Tag Archives: Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti

Gandhi’s last pilgrimage was to shrine of Indian Muslim mystic Bakhtiyar Kaki

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GUJARAT / NEW DELHI :

Late Kushwant Singh’s account of the Mahatma’s last days, and pride in Indian Islam

Mahatma Gandhi at a prayer meeting at the shrine of Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki
Mahatma Gandhi at a prayer meeting at the shrine of Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki

Hyderabad (Rahnuma) :

India’s most celebrated writer and former Member of Parliament, the late Kushwant Singh wrote in his book, published as “Notes on The Great Indian Circus”; “ It should be remembered that Mahatma Gandhi who conducted daily prayers where he was, did not go into temples and the last time he went to a place of worship was at the tomb of Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki.”

Born in 1173 AD, Khwaja Qutub Uddin Bakhtiyar Kaki was the most renowned Sufi mystic, saint and scholar of the Chishti order in the Indian subcontinent.

His mausoleum was the first dargah of a prominent Muslim in Delhi. He was a disciple and the intellectual successor of Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer as head of the Chishti order. Delhi’s Qutb Minar, is said to have been dedicated to him.

Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki had a tremendous influence on Islam in India. As he continued, and developed the traditional ideas of Monism (non-dualism, Wahdat ul-Wujud, Advaita Vedanta), universal brotherhood and generosity.

His dargah located adjacent to Zafar Mahal in Mehrauli is the oldest dargah in Delhi.

Three days before he was shot and martyred, on January 27th, 1948, Mahatma Gandhi held his last public address at the shrine of Muslim sage Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki in Mehrauli.

The Partition caused an eruption of violence in Delhi which was refusing to abate. Delhi was overflowing with refugees, and people were afraid to leave their homes. During the annual Urs held at the dargah, a tradition observed for centuries – there were only a few Muslims present to mark the occasion.

In this perilous circumstance, Mahatma Gandhi held a prayer meeting at the shrine of Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki.

In his other book, “The Novel”, Kushwant Singh described the incident in the following manner: “ Gandhi bows to Kaki’s Tomb. The Mussalmans accompanying him request to, utter our Fateha. So the Mahatma raises his hand and recites: In the name of Allah the beneficent and the merciful.”

According to Singh, it was here that Mahatma Gandhi met Maulana Jamal Miyan Firangi Mahali (the son of Maulana Abdul Bari Firangi Mahali, whom Gandhi referred to as his brother), who recounted the entire meet to an Urdu newspaper upon his return to the city of Lucknow.

“ Maulana Jamal asked Gandhi how he knew Hazrat Bakhtiyar Kaki to which the latter replied, it was in fact, his father Maulana Bari who had introduced him to the great Sufi saint as the disciple of Hazrat Moinuddin Chishti Gareeb Nawaz of Ajmer “ recalled Adnan Abdul Wali Firangi Mahali, the great-grandson of Moulana Bari, referring to the reported incident.

Explaining the incident further, Gandhi had told Jamal how he was invited by Moulana Bari from Ahmedabad to Ajmer, in March 1922, where the Mahatma had his first experience with sitting in an authentic Chisti Qawwali.

“ The Ghazal being sung was composed by Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar and the Bihar secretary of the Khilafat Committee, Dr. Syed Mahmood was translating it to Gandhiji from Urdu to English, ” said Adnan. In awe of what unfolded before him during the event, Mahatma Gandhi enquired from Moulana Bari about Moinuddin Chishti’s intellectual successor Bakhtiyar Kaki. The Mahatma was apprised cordially on the life of Bakhtiyar Kaki by Moulana Bari.

Later in the year 1948, when Mahatma Gandhi visited Bakhtiyar Kaki’s shrine, the annual Urs celebrations that had been called off owing to rampant rioting were reinstated.

Marking the occasion, the Sikh brethren had performed Qawwali at the shrine under Mahatma Gandhi’s guidance.
Mahatma Gandhi’s endeavor for peace and harmony was his last fast-unto-death, signaling the riots to cease.

With pressure mounting from all sections of society to call off his fast, he laid down five conditions, of which the return of Kaki’s shrine to Muslims and that it be repaired by Hindus and Sikhs together was one.

Mahatma Gandhi at the shrine of Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki
Mahatma Gandhi at the shrine of Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki

Rafi Adeen is a Contributing Editor for The Rahnuma Daily (TheRahnuma.com), the online English daily edition of The Rahnuma-E-Deccan Daily (ReDD), India’s oldest Urdu daily print newspaper. He can be contacted at rafi@therahnuma.com

source: http://www.therahnuma.com / The Rahnuma Daily / Home / by Rafi Adeen / November 13th, 2019

Rajasthan Assembly Elections 2018: BSP’s prize catch in dargah town

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Ajmer, RAJASTHAN :

Syed Ammad Chishti
Syed Ammad Chishti

In Ajmer North, party fields Ammad Chishti from the Khadim community, which traces its descent to Khwaja Fakhruddin Gurdezi, who accompanied Khwaja Gharib Nawaz on his move to Ajmer around the year 1190.

At first glance, Syed Ammad Chishti looks like an urban professional, juggling career and family. But the 26-year-old is the second member of the Khadim community here to contest an Assembly election.

The community of nearly 800 families occupies a prominent position in the hierarchy of the famed 13th century dargah of Sufi mystic Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti here. It traces its descent to Khwaja Fakhruddin Gurdezi, who accompanied Khwaja Gharib Nawaz on his move to Ajmer around the year 1190.

As the custodians of the monument, the Khadims have unrivalled access to the inner sanctum and perform all the rituals and ceremonies at the tomb.

Religious service

As Khwaja Gurdezi was the Khadim-e-Khas (chief attendant) of Khwaja Gharib Nawaz, Khadims consider it their religious obligation to serve the tomb and receive all offerings.

The Mughal emperors, Hindu kings and later the British government had liberally granted jagirs (land grants), honours and rewards to Khadims.

Almost no Khadim family migrated to Pakistan during Partition, staying back to protect the shrine from pillage and plunder.

Abysmal conditions

Mr. Chishti, the youngest municipal councillor of the Ajmer Municipal Corporation, is contesting on Bahujan Samaj Party ticket in the Ajmer North constituency, where the historical dargah is situated.

“I represent the hopes and aspirations of not just the Khadims but all the people residing here,” he told The Hindu.

Syed M. Ayas Maharaj was the first Khadim to contest an Assembly election.

He won on Congress ticket in 1980, defeating Ramzan Khan of the nascent BJP by a margin of 2,825 votes.

Mr. Chishti points to the “pathetic condition” of the dargah area in the foothills of Taragarh, and the BJP government’s alleged neglect.

“We are supplied water once in three days in this area with a high population density. Pipelines from the Bisalpur dam were laid for Ajmer, but the water has been diverted to Jaipur,” he says.

It is not just the 45,000-strong Muslim electorate in Ajmer North that Mr. Chishti is banking upon. “Education Minister Vasudev Devnani has been elected thrice from here. Look what he has done, other than distorting history and changing the school curriculum. People are fed up,” he says.

Mr. Chishti says he will reach out to all the communities, let they be Sindhi, Vaish or Brahmin, with the promise of better living conditions and good governance.

Mr. Chishti, father of a two-year-old boy, says his political ambitions are rooted in his desire to bring about a change.

It was his father, Shamim Chishti, who had introduced the BSP in the dargah area. The young man went to Lucknow to meet party supremo Mayawati with a request for ticket. “Mayawatiji encouraged me to work for people’s welfare. She may address a public meeting in Ajmer on November 28,” he says.

Justice denied

Though Mr. Chishti does not mention it, there is an underlying bitterness among the Khadims over the government’s failure to punish the perpetrators of the 2007 blast at the dargah, in which three persons were killed.

Though the National Investigation Agency Special Court in Jaipur convicted two RSS functionaries in 2017, the Rajasthan High Court suspended their life sentences and released them on bail.

While Wahid Angara Shah, secretary of the Anjuman Khuddam Syedzadgan, a Khadims’ representative body, says politics should be kept out of dargah affairs, Anjuman member Sarwar Chishti, who had lodged the complaint in the blast case, alleges that the NIA had weakened the case after the change of government at the Centre in 2014.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Elections> Rajasthan 2018 / by Mohammed Iqbal / Ajmer – November 23rd, 2018