The Chishti order () is a

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any Succession to Muhammad, successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr ...

named after the town of Chisht, Afghanistan where it was initiated by Abu Ishaq Shami. The order was brought to Herat and later spread across

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by Mu'in al-Din Chishti in the city of

Ajmer Ajmer () is a city in the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Ajmer district and Ajmer division. It lies at the centre of Rajasthan, earning it the ...

. The Chishti order is known for its emphasis on love, tolerance, and openness. The Chishti order is primarily followed in Afghanistan and the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

. The Chishti order was the first of the four main Sufi orders that became well-established in

, which are the

Qadiri The Qadiriyya () or the Qadiri order () is a Sunni Sufi order (''Tariqa'') founded by Abdul Qadir Gilani (1077–1166, also transliterated ''Jilani''), who was a Hanbali scholar from Gilan, Iran. The order, with its many sub-orders, is wides ...

, Chishti,

Naqshbandi Naqshbandi (Persian: نقشبندیه) is a major Sufi order within Sunni Islam, named after its 14th-century founder, Baha' al-Din Naqshband. Practitioners, known as Naqshbandis, trace their spiritual lineage (silsila) directly to the Prophet ...

and Suhrawardi Sufi orders. Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti introduced the Chishti Order in

(

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

, India) sometime in the middle of the 12th century. He was eighth in the line of succession from the founder of the Chishti Order, Abu Ishaq Shami. There are now several branches of the order, which has been the most prominent South Asian Sufi brotherhood since the 12th century. Ajmer dargah

In the 20th century, the order has spread outside Afghanistan and the Indian subcontinent. Chishti teachers have established centers in the

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, Eastern and Southern Africa.

Guiding principles

The Chishti

shaykh Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...

s have stressed the importance of keeping a distance from worldly power. A ruler could be a patron or a disciple, but he or she was always to be treated as just another devotee. A Chishti teacher should not attend the court or be involved in matters of state, as this will corrupt the soul with worldly matters. In his last discourse to his followers, Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti said: Qawwali hazrat nizamuddin delhi

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 Qawwali is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing originating in the Indian subcontinent. Originally performed at Sufi shrines throughout the Indian subcontinent, it is famous throughout Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and has ...

.Sufi martyrs of love By Carl W. Ernst, Bruce B. Lawrence, p. 5. The Chishti, and some other Sufi orders, believe that Sama can help devotees forget self in the love of

Allah Allah ( ; , ) is an Arabic term for God, specifically the God in Abrahamic religions, God of Abraham. Outside of the Middle East, it is principally associated with God in Islam, Islam (in which it is also considered the proper name), althoug ...

. 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. However some Qadiris point out that the Chishti Order and

Moinuddin Chishti Mu'in al-Din Hasan Chishti Sijzi (; February 1143 – March 1236), known reverentially as Khawaja Gharib Nawaz (), was a Persians, Persian Islamic scholar and Sufism, mystic from Sistan, who eventually ended up settling in the Indian subcontin ...

never permitted musical instruments, and cite a Chishti, Muhammad Ibn Mubarak Kirmani, the Mureed of Khwaja Fareed al-Deen Ganj-e-Shakar, who wrote in his Siyar al-Awliya that Nizamuddin Auliya said the following: However, this has been countered by the more historical excerpt of Nizamuddin Auliya's quotation:

Practices

The Chishtis follow five basic devotional practices (

dhikr (; ; ) is a form of Islamic worship in which phrases or prayers are repeatedly recited for the purpose of remembering God. It plays a central role in Sufism, and each Sufi order typically adopts a specific ''dhikr'', accompanied by specific ...

). # 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 Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī and the '' Kashf al-Maḥjūb'' of Ali Hujwīrī. These texts are still read and respected today. Chishtis also read collections of the sayings, speeches, poems, and letters of the shaykhs. These collections, called ''malfūẓāt'', were prepared by the shaykh's disciples.

Spiritual lineage

Sufi orders trace their origins ultimately to the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

, who is believed to have instructed his successor in mystical teachings and practices in addition to the

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

or hidden within the Qur'an. Opinions differ as to this successor. Almost all Sufi orders trace their origins to 'Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Muhammad's cousin. The traditional

silsila ''Silsila'' () is an Arabic language, Arabic word meaning ''chain'', ''link'', ''connection'' often used in various senses of :wikt:lineage, lineage. In particular, it may be translated as "spiritual genealogy" where one Sufi Master transfe ...

(spiritual lineage) of the Chishti order is as follows: # Muḥammad #

Ali ibn Abu Talib Ali ibn Abi Talib (; ) was the fourth Rashidun caliph who ruled from until his assassination in 661, as well as the first Shia Imam. He was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Born to Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib an ...

# 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 Aḥmad Abdal Chishti () was a Sufi of the Chishti Order in the 10th century CE and a disciple of Abu Ishaq Shami and the master of Abu Muḥammad Chishti. He died in 966 CE. He was Syed and his father was ruler of Fargana. He died in Ch ...

Abu Muḥammad Chishti Abu Muḥammad Chishti () was a famous Sufi of Chishti Order. Career Chishti was a disciple of Abu Aḥmad Abdal Chishti and master of Abu Yusuf ibn Saman. He died in 1020. Abu Muḥammad Chishti was part of golden chain of Chishti Order o ...

# 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 (/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) The order was founded by Abu Ishaq Shami ("the Syrian") who taught Sufism in the town of Chisht, some 95 miles east of Herat in present-day western

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. Before returning to Syria, where he is now buried next to

Ibn Arabi Ibn Arabi (July 1165–November 1240) was an Andalusian Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest com ...

at Jabal Qasioun,The Sufis of Britain: an exploration of Muslim identity By Ron Geaves. Cardiff Academic Press, 2000, p. 87. Shami initiated, trained and deputized the son of the local emir, Abu Ahmad Abdal. Under the leadership of Abu Ahmad's descendants, the ''Chishtiya'', as they are also known, flourished as a regional mystical order. The founder of the Chishti Order in South Asia was

. He was born in the province of Silistan in eastern Persia around 536 AH (1141 CE) into a

sayyid ''Sayyid'' is an honorific title of Hasanid and Husaynid lineage, recognized as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima and Ali's sons Hasan ibn Ali, Hasan and Husayn ibn Ali, Husayn. The title may also refer ...

family claiming descent from Muhammad. When he was just nine, he memorized the Qur'an, thus becoming a hafiz. His father died when he was a teenager; Moinuddin inherited the family grinding mill and orchard. He sold everything and gave the proceeds to the poor. He traveled to Balkh and

Samarkand Samarkand ( ; Uzbek language, Uzbek and Tajik language, Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central As ...

, where he studied the Qur'an,

hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

, and

fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...

. He looked for something beyond scholarship and law and studied under the Chishti shaykh Usman Harooni (Harvani). He moved to Lahore and then to Ajmer, where he died. His tomb, in Ajmer, is the Dargah Sharif, a popular shrine and pilgrimage site. 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 Nasiruddin Chiragh Dehlavi and the other from another disciple, Akhi Siraj Aainae Hind, who migrated to West Bengal from Delhi on Nizamuddin Auliya's order. Siraj Aanae Hind was followed by his notable disciple Alaul Haq Pandavi settled in Pandava, West Bengal itself. From this chain of transmission another prominent sub-branch of Chishti way emerged known as Ashrafia Silsila after the illustrious saint Ashraf Jahangir Semnani, who was the disciple of Alaul Haq Pandavi in the thirteen century A.D. Later, yet other traditions branched from the Chishti lineage; in many cases they merged with other popular Sufi orders in South Asia. 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: the Qadiri, Chishti, Naqshbandi, and Suhrawadi Sufi orders. They do however teach devotional practices typical of the order with which they are primarily associated. In 1937 the

Imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

Al-Hajj Wali Akram founded the First

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Mosque, made his Sufi affiliation public and during the 1950s started to introduce new members to the Chishti, making the mosque the first public Sufi center of the United States. In more recent times, a more contemporary expression of traditional Chishti Sufi practices can be found in the establishment of the Ishq-Nuri Tariqa in the 1960s, as a branch of the Chishti-Nizami ''silsila''. In addition, a number of mixed-Sufi type groups or movements in Islam, have also been influenced by the Chishti Order proper. The best known and most widespread example is of the Jamaat Ahle Sunnat, a

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

Muslim sect with a huge international following, which is in essence not a proper Sufi organization, though adopting many Sufi customs and traditions.

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 The Delhi Sultanate or the Sultanate of Delhi was a Medieval India, late medieval empire primarily based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for more than three centuries.

Bahmani Sultanate The Bahmani Kingdom or the Bahmani Sultanate was a late medieval Persianate kingdom that ruled the Deccan plateau in India. The first independent Muslim sultanate of the Deccan, the Bahmani Kingdom came to power in 1347 during the rebellio ...

Bengal Sultanate The Bengal Sultanate (Middle Bengali: , Classical Persian: ) was a Post-classical history, late medieval sultanate based in the Bengal region in the eastern South Asia between the 14th and 16th century. It was the dominant power of the Ganges- ...

, 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. Several rulers of the Mughal dynasty of South Asia were Chishti devotees, and they associated with the Order in a similar fashion to the Mughals' predecessors. The emperor

Akbar Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...

was perhaps the most fervent of them. It is said to be by the blessing of Shaikh Salim Chishti that Akbar's first surviving child, the future

Jahangir Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim (31 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was List of emperors of the Mughal Empire, Emperor of Hindustan from 1605 until his death in 1627, and the fourth Mughal emperors, Mughal ...

, was born. The child was named Salim after the sheikh and was affectionately addressed by Akbar as ''Sheikhu Baba''. Akbar also credited the Chishti Shaikhs with his victory at the Siege of Chittorgarh. Akbar had vowed to visit the Chishti dargah, the tomb of

, at

if he were victorious. He fulfilled his vow by visiting the dargah with his musicians, who played in honor of the sheikh.

Shah Jahan Shah Jahan I, (Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram; 5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), also called Shah Jahan the Magnificent, was the Emperor of Hindustan from 1628 until his deposition in 1658. As the fifth Mughal emperor, his reign marked the ...

's daughter, Jahanara Begum Sahib, was also a devout follower of the Chishti Order. Shah Jahan's son

Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

patronised various Chishti shrines. File:Abanindranath Tagore - The Passing of Shah Jahan, 1902.jpg, The passing of

; attending him, his daughter Princess Jahanara. File:Farrukh Beg. Akbar's Triumphal Entry into Surat. Akbarnama, 1590-95, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.jpg, The

Mughal Emperor The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...

Akbar 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 *

* Qut ul aqtab Qutb ud deen Bakhtiyar kaki 635 A.H (Delhi, India) * Fareed ud deen Mas’ood Ganj E Shakar 668 A.H (Pak Patan Sharif, Pakistan) * Naseer ud deen Mahmood Charagh Dehlavi 757 A.H (Delhi, India) * Tajuddin Chishti (Chishtian Sharif, Pakistan) *

Amir Khusro Abu'l Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrau (1253 – 1325 AD), better known as Amīr Khusrau, sometimes spelled as, Amir Khusrow or Amir Khusro, was an Indo-Persian culture, Indo-Persian Sufi singer, musician, poet and scholar, who lived during the per ...

(Delhi, India) * Akhi Siraj Aainae Hind (Dist. Malda, West Bengal, India) * Alaul Haq Pandavi (Dist. Malda, West Bengal, India) *

Nur Qutb Alam Nūr Qut̤b ʿĀlam (, ) was a 14th-century Bengali Islamic scholar, author and poet. Based in the erstwhile Bengali capital Hazrat Pandua, he was the son and successor of Alaul Haq, a senior scholar of the Bengal Sultanate. He is noted for his ...

(Dist. Malda, West Bengal, India) * Ashraf Jahangir Semnani (Kichaucha, Uttar Pradesh, India) *

Burhanuddin Gharib Burhanuddin Gharib (d. 1340) was an Indian Sufi of the Chishti Order. He was one of the caliphs (spiritual successor) of the Sufi Saint Nizamuddin Awliya. Life Burhanuddin Gharib was a disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya, a Sufi Saint of the ...

(Maharashtra, India) * Bande Nawaz (Gulbarga, India) * Salim Chishti (Fatehpur Sikri, India) * Noor Muhammad Maharvi1205 A.H (Mahar Sharif, Pakistan) * Muhammad Suleman Taunsvi 1267 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) * Sayyid Mir Jan (supreme leader of the

Naqshbandiyya Naqshbandi (Persian: نقشبندیه) is a major Sufi order within Sunni Islam, named after its 14th-century founder, Baha' al-Din Naqshband. Practitioners, known as Naqshbandis, trace their spiritual lineage (silsila) directly to the Prophe ...

, who also followed the Chishtiyya tradition) * Meher Ali Shah (Golra Sharif, Pakistan) *

Inayat Khan Inayat Khan Rehmat Khan (; 5 July 1882 – 5 February 1927) was an Indian professor of musicology, singer, exponent of the saraswati vina, poet, philosopher, and pioneer of the transmission of Sufism to the West. At the urging of his students ...

(Vadodara, Gujarat) * Haji Imdadullah Muhajir Makki (Muzaffarnagar, India/Makkah, Saudi Arabia)

Notes

References

* Haeri, Muneera (2000) ''The Chishtis: a living light'' Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, * Ernst, Carl W. and Lawrence, Bruce B. (2002) ''Sufi Martyrs of Love: The Chishti Order in South Asia and Beyond'' Palgrave Macmillan, New York,
Excerpts
* Farīdī, Iḥtishāmuddīn (1992) ''Tārīk̲h̲-i iblāg̲h̲-i Cisht'' Āl Inḍiyā Baz-i Ḥanafī, Delhi
OCLC 29752219
in

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

with biographies * Āryā, Ghulām 'Alī (2004) ''Ṭarīqah-i Chishtīyah dar Hind va Pākistān: ta’līf-i Ghulām‘alī Āryā'' Zavvār, Tehran, in Persian * Chopra, R.M., "SUFISM", 2016, Anuradha Prakashan, New Delhi. . {{Authority control Sunni Sufi orders Sufism in Afghanistan Sufism in Bangladesh Sufism in India Sufism in Pakistan