Sheikh Moinuddin Chisti (1142-1230 CE (ra) was the ‘founder’ of the beautiful Chisti Sufi Order. Born in Khorosan or Isfahan in Persia, he was both a Hassani and a Hussaini Syed and he studied Islam in Samarkand and Bukhara, where he gained both internal and external Islamic knowledge.
He had travelled through the great Muslim cities and in 1220 he became the disciple of the Sufi Chisti Khwaja Uthman Harooni. He traveled through the lands with his master and went to the Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah, but one day he dreamed that the Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) was guiding him to go to India and therefore he traveled to that land, first settling in Lahore and then Ajmer.
The residents of that city came to love him dearly. He would become one of the greatest Sufi’s in Indian history and he was active in promoting Islamic Sufi at a time of great chaos in the world. Through his love and mercy the people of the city flocked to him, whatever their religious origins. He taught his followers to give up worldly goods and to focus upon worship and spiritual endeavours instead. He taught them tolerance and mercy of those who differed with them and called them to serve God via lives of service to His servants feeding the hungry and helping the needy.
Sheikh Moinuddin wrote books on how to live as a good Muslim and he sent his disciples out into the land to spread benevolence, love and wisdom. He taught an approach to Islam based upon the renunciation of material goods, self-discipline and dedication to worship. He discouraged his students from becoming indebted to rulers through accepting land grants etc and he promoted Sufi ideals of tolerance and sharing. In this he is said to have told his disciples that they should develop generosity like a river, loving warmth like the sunlight and hospitality like the earth.
Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti authored books including treatises on Islamic living, such as Daleel al-Arefeen and Anis al-Arwah, before he passed away. His legacy would be an Islamic tolerance of the Indians of other faiths that would embue his disciples and their followers throughout Indian history.
After his death the Shiekh’s students established many more Sufi centres (Derhgas) across India, but the original center at Ajmer would remain the heart of the order. The Chistiyyah became a major Indian Sufi Order, which that traditionally used songs as a method of spiritual development and a way of attracting countless numbers of Hindus to Islam. It is a Sufi Order well known for promoting mercy, love and tolerance.
The Chistiyyah silsalah passes through great Muslim figures including Hadrat Hassan al-Basri (raa) and Ibrahim Adham (raa) and became a distinct order with the Syrian Sheikh Abu Ishaq Shami (raa) who took the science of Sufi to the Afghan town of Chisht. There he trained Khwaja Abu Ahmad Abdal (raa) and deputized him to spread the order in the region over a thousand years ago.
Amongst Sheikh Moinuddin Chisti’s most influential spiritual heirs were the great mystical figures such Qutubuddin Bakhtiar Kaki (raa), Sheikh Nizamuddin Auliya (raa) and Sheikh Mohammed Badesha Qadri (raa) who would spread Islam through India, whilst later heirs, such as Shah Wali’ullah (raa) and Sheikh Hajji Imdadullah (raa) would spread deep understandings of the true religion for people of the modern age.
One month before he passed away the wise Sheikh Mu’inuddin Chisti (ra) made a beautiful farewell address to his disciples that summed up the essence of his understanding of the spiritual quest, encouraging them to love and have mercy for the human beings, to spread peace, to avoid the courts of Kings, to assist the needy, the widow and the orphan and to serve the people. One time he is reported to have said….
A friend of God has affection
like the sun -
When the sun rises
it is beneficial to all people,
be they Muslim, Christian or Hindu.
A friend of God is generous
like a river -
All may get water from the river
to quench their thirst
and it does not discriminate
between the good or the sinful,
the relation or the stranger.
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