual giant. To tell the

“ truth, even Iran and Greece, in the past few millenia, have produced only two or four
individuals of such intellect, combining so many qualities in one being, as Amir Khusro
possessed. Apart from his many other rare qualities, if we take his poetical genius
exclusively, we are astonished at the multiplicity of the varied subjects upon which he had
”
 attained masterly command. Firdausi, Anwari, Saadi, Haafiz, Urfi and Nazeeri, although
they were undoubtedly intellectual giants of their own "subjects" and fields of poetry, their
achievements were confined only to one particular subject. Firdausi could not go
beyond masnavi, Saadi could not touch qaseeda , Anwari had no command
over masnavi or ghazal, while Haafiz, Urfi and Naseeri could not get beyond ghazal. It
was, however, Khusro who commanded complete mastery
over ghazal, masnavi, qaseeda and rubayee, besides thousands of other smaller poetical
compositions on a variety of subjects and common topics. If we calculate the huge number
of Khusro's voluminous compositions, we find no match to him in terms of quantity in the
history of poetry. The number of Firdausi's verses in Shahnama is supposed to be 70,000.
Saadi's number of poetical compositions is no more than 100,000 but Amir Khusro's
number exceeds 450,000.

Works

Hazrat Amir Khusro has authored over 90 books. His famous book entitled Rahat-ul-
Mohibbeen encompasses the discourses of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. Amongst his other books the most
prominent are:

 Dewan Tuhfat-us-Saghir (Offering of a Minor) his first divan, contains poems composed between the
age of 16 and 19

 Dewan Wast-ul-Hayat (The Middle of Life) his second divan, contains poems composed at the peak of
his poetic career

 Dewan Ghurrat-ul-Kamaal (The Prime of Perfection) poems composed between the age of 34 and 43

 Baqia-Naqia (The Rest/The Miscellany) compiled at the age of 64

 Qissa Chahar Darvesh (The Tale of the Four Dervishes)

 Nihayatul-Kamaal (The Height of Wonders) compiled probably a few weeks before his death.

 Qiran-us-Saadain (Meeting of the Two Auspicious Stars) Masnavi about the historic meeting of Bughra
Khan and his son Kyqbad after long enmity (1289)

 Miftah-ul-Futooh (Key to the Victories) in praise of the victories of Jalaluddin Firuz Khilji (1291)

 Masnavi Noh Sipahr (Masnavi of the Nine Skies) Hazrat Amir Khusro’s perceptions of India and its
culture (1318)

 Tarikh-i-Alai ('Times of Alai'- Alauddin Khilji)

 Tughluq Nama (Book of the Tughluqs) in prose (1320)

 Ejaaz-e-Khusrovi (The Miracles of Khusro) an assortment of prose compiled by himself

 Khazain-ul-Futooh (The Treasures of Victories) one of his more controversial books, in prose (1311–
12)

 Afzal-ul-Fawaid utterances of Nizamuddin Auliya

 Jawahar-e-Khusrovi often dubbed as the Hindawi divan of Amir Khusro

Poetry

Allama Shibli Nomani declares in Shir al-Ajam that Hazrat Amir Khusro, while improving the old tunes and
rhythms, invented many new ones by blending Persian and Hindi rhyme and rhythm in such a fine way that
they revolutionised the entire world of music. The art reached such a height of perfection that even after the
lapse of seven hundred years, it could not be excelled.

Pioneer of Urdu

In a country like India where each province has a different language and peculiar dialect of its own, a
common and easy medium for communication was desperately needed to preserve unity. With this
objective in view, he composed a large number of couplets and verses with mixed vocabularies of Turkic,
Arabic, Persian and Braj Bhasha (a dialect closely related to Hindi) which laid foundations for the inception
of a new language - Urdu.

Over subsequent generations, the language was further developed and refined. It is now spoken by over
four hundred million people in the world and is the official language of Pakistan.