 Seal emblem of the Chishti order | |
| Abbreviation | Chishti |
|---|---|
| Formation | c. 930 CE |
| Type | Sufi order |
| Headquarters | Herat,Afghanistan |
Key people | Abu Ishaq Shami – founder |
TheChishti order (Persian:چشتیه,romanized: Čištiya) is aSufiorder ofSunni Islam named after the town ofChisht, Afghanistan where it was initiated byAbu Ishaq Shami. The order was brought to Herat and later spread acrossSouth Asia byMu'in al-Din Chishti in the city ofAjmer.
The Chishti order is known for its emphasis on love, tolerance, and openness.[1] The Chishti order is primarily followed in Afghanistan and theIndian subcontinent. The Chishti order was the first of the four main Sufi orders that became well-established inSouth Asia, which are theQadiri, Chishti,Naqshbandi andSuhrawardi Sufi orders.[2]Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti introduced the Chishti Order inAjmer (Rajasthan, 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.[3]
In the 20th century, the order has spread outside Afghanistan and the Indian subcontinent. Chishti teachers have established centers in theUnited Kingdom,United States,Canada,Australia, Eastern and Southern Africa.
The Chishtishaykhs have stressed the importance of keeping a distance from worldly power.[4] 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:
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 & the poor, the widow, and the orphan, if they come to your door.[5]
Chishti practice is also notable forSama: evoking the divine presence by listening to and losing oneself in a form of music and poetry, usuallyQawwali.[6] The Chishti, and some other Sufi orders, believe that Sama can help devotees forget self in the love ofAllah. 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.[6]
However someQadiris point out that the Chishti Order andMoinuddin Chishti 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 thatNizamuddin Auliya said the following:[7]
"Sama 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".
However, this has been countered by the more historical excerpt ofNizamuddin Auliya's quotation:[7]
The hearing, the person that is being heard should be a mature man and not a young boy or a woman. The audible, the sound that is heard, the lyrics should not be indecent or shameful. The hearer should only hear to gain Divine nearness only and nothing else. The instruments can be any.The hearing is a voice, how can this be Haraam, how can the sounds of lyrics be Haraam? And finally there is the heart being touched and moved by this. How can this be Haraam if it brings the listener closer to Allah?
The Chishtis follow five basic devotional practices (dhikr).[10]
_sitting%2c_busy_in_Zikr_(remembering_Allah).JPG)
Early Chishti shaykhs adopted concepts and doctrines outlined in two influential Sufi texts: theʿAwārif al-Maʿārif of ShaykhShihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī and theKashf al-Maḥjūb ofAli 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, calledmalfūẓāt, were prepared by the shaykh's disciples.[11]
Sufi orders trace their origins ultimately to the Islamic prophetMuhammad, who is believed to have instructed his successor in mystical teachings and practices in addition to theQur'an 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 traditionalsilsila (spiritual lineage) of the Chishti order is as follows:[12]
After Farīduddīn Mas'ūd, the Chishti order divided into two branches:
TheEncyclopedia of Islam divides Chishti history into four periods:
The order was founded byAbu Ishaq Shami ("the Syrian") who taught Sufism in the town of Chisht, some 95 miles east of Herat in present-day westernAfghanistan.[14] Before returning to Syria, where he is now buried next toIbn Arabi atJabal Qasioun,[15] Shami initiated, trained and deputized the son of the local emir, Abu Ahmad Abdal.[16] Under the leadership of Abu Ahmad's descendants, theChishtiya, as they are also known, flourished as a regional mystical order.[15]
The founder of the Chishti Order in South Asia wasMoinuddin Chishti. He was born in the province of Silistan in eastern Persia around 536 AH (1141 CE) into asayyid family claiming descent from Muhammad.[17] When he was just nine, he memorized the Qur'an, thus becoming ahafiz. 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 toBalkh andSamarkand, where he studied the Qur'an,hadith, andfiqh.[18] He looked for something beyond scholarship and law and studied under the Chishti shaykhUsman Harooni (Harvani). He moved to Lahore and then to Ajmer, where he died. His tomb, in Ajmer, is theDargah Sharif, a popular shrine and pilgrimage site.
Moinuddin was followed byQutab-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.
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 discipleNasiruddin 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 discipleAlaul 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 saintAshraf Jahangir Semnani, who was the disciple ofAlaul 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.[2][19]
In 1937 theSufiImam Al-Hajj Wali Akram founded the FirstCleveland 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.[20][21] In more recent times, a more contemporary expression of traditional Chishti Sufi practices can be found in the establishment of theIshq-Nuri Tariqa[22] in the 1960s, as a branch of the Chishti-Nizamisilsila.[23]
In addition, a number of mixed-Sufi type groups or movements in Islam, have also been influenced by the Chishti Order proper.[24] The best known and most widespread example is of theJamaat Ahle Sunnat, aSunni Muslim sect with a huge international following, which is in essence not a proper Sufi organization, though adopting many Sufi customs and traditions.[25]
From the 14th century onwards (during the rule of theTughluqs), the Chishti Order came to be associated with political prosperity for the Indian subcontinent's Muslim kingdoms. TheDelhi 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 consideredShaikh 'Ala Al-Haq to be their spiritual master.[26]
Several rulers of theMughal dynasty of South Asia were Chishti devotees, and they associated with the Order in a similar fashion to the Mughals' predecessors. The emperorAkbar was perhaps the most fervent of them. It is said to be by the blessing ofShaikh Salim Chishti that Akbar's first surviving child, the futureJahangir, was born. The child was named Salim after the sheikh and was affectionately addressed by Akbar asSheikhu Baba.[citation needed]
Akbar also credited the Chishti Shaikhs with his victory at theSiege of Chittorgarh.[26] Akbar had vowed to visit the Chishtidargah, the tomb ofMoinuddin Chishti, atAjmer if he were victorious. He fulfilled his vow by visiting the dargah with his musicians, who played in honor of the sheikh.
Shah Jahan's daughter,Jahanara Begum Sahib, was also a devout follower of the Chishti Order. Shah Jahan's sonAurangzeb patronised various Chishti shrines.
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