''Quṭb al-Aqṭāb'' Khwājā Sayyid Muḥammad Bakhtiyār al-Ḥusaynī, Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī ( ur, ) (born 1173 – died 1235) was a Muslim

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

mystic, saint and scholar of the Chishti Order from Delhi, India. He was the disciple and the

spiritual successor A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product lin ...

of Mu'in al-Din Chishti as head of the Chishti order, and the person to whom the

Qutb Minar The Qutb Minar, also spelled Qutub Minar and Qutab Minar, is a minaret and "victory tower" that forms part of the Qutb complex, which lies at the site of Delhi’s oldest fortified city, Lal Kot, founded by the Tomar Rajputs. It is a UNESCO Worl ...

, Delhi is dedicated. Before him the Chishti order in India was confined to Ajmer and

Nagaur Nagaur is a city and municipal council in Nagaur district of the state of Rajasthan in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Nagaur District. The Nagaur city lies about midway between Jodhpur and Bikaner. Nagaur is famous for spices ...

. He played a major role in establishing the order securely in Delhi. His dargah located adjacent to Zafar Mahal in Mehrauli, and the oldest dargah in Delhi, is also the venue of his annual Urs festivities. The Urs was held in high regard by many rulers of Delhi like Qutb ud-Din Aibak, Iltutmish who built a nearby stepwell, ''Gandhak ki Baoli'' for him, Sher Shah Suri who built a grand gateway, Bahadur Shah I who built the Moti Masjid mosque nearby and Farrukhsiyar who added a marble screen and a mosque. His most famous disciple and spiritual successor was

Fariduddin Ganjshakar Farīd al-Dīn Masʿūd Ganj-i-Shakar ( ; – 7 May 1266) was a 13th-century Punjabi Sunni Muslim preacher and mystic, who was one of the most revered and distinguished Muslim mystics of the medieval period. He is known reverentially as B ...

, who in turn became the spiritual master of Delhi's noted Sufi saint, Nizamuddin Auliya, who himself was the spiritual master of Amir Khusrau and

Nasiruddin Chiragh Dehlavi Nasiruddin Mahmud Chirag-Dehlavi (Urdu نصیرالدین چراغ دہلوی ) (–1337) was a 14th-century mystic-poet and a Sufi saint of the Chishti Order. He was a disciple of Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya,Hindus, Christians,

Sikhs Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism (Sikhi), a monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ...

, etc. visiting his Dargah every week.

Early life

Qutb al-Din Bakhtiyar Kaki was born in 569 A.H. (1173 C.E.) in the ancient city of Osh (alternatively Awsh or Ush) in the Fergana Valley (present Osh in southern Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan), part of historic Transoxiana). According to his biography mentioned in, ''

Ain-i-Akbari The ''Ain-i-Akbari'' ( fa, ) or the "Administration of Akbar", is a 16th-century detailed document recording the administration of the Mughal Empire under Emperor Akbar, written by his court historian, Abu'l Fazl in the Persian language. It for ...

'', written in the 16th century by Mughal Emperor

Akbar Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...

’s vizier,

Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, also known as Abul sharma, Abu'l Fadl and Abu'l-Fadl 'Allami (14 January 1551 – 22 August 1602), was the grand vizier of the Mughal emperor Akbar, from his appointment in 1579 until his death in 1602. He was the au ...

, he was the son of Sayyid Kamal al-Din Musa al-Husayni, whom he lost at the young age of a year and a half.Qutbuddin Bakhtyar Kaki
''

Ain-e-Akbari The ''Ain-i-Akbari'' ( fa, ) or the "Administration of Akbar", is a 16th-century detailed document recording the administration of the Mughal Empire under Emperor Akbar, written by his court historian, Abu'l Fazl in the Persian language. It for ...

'' by Abul Faza, English translation, by

Heinrich Blochmann Heinrich Blochmann, known as Henry Ferdinand Blochmann (8 January 1838 – 13 July 1878), was a German orientalist and scholar of Persian language and literature who spent most of his career in India, where he worked first as a professor, and event ...

and Colonel Henry Sullivan Jarrett, 1873–1907. The Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta., Volume III, Saints of India. (Awliyá-i-Hind), Page 363. Khwaja Qutb al-Din's original name was Bakhtiyar and later on he was given the title Qutb al-Din. He was a Husayni Sayyid and his lineage is recorded as follows: He is Qutb al-Din Bakhtiyar bin Kamal al-Din Musa, bin Muhammad, bin Ahmad, bin Husam al-Din, bin Rashid al-Din, bin Radi al-Din, bin Hasan, bin Muhammad Ishaq, bin Muhammad, bin Ali, bin Ja'far, bin Ali al-Rida, bin Musa al-Kazim, bin Ja'far al-Sadiq, bin Muhammad al-Baqir, bin Ali Zayn al-Abidin, bin Husayn, bin

Ali bin Abi Talib ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...

and

Fatimah al-Zahra Fāṭima bint Muḥammad ( ar, فَاطِمَة ٱبْنَت مُحَمَّد}, 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fāṭima al-Zahrāʾ (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, th ...

, the daughter of Prophet Muhammad. His mother, who herself was an educated lady, arranged for his education by Shaikh Abu Hafs.And his known descendants are in karachi pakistan. ,Hazrat Sahabzada Syed Muhammad Mateen Ali chisti and his spiritually successor and Eldest Son Hazrat Sahabzada Syed Muhammad Irshad Ali Chisti Mateeni. Qutb al-Din Bakhtiyar Kaki took

oath of allegiance An oath of allegiance is an oath whereby a subject or citizen acknowledges a duty of allegiance and swears loyalty to a monarch or a country. In modern republics, oaths are sworn to the country in general, or to the country's constitution. For ...

at the hands of Khawaja Mu'in al-Din Chishti, and received the

khilafat A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

and khirqa (Sufi cloak) from him, when Khawaja Mu'in al-Din Chishti passed through Osh during his journey to

Isfahan Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...

. His spiritual master then guided him to India and asked him to stay there.Profile of Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki on aulia-e-hind.com website
Retrieved 6 January 2019 Thus, he was the first spiritual successor of Mu'in al-Din Chishti.

Later life

Move to Delhi

In obedience to the desire of his spiritual master, Mu'in al-Din Chishti, Khwaja Bakhtiyar moved to the city of Delhi during the reign of Iltutmish (r. 1211-1236) of the

Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate was an Islamic empire based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for 320 years (1206–1526).

. Many people started visiting him daily. He was called ''Kaki'' due to a Karamat (miracle) attributed to him in Delhi. It is said that he asked his wife not to take credit from the local baker despite their extreme poverty. Instead he told her to pick up ''Kak'' (a kind of bread) from a corner of their house whenever needed. After this, his wife found that ''Kak'' miraculously appeared in that corner whenever she required it. The baker, in the meantime, had become worried whether the Khwaja had stopped taking credit due to being perchance angry with him. Accordingly, when the baker's wife asked the reason from the Khwaja's wife, she told her about the miracle of ''Kak.'' Although the ''Kak'' stopped appearing after this, from that day the people started referring to him as Kaki. Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki's tomb

Khwaja Bakhtiyar Kaki, like other Chisti saints, did not formulate any formal doctrine. He used to hold a ''

majlis ( ar, المجلس, pl. ') is an Arabic term meaning "sitting room", used to describe various types of special gatherings among common interest groups of administrative, social or religious nature in countries with linguistic or cultural conne ...

'', a gathering, where he gave his discourses or fatwas. Directed at the common masses, these contained an emphasis on renunciation, having complete trust in God, treating all human beings as equal and helping them as much as possible, etc. Whatever money was donated to him, he usually spent it on charity the same day. He was a great believer in helping the needy without heeding the result. When an eminent disciple, Farid al-Din Ganjshakar, asked him about the legality of

amulet An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects ...

s (''

ta'wiz The ta'wiz, tawiz ( ur, تعویز, hi, तावीज़), muska (Turkish) or taʿwīdh ( ar, تعويذ) is an amulet or locket worn for good luck and protection common in South Asia. Tawiz worn by some Muslims contain verses from the Quran a ...

'') which were controversial as they could lead to theological problems of semi-idolatory in Islam, he replied that the fulfilment of desires belonged to no one; the amulets contained God's name and His words and could be given to the people.Biographical encyclopaedia of Sufis By N. Hanif. Pg 323 He continued and extended the musical tradition of the Chisti order by participating in

sama Sama or SAMA may refer to: Places * Sama, Burkina Faso, a town in the Kouka Department, Banwa Province, Burkina Faso * Sama, China (Sanya), a city in Hainan, China * Sama, Chalus, a village in Mazandaran Province, Iran * Sama, Nowshahr, a vil ...

or Mehfil-e-Sama. It is conjectured that this was with the view that, being in consonance with the role of music in some modes of Hindu worship, it could serve as a basis of contact with the local people and would facilitate mutual adjustments between the two communities. On the 14th of Rabi' al-Awwal 633 A.H. (27 November 1235 CE) he attended a ''Mehfil-e-Sama'' where the poet

Sheikh Ahmad-e Jami Ahmad Ibn Abolhasan Jāmi-e Nāmaghi-e Torshizi ( fa, احمد ابن ابوالحسن جامی نامقی ترشیزی) (born Namagh (now Kashmar), Persia, 1048 – died Torbat-e Jam, 1141) better known as Sheikh Ahhmad-e Jami or Sheikh Ahmad ...

sang the following verses: Khwaja Bakhtiyar Kaki was so overcome and enraptured by these verses that he fainted away. He died four days later while still in that state of ecstasy. His '' dargah'' (shrine) is adjacent to the Zafar Mahal, near

complex, in Mehrauli, Delhi. After his death his will was read that emphasized that only the person who has done no haram and have never left the

sunnah In Islam, , also spelled ( ar, سنة), are the traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time evidently saw and followed and passed ...

Asr prayer The Asr prayer ( ar, صلاة العصر ', "afternoon prayer") is one of the five mandatory salah (Islamic prayer). As an Islamic day starts at sunset, the Asr prayer is technically the fifth prayer of the day. If counted from midnight, it i ...

may only lead his namaz-e-janaza (funeral prayer). This left to a brief lull as nearly everybody did not adhered to the contents of the will. Finally a teary eyed

Illtutmish Shams ud-Din Iltutmish ( fa, شمس الدین ایلتتمش; died 30 April 1236, ) was the third of the Mamluk kings who ruled the former Ghurid territories in northern India. He was the first Muslim sovereign to rule from Delhi, and is thus ...

come out of the congregation saying that "I did not want to reveal my inner self to everybody but the will of Khwaja Bakhtiyar Kaki wants so". His Janaza prayer was finally led by Illtutmish as he was the only person who fulfilled and adhered to the contents of the will. Left of the ''Ajmeri Gate'' of the dargah at Mehrauli, lies Moti Masjid, a small mosque for private prayer built by Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah I in 1709, an imitation of the much larger Moti Masjid built by his father,

Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...

, inside the Red Fort of Delhi.''Eicher:City Guide - Delhi'', Eicher Goodearth Publications. 1998. . ''Page 188''.

His influence over people

As a well-known saint, Khwaja Bakhtiyar Kaki exercised great sway over the people. He continued the policy of non-involvement with the government of the day. This was the traditional way of saints of the Chisti order in South Asia, as they felt that their linkage with rulers and the government would turn their mind towards worldly matters. During the lifetime of the Khwaja he was held in great esteem by the Delhi Sultan, Iltutmish. It is contended that the

, the world's tallest brick minaret, partially built by Iltumish, was named so after him. He was also the favorite saint of the Lodi dynasty which ruled over Delhi from 1451 to 1526. His importance continues to this day and can be gauged by the following historical fact. When Mahatma Gandhi launched his last fast-unto-death in Delhi in 1948, asking that all communal violence be ended once and for all, he was pressed by leaders of all denominations to end the fast. One of the six conditions that Gandhi put forward to end the fast was that Hindus and Sikhs as an act of atonement should repair the shrine of Khwaja Bakhtiyar Kaki which had been damaged during the communal riots.

''Phoolwalon-ki-sair'' festival

The darbaar shrine of Qutb al-Din Bakhtiyar Kaki has also been the venue of the annual ''Phoolwalon-ki-sair'' (a festival of flower-sellers) in autumn, which has now become an important inter-faith festival of Delhi.Say it with Flowers: Phoolwalon-ki-sair
The Times of India (newspaper), Published 2 November 2006, Retrieved 6 January 2019 The festival has its origins in 1812, when Queen Mumtaz Mahal, wife of the Mughal Emperor, Akbar II (r. 1806-1837) made a vow to offer a ''chadar'' and flower ''pankha'' at the Dargah and a ''pankha'' at the Yogmaya Temple, also at Mehrauli, if her son Mirza Jehangir, who, after inviting the wrath of Sir Archibald Seton, the then British Resident of the Red Fort, was exiled to Allahabad, returned safely. And as the legend goes, he did, and so began the tradition. The festival was stopped by the British in 1942, but later revived by the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961 to bridge the Hindu-Muslim gap, and inculcate secularist ideals.

Royal grave enclosure

Incidentally, Akbar II is now buried nearby in a marble enclosure, along with other Mughals, Bahadur Shah I and Shah Alam II. An empty grave, also known as ''Sardgah'', of the last Mughal Emperor

Bahadur Shah Zafar Bahadur Shah II, usually referred to by his poetic title Bahadur Shah ''Zafar'' (; ''Zafar'' Victory) was born Mirza Abu Zafar Siraj-ud-din Muhammad (24 October 1775 – 7 November 1862) and was the twentieth and last Mughal Emperor as well a ...

, can also be found here, as he had willed to be buried next to the famous shrine, as did his previous Mughal predecessors. Unfortunately, he was exiled to Burma where he died. Talks of bringing back his remains here have been raised in the past, from time to time.Fulfilling Bahadur Shah’s last wish
Metro Plus Delhi, The Hindu (newspaper), Published 21 May 2007, Retrieved 6 January 2019

Titles

Honorary titles given to Qutb al-Din Bakhtiyar include: * Qutb al-Aqtāb * Malik al-Mashā'ikh * Ra'īs al-Sālikīn * Sirāj al-Awlīyā Moti Masjid, Mehrauli, Delhi

Works

Gallery

File:Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki's tomb, Mehrauli, Delhi.jpg, Qutb al-Din Bakhtiyar Kaki's tomb, Mehrauli File:Courtyard of the Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki's dargah complex.jpg, Courtyard of the Qutb al-Din Bakhtiyar Kaki's dargah complex. File:Entrance to grave enclosure within Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki's dargah compound.jpg, Entrance to grave enclosure within Qutb al-Din Bakhtiyar Kaki's dargah compound. File:Gandhak ki Baoli, Mehrauli.jpg, ''Gandhak ki Baoli'', a stepwell in Mehrauli, built by Iltutmish for the saint. File:Entrance to the Dargah complex of Qutubuddin Bakhtiar Kaki.jpg, ''Entrance to dargah complex''.

References

External links

An afternoon with the saints
''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' (newspaper).
Dargah Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, Mehrauli

Images of enclosure containing Mughal royal tombs

IGNCA Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi is a premier government-funded arts organization in India. It is an autonomous institute under the Union Ministry of Culture. History The Indira Gandhi National centre for arts ...

"Dargah of Qutb-Sahib at Mehrauli", 1845 painting
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki 1173 births 1235 deaths Hanafis Maturidis Indian Sufis Chishtis Dargahs in India People from Delhi People from Osh Mehrauli 13th-century Indian Muslims Sufi shrines in India Indian people of Arab descent