SufiThursdays

I am a traveler, You are my road.
I go from You to You.
Zeynep Hatun

Her Holiness Bibi Zuleikha Saheba, the venerable mother of his holiness Sultan-ul-Mashaikh (chief of the saints), Mehboob e Ilahi Sheikh Nizamuddin Auliya, may God purify their graves, repaired to the next world on the first of Jumada II in the year 648 Hijra (31 August 1250 AD).

This inscription is on the northern wall of the grave chamber of Bibi Zuleikha, also known as Mai Saheba. She was buried in the same room where she lived. Like many other families of central Asia, Bibi Zuleikha’s parents Khwaja Ali and Khwaja Arab migrated to India during the Mongol invasions of Bukhara. They settled down in Badayun, then an important town in Awadh (now Uttar Pradesh). Khwaja Arab gave his daughter Bibi Zulekha in marriage to Khwaja Syed Ahmad, the son of Khwaja Ali.

There are many legends associated with her. The most famous one was that she chose her son over her husband in a dream in which she was asked to make a choice between her husband and son, as only one was destined to die. Her husband passed away soon after and left Bibi Zuleikha feeling very remorseful. She was only comforted by the fact that she had no control over her dreams as these were involuntary experiences and life and death are a matter of God’s will.
Whenever there was no food in the house Mai Saheba, would tell her son, ‘Nizam! Today we are the guests of Allah.’ She had total belief in God’s will and taught her children that He would send spiritual nourishment which differed from worldly food.

Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya wrote that when his mother prayed, she appeared to be in direct communication with God. He would witness her prayers being accepted without any delay. Every month, on sighting the new moon, he sought the blessings of Mai Saheba, placing his head on her feet. He writes that just before she left this world, she was ill for a few days and would often weep.
When her weeping and distressed son asked her, ‘O Maqdooma e Jahan, in whose care will you entrust me?’ she told him to go and sleep in the adjoining house of Sheikh Najibuddin Mutawakkil and said she would tell him the next day. He spent the night in anguish and as soon as dawn broke, rushed to her side and fell crying at her feet. She held her son’s right hand and whispered, ‘O Allah, I entrust my son to Thy care,’ and recited the kalima before leaving this world for the next.⁸ Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya says that he felt a deep state of contentment after these words.

The entrance to Mai Saheba ki Dargah is through a narrow lane in Adchini. Once upon a time it had its own doorway with a baoli inside it. Today, it is a very well maintained dargah and most of it has been renovated and built recently. There is a beautiful chandelier in the shrine chamber, which has a glass decoration on the roof, giving it a beautiful hue. There are other graves in the chamber with her daughter Bibi Jannat grove by her side. The other graves include Bibi Zainab, the daughter of Bibi Jannat.
[…]

Excerpt from: “The Forgotten Cities of Delhi: Book Two in the Where Stones Speak trilogy” by Rana Safvi.

Sikander Adil Shah was defeated by Aurangzeb and imprisoned. He died in captivity.
His grave is in the foreground as he wished to be buried at the feet of his Pir.

The name Ajmer immediately conjures up a vision of Khwaja Garib Nawaz and his dargah. It reminds me of the saint Moinuddin Hasan Chishti, who was generous like the sea and hospitable like the earth. Today, his dargah, with its saintly white dome and golden crown, hosts millions of devotees who soak in the generosity of his blessings. It was this affection and love for all of humanity that earned Moinuddin Hasan Chishti the name Khwaja Garib Nawaz, or cherisher of the poor.

Devotees from far and wide

Moinuddin Hasan Chishti was born in Sijistan (modern-day Sistan) in Iran in 1141-42 CE. After receiving Khilafat at the age of 52 from Sheikh Usman Harawani, he went on Hajj to Mecca and Medina. While he was praying in the Prophet’s mosque in Medina, the Khwaja is said to have heard the Prophet telling him to go to Hindustan and to the city of Ajmer.

At that time, he had no idea where Ajmer was. However, he proceeded via Baghdad and Herat to Lahore and thence to Delhi and Ajmer. Muizuddin Muhammad bin Sam of Ghor had already defeated Prithviraj Chauhan and established his rule in Delhi. Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti started living and preaching in Ajmer. His instructive discourses, full of spiritual insights, soon drew the local populace as well as kings and nobles and peasants and the poor from far and wide.

The shrine has been visited by Muhammad bin Tughlaq, Sher Shah Suri, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, Dara Shukoh, Jahanara Begum and Aurangzeb, among many others. Even today, filmstars and heads of states, both the rich and the poor make a pilgrimage to the shrine.

Construction and additions

The original dargah was made of wood, write Carl W. Ernst and Bruce B. Lawrence in Sufi Martyrs of Love. A stone canopy was built over it later. When Mahmud Khilji, the Sultan of Malwa, conquered Ajmer in 1455, no concrete structure had been built over the grave of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.

The first concrete evidence we get of construction in the dargah complex is the cupola of the shrine that was embellished in 1532, as indicated in an inscription written in golden letters in the northern wall of the tomb. This is the beautiful dome we see today. In keeping with Indo-Islamic architecture, a lotus adorns the dome and a golden crown offered by Nawab Haider Ali Khan of Rampur sits on top of it.

Most of the additions made to the shrine were done during the reign of Akbar, by the emperor himself. Akbar first visited the shrine in 1562 after he heard wandering minstrels singing the praise of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti as he was returning from a hunt. He decided to proceed to Ajmer immediately. Thus began his annual pilgrimage.

In 1568, Akbar offered a degh, or brass cauldron, for cooking of langar. This was ensconced at the entrance. Another cauldron was offered by Jahangir in 1614. It is placed opposite the first cauldron. Both cauldrons are in use today. Devotees offer sacks of rice and wheat for the gruel that is cooked here. Only vegetarian food is cooked in this dargah.

Akbar gave instructions to build mosques and khanqahs in Ajmer in 1569. The Akbari mosque of red sandstone is probably a result of those orders. An elegant mosque was also built by Shah Jahan in 1637 and is to the west of the shrine, along with the Shah Jahani Darwaza.

A sense of peace

I walked into the dargah through the dargah bazaar and through the well-decorated Nizami Gate, which is yellow with floral designs. This was built in 1911 by British engineers at the behest of the Nizam of Hyderabad. The Naqqar Khana, or drum house, is next to it. It is from here that ensembles would have once played music to greet visitors to the Khwaja’s threshold. A huge silver chandelier hangs here. This was presented by the Golden Temple committee to the dargah.

From here I walked through the courtyards into the Ihaata Noorani, or Quarter of Light, where the main shrine is located. The smell of incense and flowers greeted me.

A railing around the main shrine was offered by Jahanara Begum, the Sufi princess and daughter of Shah Jahan. Jahanara Begum also built a small platform in front of the other door that is known as Begumi Chabutra after her title of Padshah Begum.

There are two doors that go into the main sanctum. Devotees enter it with baskets of flowers, chadors to be offered to the Khwaja. As we wait our turn to enter the dargah, a sense of peace prevails. This is one dargah where women are allowed. A silver and mother of pearl canopy offered by Jahangir can be seen on four silver posts above the cenotaph. The rest of it is covered in flowers and chadors.

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/in-the-chishti-shrine-in-ajmer/article26292437.ece/amp/

Wrote

Hayderum,Qalandrum, Mustam

Banda-e-Murtuza Ali Hastum

Peshwa-e-Tamaam Rindan Num

Kay Sagae kuo-e-Sher-e-Yazdan Num

Translation:

I am Haideri (a follower of Haider, aka Ali ibn Abi Talib), I am a Qalandar and I am intoxicated (with inspiration).

I am a servant of Ali Murtaza (aka Ali ibn Abi Talib)

I am leader of all saints

Because I am a dog of the lane of “Allah’s Lion” (referring to Maula Ali Murtaza)

Grave of Mughal Emeperor,Aurangzeb at Khuldabad, Aurangabad, 1850s.

Date1850-1856 SourceBritish Library

William Carpenter (1818–1899)

On a recent trip to Khuldabad I visited Aurangzeb ‘s grave. It was initially just a simple grave in the courtyard of his spiritual master’s dargah.

The entrance of the dargah of Shaikh Zaynuddin Shirazi

The name of the area was Rauza because it housed the shrines of in numerous Sufi saints. Since Aurangzeb was given the posthumous title of khuld-makani it was called Khuldabad.

Aurangzeb had willed that he should be buried here—‘they should carry this sinner drenched in sins to the neighborhood of the holy Chishti tomb of the revered leader, Sayyid and Shaykh Zaynuddin Husayn Shirazi, since without the protection of that court (of the saints), which is the refuge of forgiveness, there is no refuge for those drowned in the ocean of sin’ (Ernst 2004a:223-24).

The epitaph :

Az tila o nuqreh gar saazand gumbad aghniyaa! Bar mazaar e maa ghareebaan gumbad e gardun bas ast!.

Translation: “The rich may well construct domes of gold and silver on their graves! For the poor folks like me, the sky is enough (of a dome to shelter my grave

It is said that Aurangzeb paid for his burial place by stitching caps during his last years and that it cost only 14 rupees and 12 annas.

He had wanted a simple grave but the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad got a delicate marble screen placed around it, as well as a marble platform in the 20th century. Lord Curzon also helped in its beautification.

As it was amawas ki raat many pilgrims had come from Sholapur to pray to the saint.

Amena said for past 50 years she comes every month on the 28th of the lunar calendar

Hazrat Bu Ali ( Fragrance of Ali) Qalandar
Wrote

Hayderum,Qalandrum, Mustam
Banda-e-Murtuza Ali Hastum

Peshwa-e-Tamaam Rindan Num
Kay Sagae kuo-e-Sher-e-Yazdan Num

Translation:
I am Haideri (a follower of Haider, aka Ali ibn Abi Talib), I am a Qalandar and I am intoxicated (with inspiration).
I am a servant of Ali Murtaza (aka Ali ibn Abi Talib)
I am leader of all saints
Because I am a dog of the lane of “Allah’s Lion” (referring to Maula Ali Murtaza)

His real name was Sheikh Sharf Uddin and Bu-Ali Shah the title. His father, Sheikh Fakhar Uddin was a great scholar and saint of his time. The mother, Bibi Hafiza Jamal, was the daughter of Maulana Syed Nemat Ullah Hamdani. His father came from Ganja, Azerbaijan in the year 600 Hijri and settled down in Panipat. His lineage with several links reached Hazrat Imam Abu Hanifa. One account says he was born in 1209 AD in Panipat, India. However an epitaph on his tomb in Persian gives his birthplace as Ganja in present-day Azerbaijan. It traces his descent from Imam e Aazam Nauman Ibn Thaabit Abu Hanifa.

He completed his studies in Alauddin Khilji’s madarsa near the Qutub Minar in Delhi and taught there for 20 years. He was a renowned scholar and teacher of his age.

There’s an interesting story about him when he had given up studies and teaching and had gone into the forest for meditation.
The King of Delhi was unable to consumate his marriage with a girl he had married even though he had no problems with his other wives.
He summoned all the scholars of Delhi and told them about his strange problem. They were unable to figure it out and the furious ruler warned all of the scholars of Delhi, that if they could not find the reason of his problem until tomorrow, he would kill them all. Bu-Ali Shah, who was only a religious scholar at the time, was also among them.
On the same day, a wandering dervish came to the school of Bu-Ali Shah, and asked his students about him. They told him that he went to the palace. That Dervish gave some written note to the students and asked them to give it to Bu-Ali Shah. When Bu-Ali Shah arrived at his school, his students told him about the dervish and gave him the written note.
It was written in that the ruler of Delhi has married his own daughter, that’s why when he goes near her, God makes him impotent.
It transpired thst the ruler had married and deserted a beautiful woman many years ago. That woman who was pregnant at that time took refuge in the house of an old man, who was a launderer. She gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and died shortly after giving birth to her. Because the old launderer was childless, he took the baby girl and raised her up as his own daughter. Since she was beautiful, the ruler had come to know about her beauty, and he married her.
On next day, Bu-Ali Shah went to the ruler, and told him the whole story. Then the ruler inquired about that, and found it to be true.