Chishti Order
Sufi order | |
Headquarters | Herat, Afghanistan |
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Key people | Abu Ishaq Shami – founder |
Part of a series on Islam Sufism |
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Islam portal |
The Chishti order (
The Chishti Order is known for its emphasis on love, tolerance, and openness.
In the 20th century, the order has spread outside Afghanistan and the Indian subcontinent. Chishti teachers have established centers in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, Eastern and Southern Africa.
Guiding principles
The Chishti
Never seek any help, charity, or favors from anybody except God. Never go to the courts of kings, but never refuse to bless and help the needy and the poor, the widow, and the orphan, if they come to your door.[4]
Chishti practice is also notable for Sama: evoking the divine presence by listening to and losing oneself in a form of music and poetry, usually Qawwali.[5] The Chishti, and some other Sufi orders, believe that Sama can help devotees forget self in the love of Allah. However, the order also insists that followers observe the full range of Muslim obligations; it does not dismiss them as mere legalism, as some strands of Sufism have done.[5]
However some
"Sima' (to listen to Qawwali) is permissible if a few conditions are met. The singer must be an adult and not a child or a female. The listener must only listen to everything in the remembrance of Allah. The words that are sung must be free from obscenity and indecency and they must not be void. Musical instruments must not be present in the gathering. If all these conditions are met, Sima' is permissible".
"...Someone complained to the Sultan of the Mashaa’ikh that some of the dervishes danced in a gathering where there were musical instruments. He said, they did not do good as something impermissible cannot be condoned".
Furthermore, Nizamuddin Auliya said:[6]
Musical instruments are Haram.
Practices
The Chishtis follow five basic devotional practices (dhikr).[9]
- Reciting the names of Allāh loudly, sitting in the prescribed posture at prescribed times (dhikr-i jali)
- Reciting the names of Allāh silently (dhikr-i khafī)
- Regulating the breath (pās-i anfās)
- Absorption in meditation on the Divine (murā-ḳāba)
- Forty days or more days of spiritual confinement in a lonely corner or cell for prayer and contemplation (čilla)
Literature
Early Chishti shaykhs adopted concepts and doctrines outlined in two influential Sufi texts: the ʿAwārif al-Maʿārif of Shaykh
Spiritual lineage
Sufi orders trace their origins ultimately to the Islamic prophet
The traditional silsila (spiritual lineage) of the Chishti order is as follows:[11]
- Muḥammad
- Ali ibn Abu Talib
- Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (d. 728, an early Persian Muslim theologian)
- 'Abdul Wāḥid ibn Zaid Abul Faḍl(d. 793, an early Sufi saint)
- Fuḍayl ibn 'Iyāḍ ibn Mas'ūd ibn Bishr al-Tamīmī
- Ibrāhīm ibn Adham(a legendary early Sufi ascetic)
- Khwaja Sadid ad-Din Huzaifa al-Marashi Basra Iraq
- Abu Hubayra al-Basri Basra Iraq
- Khwaja Mumshad Uluw Al Dīnawarī
- Abu Ishaq Shamī(d. 940, founder of the Chishti order proper)
- Abu Aḥmad Abdal Chishti
- Abu Muḥammad Chishti
- Abu Yusuf Nasar-ud-Din Chishtī
- Qutab-ud-Din Maudood Chishtī
- Haji Sharif Zindani (d. 1215)
- Usman Harooni (d. 1220)
- Mu'īnuddīn Chishtī(Moinuddin Chishti) (1141–1230 or 1142–1236)
- Qutab-ud-Din Bakhtyar Kaki (1173–1228)
- Farīduddīn Mas'ūd("Baba Farid", 1173 or 1175–1266)
After Farīduddīn Mas'ūd, the Chishti order divided into two branches:
- Chishtī Sabri, who follow Alauddin Sabir Kaliyari (Sabiri/Sabriya branch)
- Chishtī Nizami who follow Nizāmuddīn Auliyā. (Nizami/Nizamiya branch)
History
The Encyclopedia of Islam divides Chishti history into four periods:
- Era of the great shaykhs (c. 597/1200 to 757/1356)
- Era of the provincial khānaḳāhs (8th/14th & 9th/15th centuries)
- Rise of the Ṣābiriyya branch (9th/15th century onwards)
- Revival of the Niẓāmiyya branch (12th/18th century onwards[12])
The order was founded by
The founder of the Chishti Order in South Asia was
Moinuddin was followed by Qutab-ud-Din Bakhtyar Kaki and Farīduddīn Mas'ūd 'Baba Farid'. After Fariduddin, the Chishti Order of South Asia split into two branches. Each branch was named after one of Fariduddin's successors.
- Nizamuddin Auliya – the Chishti Nizami branch
- Alauddin Sabir Kaliyari – the Chishti-Sabiri branch
It was after Nizamuddin Auliya that the Chishti Sufism chain spread throughout the Indian Peninsula. Two prominent lines of transmission arose from Nizamuddin Auliya, one from his disciple
As a result of this merging of the Chishti order with other branches, most Sufi masters now initiate their disciples in all the four major orders of South Asia: Chishti, Suhrawadi, Qadri, and Naqshbandi. They do however teach devotional practices typical of the order with which they are primarily associated.
The Chishti order has also absorbed influences and merged at times with various antinomian faqiri Sufi groups, especially the Qalandar. Some Chishtis both past and present have lived as renunciants or as wandering dervish.[18]
The first Chishti master in the West was Ḥazrat Pīr-o-Murshid 'Ināyat Khān, who came to the West in 1910 and established centers in Europe and the U.S. His lineage-successors were Pīr Vilāyat 'Ināyat Khān (d. 2004) and Pīr Zīa 'Ināyat-Khān, the current head of the 'Ināyatīyya. This tariqat is unusual in that it accepts seekers of all faiths without asking conversion to formal Islam, a controversial practice but which is customary in the Nizāmi branch going back to Nizāmuddīn Auliya and later made written policy by Shah Kalīmullāh Jahanabadi in the early 1700s CE.
In 1937 the
In addition, a number of mixed-Sufi type groups or movements in Islam, have also been influenced by the Chishti Order proper.
Indo-Islamic rulers
From the 14th century onwards (during the rule of the Tughluqs), the Chishti Order came to be associated with political prosperity for the Indian subcontinent's Muslim kingdoms. The Delhi Sultanate, Bahmani Sultanate, Bengal Sultanate, and various provincial dynasties associated themselves with Shaikhs of the Chishti Order for good fortune. Shrines of prominent Shaikhs were patronised by ruling dynasties, who made pilgrimages to these sites. Often the founding member of a kingdom paid respects to a Chishti Shaikh as a way of legitimising their new state, and this Shaikh became closely associated with the whole dynasty. For example, fourteen successive Bengal Sultans considered Shaikh 'Ala Al-Haq to be their spiritual master.[25]
Several rulers of the
Akbar also credited the Chishti Shaikhs with his victory at the
-
The passing of Shah Jahan; attending him, his daughter Princess Jahanara.
-
TheMughal EmperorAkbar was a great patron of the Chishti Order.
Other notable Chishti shaykhs
- Qutb ud deen Modood Chishti 527 A.H
- Haji Shareef zandani 612 A.H
- Usman Harooni 617 A.H
- Moinuddin Chishti
- Qut ul aqtab Qutb ud deen Bakhtiyar kaki 635 A.H (Delhi, India)
- Fareed ud deen Mas’ood Ganj E Shakar668 A.H (Pak Patan Sharif, Pakistan)
- Naseer ud deen Mahmood Charagh Dehlavi 757 A.H (Delhi, India)
- Tajuddin Chishti (Chishtian Sharif, Pakistan)
- Amir Khusro(Delhi, India)
- Akhi Siraj Aainae Hind(Dist. Malda, West Bengal, India)
- Alaul Haq Pandavi(Dist. Malda, West Bengal, India)
- Nur Qutb Alam (Dist. Malda, West Bengal, India)
- Ashraf Jahangir Semnani[26] (Kichaucha, Uttar Pradesh, India)
- Burhanuddin Gharib (Maharashtra, India)
- Bande Nawaz (Gulbarga, India)
- Salim Chishti (Fatehpur Sikri, India)
- Noor Muhammad Maharvi1205 A.H (Mahar Sharif, Pakistan)
- Muhammad Suleman Taunsvi1267 A.H (Taunsa Sharif, Pakistan)
- Ata Hussain Fani Chishti (Bihar, India)
- Khwaja Ghulam Farid (Mithankot, Pakistan)
- Muhammad Shamsuddin Sialvi 1300 A.H (Sial Sharif, Pakistan)
- Ahamed Mohiyudheen Noorishah Jeelani (Noori Maskan, Hyderabad)[27][circular reference]
- Meher Ali Shah (Golra Sharif, Pakistan)[28]
- Inayat Khan (Vadodara, Gujarat)
- Haji Imdadullah Muhajir Makki (Muzaffarnagar, India/Makkah, Saudi Arabia)
- Ashraf Ali Thanwi (Thana Bhawan, India)
See also
- Waris Shah
- Sabri Brothers
- Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
- Hakim Ahmad Shuja
- Sufi Ruhaniat International
- Syed Waheed ashraf
Notes
- ^ Ernst, Carl W. and Lawrence, Bruce B. (2002) Sufi Martyrs of Love: The Chishti Order in South Asia and Beyond Palgrave Macmillan, New Yorks 1234567 4039-6026-7
- ^ Rozehnal, Robert. Islamic Sufism Unbound: Politics and Piety in Twenty-First Century Pakistan. Palgrave MacMillan, 2007. Print.
- ^ Sufi martyrs of love By Carl W. Ernst, Bruce B. Lawrence, p. 4.
- ISBN 0-89281-324-5.
- ^ a b Sufi martyrs of love By Carl W. Ernst, Bruce B. Lawrence, p. 5.
- ^ a b c d Hussain, Zahid (22 April 2012). "Is it permissible to listen to Qawwali?". TheSunniWay. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
- ^ Muhammad bin Mubarak Kirmani. Siyar-ul-Auliya: History of Chishti Silsila (in Urdu). Translated by Ghulam Ahmed Biryan. Lahore: Mushtaq Book Corner.
- ISBN 9788124600429.
- ^ Nizami, K.A. -0141 "Čishtiyya."[permanent dead link] Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W. P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2011. Brill Online. Augustana. 6 April 2011.
- ^ Böwering, Gerhard. "Cestiya." Encyclopaedia Iranica. Online Edition. Vol. 5. 1992. Web. <http://www.iranica.com/articles/cestiya Archived 19 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine>.
- ^
Muhammad Zakariya Kandhalvi. Mashaikh-e-Chisht. Trans. Majlisul Ulama of South Africa., available at Scribd
- ^ Nizami, K.A. "Čishtiyya". Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W. P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2011. Brill Online. Augustana. 6 April 2011 <http://www.brillonline.nl/subscriber/entry?entry=islam_COM[permanent dead link] -0141>.
- ^ ORIGIN OF CHISHTIES Archived 27 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 15 August 2008.
- ^ a b The Sufis of Britain: an exploration of Muslim identity By Ron Geaves. Cardiff Academic Press, 2000, p. 87.
- ^ Encyclopaedia of Indian philosophy, Volume 2 By Vraj Kumar Pandey. Anmol Publications, 2007, p. 78.
- ^ Nizami, K.A. "Čishtī, Ḵhwādja Muʿīn al-Dīn Ḥasan". Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W. P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2011. Brill Online. Augustana. 6 April 2011 <http://www.brillonline.nl Archived 24 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine /subscriber/entry?entry=islam_SIM-1623>.
- ^ Haeri, Muneera. The Chishtis: A Living Light. Oxford University Press, USA, 2000. Print.
- ISBN 978-0-19-547642-2.
- ^ Miller, Rasul (18 March 2020). "Sufi Al-Hajj Wali Akram: 20th Century Black American Muslim Pioneer". Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
- ^ Miller, Rasul. "The Black American Sufi: A History". Archived from the original on 5 May 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
- ^ Popular in South Asia, in particular parts of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. See Annemarie Schimmel, in article 'The Chishti Sufis of South Asia—Tradition and Evolution in the 20th Century' in Anderoon: Sufi Journal, Vol 82, np, nd
- ^ Schimmel, as cited above
- ^ M Z Akhund 'Sufis in the Subcontinent and their impact on Islamic society' Lahore, Navratna Pubs, Urdu Bazar, 1957. pp 12, 109–115
- ^ Akhund, 114–115
- ^ )
- ISBN 978-93-85295-54-6, Maktaba Jamia Ltd, Shamshad Market, Aligarh 202002, India
- Ahamed Mohiyudheen Noorishah Jeelani
- ^ Omer Tarin article in 'Muse India' journal online. Special Sufi literature feature,V. No73, May–June 2017]
References
- Haeri, Muneera (2000) The Chishtis: a living light Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, ISBN 0-19-579327-7
- Ernst, Carl W. and Lawrence, Bruce B. (2002) Sufi Martyrs of Love: The Chishti Order in South Asia and Beyond Palgrave Macmillan, New York, ISBN 1-4039-6026-7. Excerpts
- Farīdī, Iḥtishāmuddīn (1992) Tārīk̲h̲-i iblāg̲h̲-i Cisht Āl Inḍiyā Baz-i Ḥanafī, Delhi, OCLC 29752219 in Urdu with biographies
- Āryā, Ghulām 'Alī (2004) Ṭarīqah-i Chishtīyah dar Hind va Pākistān: ta’līf-i Ghulām‘alī Āryā Zavvār, Tehran, ISBN 964-401-200-3in Persian
- Chopra, R.M., "SUFISM", 2016, Anuradha Prakashan, New Delhi. ISBN 978-93-85083-52-5.