Sarkarsaiyednapak

Syedna Mohammad Baghdadi Amjhari
File:Amjhar Sharif.jpg Shrine Of Sarkar Syedna Mohammad Quadri Baghdadi, Amjhar, India
Full Name	Syedna Mohammad Quadri Baghadadi Amjhari
Born	810 AH or 1142
Birthplace	Sijistan, Persia
Died	6th Rajab 633 AH ˜ Mar. 15, 1236 CE
Place of Burial	Tomb Of Moinuddin Chishti, Ajmer, India
Other Titles	غریب نواز Gharīb Nawāz،سلطان الہند Sulṭânu-ll-Hind (emperor of India) Shaikh, Khalifa
Father	Khwaja Ghiyasuddin Chishti
Order	Chisti
Predecessor	Khwaja Usman Harooni
Successor	Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki
Disciples	•Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki •Nizamuddin Auliya •Baba Fareed Ganj shakar •Khwaja Nasiruddin Chirag Dehlvi
Religion	Sufi Islam

Mo`īnuddīn Chishtī (Urdu/معین الدین چشتی) (Persian: چشتی,Urdu: چشتی - Čištī) (Arabic: ششتي - Shishti) was born in 1141 and died in 1236 CE. Also known as Gharīb Nawāz "Benefactor of the Poor" (غریب نواز), he is the most famous Sufi saint of the Chishti Order of the Indian Subcontinent. Moinuddin Chishti introduced and established the order in the subcontinent. The initial spiritual chain or silsila of the Chishti order in India, comprising Moinuddin Chishti, Bakhtiyar Kaki, Baba Farid, Nizamuddin Auliya (each successive person being the disciple of the previous one), constitutes the great Sufi saints of Indian history.

Early life and background

Mo`īnuddīn Chishtī is said to have been born in 536 A.H./1141 CE, in Chishti in Sistan region of East Persia. He grew up in Persia. His parents died when he was fifteen years old. He inherited a windmill and an orchard from his father. During his childhood, young Moinuddin was different from other children and kept himself busy in prayers and meditation. Legend has it that once when he was watering his plants, a revered Sufi, Shaikh Ibrāhim Qundūzī (or Kunduzi) -- the name deriving from his birthplace, Kunduz in Afghanistan—came to his orchard. Young Moinuddin approached him and offered him some fruits. In return, Sheikh Ibrāhīm Qundūzī gave him a piece of bread and asked him to eat it. The Khwāja got enlightened and found himself in a strange world after eating the bread. After this he disposed of his property and other belongings and distributed the money to the poor. He renounced the world and left for Bukhara in search of knowledge and higher education.

He became the Murid (disciple) of Usman Harooni.

Journeys

Moinuddin Chishtī visited the seminaries of Samarkand and Bukhara and acquired religious learning from the eminent scholars of his age. He visited nearly all the great centers of Muslim culture, and acquainted himself with almost every important trend in Muslim religious life in the Middle Ages. He became a disciple of the Chishtī saint 'Uthmān Hārūnī. They travelled the Middle East extensively together, including visits to Mecca and Medina.

Journey to India

Moinuddin Chishtī turned towards India, reputedly after a dream in which Prophet Muhammad blessed him to do so. After a brief stay at Lahore, he reached Ajmer along with Sultan Shahāb-ud-Din Muhammad Ghori, and settled down there. In Ajmer, he attracted a substantial following, acquiring a great deal of respect amongst the residents of the city. Moinuddin Chishtī practiced the Sufi Sulh-e-Kul (peace to all) concept to promote understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims.

Establishing the Chishtī order in India

The Chishtī order was founded by Abu Ishaq Shami (“the Syrian”) in Chisht, some 95 miles east of Herat in present-day western Afghanistan. Moinuddin Chishti established the order in India, in the city of Ajmer in North India.

Moinuddin Chishti apparently never wrote down his teachings in the form of a book, nor did his immediate disciples, but the central principles that became characteristics of the Chishtī order in India are based on his teachings and practices. They lay stress on renunciation of material goods; strict regime of self-discipline and personal prayer; participation in Samā' as a legitimate means to spiritual transformation; reliance on either cultivation or unsolicited offerings as means of basic subsistence; independence from rulers and the state, including rejection of monetary and land grants; generosity to others, particularly, through sharing of food and wealth, and tolerance and respect for religious differences.

He, in other words, interpreted religion in terms of human service and exhorted his disciples "to develop river-like generosity, sun-like affection and earth-like hospitality." The highest form of devotion, according to him, was "to redress the misery of those in distress – to fulfill the needs of the helpless and to feed the hungry."

It was during the reign of Emperor Akbar (1556–1605) that Ajmer emerged as one of the most important centers of pilgrimage in India. The Mughal Emperor undertook an unceremonial journey on foot to accomplish his wish to reach Ajmer. The Akbarnāmah records that the Emperor's interest first sparked when he heard some minstrels singing songs about the virtues of the Walī (Friend of God) who lay asleep in Ajmer.

Moinuddin Chishtī authored several books including Anīs al-Arwāḥ and Dalīl al-'Ārifīn, both of which deal with the Islamic code of living.

Quṭbuddīn Baktiyār Kākī (d. 1235) and Ḥamīduddīn Nagorī (d. 1276) were Moinuddin Chishtī's celebrated Khalīfas or successors who continued to transmit the teachings of their master through their disciples, leading to the widespread proliferation of the Chishtī Order in India.

Among Quṭbuddīn Baktiyār's prominent disciples was Farīduddīn Ganj-i-Shakar (d. 1265), whose dargāh is at Pakpattan, Pakistan. Farīduddīn's most famous disciple was Nizāmuddīn Auliyā' (d. 1325) popularly referred to as Mahbūb-e-Ilāhī (God's beloved), whose dargāh is located in South Delhi. Equally famous was his other disciple Ali Ahmed Alauddin Sabir whose dargah is in Kalyar Sharif. The Sabiri silsila is spread far and wide in India and Pakistan and to this day devotees and their descendants add the title of Sabri to their names

From Delhi, disciples branched out to establish dargāhs in several regions of South Asia, from Sindh in the west to Bengal in the east, and the Deccan in the south. But from all the network of Chishtī dargāhs the Ajmer dargāh took on the special distinction of being the 'mother' dargah of them all.

Dargah Sharif

Dargah of Moinuddin Chishti, Ajmer

Main article: Dargah Sharif

The dargah (shrine) of Chisti, known as Dargah Sharif or Ajmer Sharif is an international wakf (endowment), managed under the 'Dargah Khwaja Saheb Act, 1955' of Government of India. The Dargah Committee, appointed by the Government, manages donations, takes care of the maintenance of the shrine, and runs charitable institutions like dispensaries, and guest houses for the devotees. The dargah, which is visited by Muslim pilgrims as well as Hindus and Sikhs as a symbol of intercommunal harmony.

In popular culture

His poetry in praise of Imam Hazrat Hussein ibn Ali(R.A.) is well known, specially the following verse:

Shah Ast Hussein Badshah Ast Hussein

Ruler is Hussain, Emperor is Hussain

Deen Ast Hussein Deen Panah Ast Hussein

Faith is Hussain , guardian of faith is Hussain

Sar dad na daad dast dar dast e yazeed

Offered his head and not the hand to Yazid

Haqaaq e Binaa e Laa iLaha Ast Hussein

Indeed, Hussain is the foundation of La-ilah(the declaration that none but ALLAH is Absolute and Almighty)

The song "Khwaja Mere Khwaja" from the Hindi film Jodhaa Akbar was inspired by the life and deeds of Moinuddin Chishti.

Sufis of the Chishtī order

He had more than one thousand khalīfas and hundreds of thousands of disciples. Sufis of different orders became his disciples and took ijāzah from him. Among the famous Sufis who trace their lineage to him are: Quṭbuddīn Bakhtiyār Kākī, Farīduddīn Mas'ūd, Nizāmuddīn Auliyā', Hazrat Ahmed Alauddin Sabir Kalyari Amir Khusrau, Nasiruddin Chiragh Dehlavi, Muhammad Hussain-i Gisūdarāz Bandanawāz, Ashraf Jahāngīr Simnānī and Aṭā' Hussain Fānī.

Today, hundreds of thousands of people – Muslims, Hindus and others, from the Indian sub-continent, and from other parts of the world – assemble at his tomb on the occasion of his 'urs (death anniversary).

An outside view of the Maqbara

Spiritual lineage

1. 'Hazrat Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib (R.A.)
2. Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī
3. 'Abdul Wāḥid Bin Zaid Abul Faḍl
4. Fuḍayll ibn 'Iyāḍ Bin Mas'ūd Bin Bishr al-Tamīmī
5. Ibrāhīm bin Adham
6. Ḥudhayfah al-Mar'ashī
7. Amīnuddīn Abū Ḥubayrah al-Baṣrī
8. Mumshād Dīnwarī

Start of the Chishtī Order:

1. [Adul-Ishaq Shami Chisti Khadas-Allah –Sirrahu]
2. [Abu Muhammad Abdal Chishti Khadas-Allah –Sirrahu]
3. [Abu Muhammad bin Abi Ahmed Chishti Khadas-Allah –Sirrahu]
4. Abū Yūsuf bin Sam'ān al-Ḥusaynī
5. Maudūd Chishtī
6. Sharīf Zandānī
7. 'Uthmān Hārūnī
8. [ Muneeruddin Haji Shareef Zandani Khadas-Allah –Sirrahu]
9. [Qutubuddin Yusuf Chisti Khadas-Allah –Sirrahu]
10. Moinuddin Chishti

Others buried in the Maqbara enclosure

The famous Mughal generals Sheikh Mīr and Shāhnawāz Khān were buried in the enclosure of Moinuddin Chishtī's Maqbara after they died in the Battle of Deorai in 1659. Shāhnawāz Khān was the Emperor Aurangzeb's father-in-law.

See also

• Ajmer Dargah attack
• Ali Hujwiri
• Ata Hussain Fani Chishti
• Fariduddin Ganjshakar
• List of famous Sufis
• List of Sufism related topics
• Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani
• Nizamuddin Auliya
• Qadiriyyah
• Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki
• Alaul Haq Pandavi
• Ashraf Jahangir Semnani
• Sayyid
• Sufism
• Urs (Ajmer)

References

Official website of Dargah, Ajmer

External links

Media related to Sarkarsaiyednapak at Wikimedia Commons

Category:13th-century Iranian people Category:Dargahs in India Category:Indian Sufis Category:Indian people of Arab descent Category:Mujaddid Category:Sufi shrines in India Category:1141 births Category:1236 deaths Category:12th-century Iranian people