Source: TW
MUSLIM REVIVALIST MOVEMENTS IN NORTHERN INDIA IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES
SAIYID ATHAR ABBAS RIZVI, M.A., PH.D., D. LITT., F. R. A. S.
Reader & Head of the
Post-Graduate Department of History,
Jammu and Kashmir University
Jammu. (Kashmir)
INDIA
Hamid ud-Din Sufi
Shaikh Hamid ud-Din Sufi, another eminent disciple of Shaikh Muin ud-Din Chishti, was so inclined towards leading a life of seclusion that his preceptor gave him the title of Sultan ut-Tarikin (king of anchorites). He settled in Nagor where his life as a village peasant brought him into closer and more frequent contacts with the Hindus who had behind them a rich heritage of the traditions of the Yogis given to a life of poverty, resignation and piety.
About a certain Hindu he would repeatedly remark that he was a saint.¹ His dietary habits were akin to those of the Hindu saints and he confined himself to a strictly vegetarian food. Hindi or Hindawi was the medium of conversation in his family. He died on 29 Rabi II, 673/November, 1274.²
Nizam ud-Din Auliya
Ziya ud-Din Barani’s long appraisal of Shaikh Nizam ud-Din Auliya, though given in an appreciative vein, indicates that Muslims formed the bulk of his visitors. They considered him as the Junaid and the Bayizid of his age and thronged to him to elevate their moral and spiritual life through his teachings.² In the Jamaat Khana of Shaikh Farid ud-Din Ganj i-Shakar, where he lived for some time in his youth, he had manifested keen interest in the teachings of Yogis. He loved to refer with reverence the selfless devotion of Brahmins to their religion.³ One from amongst the audience of the Shaikh enquired, “There is a Hindu who recites Kalima, believes in the Unity of God and acknowledges Muhammad as His Prophet ; but when Muslims come to him he keeps quiet. (How do you account for this?)” Shaikh Nizam ud-Din Auliya replied, “His affair is with God. He can punish him or forgive him as He likes. Some Hindus know that Islam is a true
… Once he consoled Amir Hasan, who was rightly distressed for having not received his salary, with the anecdote of a Brahmin.
There was a Brahmin in a certain town who possessed untold wealth. The Wali of that town forcibly deprived him of all his wealth and made him a pauper. One day the Brahmin was going somewhere. A friend came to him and enquired about his welfare. The Brahmin replied that he was alright. The friend remarked, “You have been forced to part with all your belongings and effects. How are you happy then?” He replied, “My Brahminical thread is with me.”
The point which Shaikh Nizam ud-Din Auliya sought to emphasise was that just as the Brahmin shed no tears of sorrow at the loss of all his worldly effects so should Mir Hasan be not too much attached to material assets. Even if he were to lose his entire wealth, that should not cause him any anxiety.
“It is the love of the Almighty that is lasting and permanent.” (Fawaid ul-Fuad, p. 63).