Unit lll – Major Sufi Orders in India

C. Suhrawardiya

Suhurawardiya adhere to the concept of wahdat al wujud. Wahdat al

Wujud
This concept of ‘Oneness of Being’ came to dominate Sufism after Ibn
‘Arabi (13th century). Ibn Taimiya (13th century) saw in it the influence of
philosophers, especially that of Ibn Sina (11th century) and condemned it.
But one may say that these ideas were also present in the minor works of Al
Ghazali (12th century).
The concept of wahdat al wujud is, in a way, a reaction of the neo-platonic
monism of the Islamic followers of Greek philosophers to the Ash’arite kalam.
Kalam, or theology, stressed the idea of One God and denied the independent
existence of created things. In contrast with God, said the Ash’arites and also
the Sufi followers of the concept of wahdat al wujud, the created world is not
permanent. The mystics then came to the ultimate conclusion that the illusion
of empirical existence must obliterate itself (fana‘) in the only Existence,
which remains (baqa‘), that is, the existence of God.
The concept of wahdat al wujud, developed by Ibn ‘Arabi (13th century)
influenced all subsequent Sufi movements till the time Ahmad Sirhindi
(17th century) strongly opposed it.
The Suhrawardi Order
hadith as well as mysticism in a madrasa and for a while lectured also at the
Nizamiya. He wrote a work in Arabic, Adab al Muridin (‘The Etiquette of the
Disciple’), which a number of Indian Sufis subsequently translated into
Persian. He had numerous disciples, one of whom, Shihabuddin Suhrawardi,
his nephew, went on to give an organizational form to his teachings and
doctrines.
Shaykh Shihabuddin Suhrawardi
Shihabuddin Abu Hafs al Suhrawardi (1145-1235) was born in Suhraward
and came to Baghdad as a youth. He studied theology under Shaykh Abdul
Qadir Jilani, but also attended the lectures of other prominent scholars,
including those given by his uncle, Abu Najib, both at the Nizamiyya and at
the latter’s ribat (hospice) on the bank of the Tigris . It was his uncle who
initiated him into Sufism. After his uncle’s death in 1168, he withdrew from
the world and began to teach in the ribat. His teachings generated great
interest and he started to give lectures at other places in the city as well. He
was a great orator and could hold the attention of the audience for hours,
bringing many to the state of spiritual awakening. He maintained friendly
relations with many known Sufis of the day and knew, among others,
Muinuddin Chishti, the founder of the Chishti centre in Ajmer and Najmuddin
Kubra, the great Sufi of the Kubrawiya order. Legendary accounts speak of
his meeting in Baghdad with Ibn ‘Arabi and Ruzbihan al Baqli.
Shihabuddin Suhrawardi became very close to the Abbasid caliph, al
Nasir, who founded a beautiful khanqah for him. He acted as the court
theologian and was elevated to the position of Shaykh al Shuyukh within the
Sufi circles of Baghdad . On a number of occasions he acted as the caliph’s
envoy to the courts of contemporary rulers. This association gave rise to
The Suhrawardi Orde r 134
the Suhrawardi tradition of keeping in touch with temporal rulers and the
order’s approval of the acceptance of lavish gifts.
Shihabuddin Suhrawardi wrote a number of books of which ‘Awariful
Ma’arif (‘The Benefits of Knowledge’) is the most important. It continued
the tradition of the earlier Sufi manuals of al Sarraj and Kalabadhi but it
rearranged the earlier material and supplemented it with new information.
The text went on to become the most closely studied piece of literature of
the Sufis, with both Suhrawardis and the Chishtis using it as a practical
guide. Besides chapters dealing with specific topics, such as the definition
of the Sufi, derivation of the term, the concept of tauhid, (Monotheism) the
mystic way, prayer, dhikr, (remembrance of God) meditation, sama’, (musical
assembly) etc., it also talks about the role of the shaykh and his relationship
with his disciples. For the first time it describes the Sufi hospice, (khanqah),
and discusses various issues concerned with running it.
After his death, he was succeeded in Baghdad by his son, ‘Imaduddin
Muhammad Suhrawardi (d. 1257) who acted as the custodian of the ribat.
Other disciples were ordered by the Shaykh to return to their homelands
and establish new centres there.
Shaykh Bahauddin Zakariya
Shaykh Bahauddin (1182-1262), whose forefathers probably came to
India with the armies of Muhammad bin Qasim and settled in Sind, was
born at Kot Karor near Multan. His father died when he was twelve. At
first he studied in the village and later decided to go in search of knowledge
to Khurasan. He spent seven years in Bhukhara, and then traveled to Makkah
and Madinah . In Madinah he stayed for five years and studied the hadith
with a distinguished muhaddith Shaykh Kamaluddin Muhammad Yamani from
whom he received a sanad i.e., a formal authorization, to teach the hadith.
From there he went on to Jerusalem and then, Baghdad , where he joined
the circle of disciples of Shaykh Shihabuddin Suhrawardi, who initiated him
into his order and made him his khalifah.
The story goes on to say that Shaykh Bahauddin was so receptive to spiritual
teachings that it took him a mere 17 days to grasp the entire spiritual course.
He
had khilafat conferred upon him within such a short period that the other
disciples
felt jealous, for they had not been able to achieve this even after many years of
training under the Shaykh. When the Shaykh learnt of their complaint, he
explained
that Bahauddin was like dry wood that caught fire immediately, whereas they
were like green wood that takes time to catch fire.
Shaykh Bahauddin was directed by his Shaykh to return to the subcontinent
and settle in Multan to spread the teachings received from him. However,
the ulama were not happy with his arrival and this gave rise to a conflict
between the ulama and the Sufis, with Shaykh Bahauddin being targeted by
Maulana Qutbuddin Kashani. Maulana Kashani was a greatly respected
scholar of Multan. He enjoyed the support of the rulers who even built a
madrasa for him to teach in. He strongly disapproved of the Sufis and was
not happy, despite the fact that Bahuuddin came to his madrasa to say the
morning prayers. Nevertheless, the Shaykh fared well in Multan and erected
an extensive khanqah where the prominent men of the area visited him to
discuss theological issues and seek his advice.
The Shaykh took an interest in political matters and invited Sultan
Shamshuddin Iltutmish to conquer Multan and add it to the Delhi Sultanate.
The Qadi of Multan also joined the Shaykh in this invitation. Both letters
fell into the hands of Qabacha, the ruler of Multan. He had the Qadi executed
and summoned the Shaykh to his palace. On being shown the letter and
The Suhrawardi Orde r 136
asked for an explanation, the Shaykh boldly replied that he had written the
letter on divine inspiration. The ruler finally did nothing.
After Iltutmish succeeded in annexing Multan and Sind in 1228, he gave
Shaykh Bahauddin Zakariya the title of Shaykh ul Islam. This was an honorary
title conferred on religious dignitaries and carried with it monetary stipends
and lands. The recipients were not obliged to attend the court regularly but
only to offer the rulers occasional advice. Thus the Shaykh acquired additional
income for his khanqah. Shaykh Bahauddin had good relations with the
Chishti
Sufis like Khawaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki and Baba Farid. He laid great
stress
on performing namaz and held that all blessings were the result of performing
obligatory prayers. To him, missing an obligatory prayer was akin to spiritual
death. Dhikr and supererogatory prayers were assigned a secondary place in
his
Sufi discipline. He did not think, unlike the Chishtis, that continuous fasting
was
necessary for a Sufi, and advised a regular diet. Sometimes, he indulged
himself
in sama’ like the Chishti Sufis though, in general, the Suhrawardis did not
favour
it. Meditation and contemplation meant for him the freeing of the heart from
everything other than the thought of God.
He was the most popular Sufi in and around Multan, and because he did
not stay away from political issues, the rulers and nobles also turned to him
for his blessings and prayers. Due to his fame and influence, he was even able
to successfully negotiate peace with the Mongols, who besieged the Multan
fort in 1247.
One important feature of the Suhrawardi order, which was also upheld
by Bahauddin, was that neither the order nor he were against possessing
wealth earned by lawful means. After his needs and the needs of his family
and the khanqah were fulfilled, what was left of the money received by him
as gifts was used for humanitarian purposes for the benefit of the public.
This did not, however, imply that everything was to be distributed every
day and nothing kept for the next. Not surprisingly, he was criticized for his
views on the possession of wealth and property and for his close association
with the rulers. But, to him, this was not un-Islamic, for after all, the
shariah did not declare property and wealth unlawful in itself. What was
condemnable for him was to neglect the higher spiritual and moral values
for an involvement in worldly affairs. As long as material things could be
kept away from one’s heart, there was no harm in possessing them. Another
important point to be kept in mind was that worldly resources had to be
spent on righteous purposes.
The criticism that Shaykh Bahauddin involved himself in politics, favouring
certain rulers above others, ignores the fact that he had good relations only
with good rulers. Sultan Iltutmish was an honest and capable monarch, so
the Shaykh supported him in his invasion of Sind . When the Mongols raided
the country, he felt it was his duty to extend his full support in the
establishment of the newly formed Delhi Sultanate.
Shaykh Bahauddin disapproved of the Sufis seeking guidance from a
number of different pirs and being initiated into a number of orders at the
same time. He wanted a seeker of guidance to surrender to one rather
than many. After he died, his tomb in Multan became a centre of pilgrimage.
He strove hard and, within about half a century, the Suhrawardi order was
firmly established as one of the leading Sufi orders on the subcontinent. His
khalifas carried on his mission.
Qazi Hamiduddin Nagauri
Qazi Hamiduddin Nagauri was the most learned amongst the khalifas
of Shaykh Shihabuddin Suhrawardi. His family migrated from Bhukhara to
Delhi at some point before 1200, where his father, Ataullah died. Shaykh
The Suhrawardi Orde r 138
Hamid was appointed the Qazi of Nagaur and served in this position for 3
years. He did not find the service inwardly rewarding, so he left for Baghdad,
where he met Shaykh Shihabuddin Suhrawardi and became his disciple. It
was also there that he met Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, who later
became a renowned Sufi of the Chishti order. Hamiduddin and Qutbuddin
became friends. Under the influence of Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki,
Hamiduddin started taking an interest in sama’, thereby arousing the
opposition of the ulama. He was also very close to Qutbuddin’s famous
disciple, Nizamuddin Auliya. When the latter died, it was Qazi Hamiduddin
Nagauri who invested his successor Baba Farid, by presenting him with the
relics of his Shaykh.
Qazi Hamiduddin was a writer with several works to his credit. Lawaih
(‘Flashes of Light’) was an important Sufi text, but it did not survive the
ravages of time. It is attested that Baba Farid used to study it with his
disciples. Three other works of Hamiduddin have, however, survived and
these are: ‘Ishqiyya, Tawali’ al Shumus (‘Points Where the Suns Rise’), and
Risala Min Kalam.
In ‘Ishqiyya, Qazi Hamiduddin explains the relationship between the
Lover and the Beloved, saying that they appear to be two separate identities,
but are in fact one. Here the Beloved is God and the Sufi the Lover. To
become one with his Beloved the Sufi must annihilate his ego. The more
successful he is in this, the greater the possibility of his achieving the ultimate
goal. He goes on to say that love is the source of everything that exists and
both the Lover and the Beloved mirror each other. In short, the essence of
all existing beings is God.
Tawali’ al Shumus is an exposition of God’s names. According to him,
God’s greatest name is Huwa or He and he says that Huwa or He indicates
His eternal nature—holy and free from decline and fall, explaining this
further by quoting chapter 112 from the Qur’an: “Say: ‘God is One, the
Eternal God. He begot none, nor was He begotten. None is equal to Him.”
Shaykh Jalaluddin Tabrezi
Shaykh Jalaluddin Tabrezi (d. 1266) was one of the most devoted disciples
of Shihabuddin Suhrawardi. Before becoming his disciple, he was, like his
father, a disciple of Abu Sa’id of Tabriz . After his death he left for Baghdad
and became a disciple of Shihabuddin Suhrawardi. His devotion to his mentor
knew no bounds and it is said that he used to carry food for him wherever he
went, and warmed it on the spot to serve whenever required.
He left Baghdad together with Bahauddin Zakariyya and traveled with him
as far as Multan, but while Bahauddin Zakariyya remained in Multan,
Jalaluddin
Tabrezi carried on to Delhi. He stayed there for a while but finally decided it
was not the best place for him and continued his journey eastwards. He
established himself in Bengal and was responsible for spreading Islam there.
At
first he stayed in Lakhnauti, where he built a khanqah, and then moved on to
Deva Mahal in northern Bengal. Deva Mahal came to be known as Tabrizabad
and became a centre of pilgrimage. Large numbers of Hindus and Buddhists
converted to Islam under his influence. His disciples were possessed of a
missionary
zeal and found many converts among the lower classes, who being persecuted
by the zamindars, (landowners) embraced Islam to share in the equality and
human brotherhood they had been denied for centuries.
Nuruddin Mubarak Ghaznavi
Sayyed Nuruddin Mubarak Ghaznavi (d. 1235) was an important khalifah
of Shaykh Shihabuddin. His early life is virtually unknown but, when he
came to Delhi, he was already famous and Iltutmish appointed him as Shaykh
The Suhrawardi Orde r 140
ul Islam. The people of Delhi called him Mir-e-Delhi (Lord of Delhi). According
to Ziauddin Barni, he often visited the Sultan and did not hesitate to criticize
the non-Islamic customs of the court.
He believed that Islam could be protected only when the rulers followed
its principles, and that a ruler who followed these principles would be
raised with the prophets and the saints on the Day of Judgement. The rulers,
he felt, should practice din-panahi or ‘the protection of the Islamic way of
life’ and see to it that the commands of the shariah were observed. Sins,
debauchery and adultery should not be tolerated. Offenders should be
ruthlessly punished. The pious should be entrusted with the duty to enforce
the shariah and the officers appointed to carry out this task should be well
versed in both the shariah and the tariqa. He was against philosophers. He
felt that their teachings should be prohibited in the territories under Islam.
He believed that justice should be rigorously dispensed and that the tyrants
should be overthrown. He seems to have been an extremist who could not
tolerate anything but orthodox Islam. He even went to the extent of saying
that those rulers who did not follow the principles enumerated by him
risked damnation in the Hereafter, and that prayer and fasting alone was
not going to benefit them.
It is said that he performed hajj twelve times. He was in Delhi during
the reign of Sultan Iltutmish when he was offered the post of Sadr us Sudur,
which he accepted. But after two years, he resigned and devoted the rest of
his life to spiritual exercises.
The Spiritual Descendents of Bahauddin Zakariya
In Multan, Bahauddin Zakariya was succeeded by his son, Shaykh
Sadruddin, (d.1286), known as Arif, or ‘gnostic’. A disciple of Shaykh
Sadruddin compiled the malfuzaat of his teacher and called it Kunuz’l Fawa’id.
Although the work has not survived, Shaykh ‘Abdul Haqq Muhaddith quotes
it extensively in his Akhbaru’l Akhyar. He also gives extracts from the works
and malfuzaat of his son and successor, Shaykh Ruknuddin Abul Fath (d.
1334), who was a great admirer of Shaykh Nizamuddin Awliya and often
said that he visited Delhi mainly to see the Shaykh. His works did not
survive either.
Shaykh Ruknuddin was succeeded by his grandson, Shaykh Hud, whom
the governor of Sind accused of misappropriating the income of the khanqah
for his personal use. The Sultan ordered the governor to seize the entire
property of the khanqah, thereby reducing the Shaykh to utter poverty. He
was finally executed on a false charge. With his execution, the khanqah of
Shaykh Bahauddin Zakariya in Multan ceased to be the centre of Sufi activity.
After the death of Shaykh Rukunuddin, the order declined in Multan, only
to be rejuvenated in Uch. The Sufi who infused it with new life was Sayyid
Jalaluddin Bukhari (1308-1384), popularly known as Makhdum-i Jahaniyan
(Lord
of the Mortals). He was the son of one of the disciples of Bahauddin Zakariya,
Sayyid Jalaluddin, also called Jalal Surkh or Red Jalal. He was originally from
Bhukhara but migrated to India, finally settling in Uch.
Sayyid Jalaluddin Bukhari, Makhdum-i Jahaniyan, was educated in the usual
branches of the religious sciences and initiated into the Suhrawardi order
by Shaykh Ruknuddin. He lived mainly in Uch in the north west , but made
frequent trips to Delhi and is also said to have traveled to many different
parts of the Islamic world, where he met the leading Sufis of the times. He
was appointed Shaykh ul Islam by Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq who also
made him the head of a khanqah in Siwistan in Sind. Sultan Mohammad bin
Tughlaq controlled the appointments of the heads of the Sufi khanqah so as
to keep them under his influence.
The Suhrawardi Orde r 142
Jalaluddin objected strongly to transplanting Hindu practices into Islamic
tradition and spoke against exploding crackers at festivals, referring to
Allah by Hindu names such as Thakur (Lord) or Kartar (Creator), and the
whitewashing of graves and placing lamps on them at night on the occasion
of Shab-i Barat. Like other Suhrawardis, he believed that the Sufis should
maintain a relationship with the rulers and the officials, so that they could
better serve humanity at large. His disciples compiled his sayings in a work
known as Khulasatul Alfaz Jamiul-Ulum.
Besides Sadruddin Arif and Jalaludin Surkhi, Bahauddin Zakariya had a
number of other prominent disciples, of which the most famous were Shaykh
Fakhruddin Ibrahim Iraqi and Hasan Afghan.
Hasan Afghan was illiterate but the Shaykh was very proud of him. He
would often say that if God asked him what he had brought with him, he
would present Hasan as a gift. There is a story that illustrates the spiritual
values that form the basis of this reverence. Once Hasan Afghan went to a
mosque to perform namaz and took his place in the row behind the Imam.
When the namaz was over, Hasan went up to the Imam and said: “Khwaja!
You began the namaz and I followed you. In your thoughts you travelled
from here to Delhi , did some shopping, then went to Khurasan and Multan
and then back to the mosque. What sort of namaz is this?”
About another khalifah of Bahauddin, Annemarie Schimmel writes: ‘It
may be that Bahauddin Zakariya would not have been so well known if a
noted poet had not lived in his entourage for nearly 25 years.’1 Shaykh
Fakhruddin Ibrahim (d.1289), who wrote under the pen name of Iraqi, was
the poet in question. He came from the neighbourhood of Hamadan where
he lectured in a madrasa. He fell in love with a handsome youth and followed
[1] Schimmel, A., Mystical Dimensions of Islam, 1975, p..352
him and his group till he reached Multan. Here he stopped at the khanqah
of Shaykh Bahauddin, who assigned him a cell to stay in. Apparently, for the
first ten days he did not leave the cell at all and on the eleventh, came out
singing poetry, laid down his head at the saint’s feet and wept. The Shaykh
raised him from his prostration and, taking off his own mystic robe, placed
it upon him.
Though in principle Bahauddin was opposed to poetry and music, he
tolerated Iraqi’s addiction. Iraqi stayed in Multan as long as the Shaykh
lived and then left. First he traveled to Makkah to perform hajj and later
on, all over Asia Minor. In Konia he met Sadruddin Qonawi, a khalifah of
Jalaluddin Rumi, and attended his lectures on Ibn ‘Arabi’s Fusus al Hikam.
He might have even met Rumi himself. From Konia he travelled on to
Egypt and Syria, where he died. He was buried in Damascus, close to the
grave of Ibn ‘Arabi.
Of the numerous works of Fakhruddin Iraqi, the most famous is his
treatise Lama’at (‘Flashes’), which is inspired by the mystical philosophy of
Ibn ‘Arabi. Like his spiritual master, Iraqi sees his God, the eternally beautiful
beloved, everywhere and puts his views forward in beautiful prose
interspersed with Persian poetry. The treatise went on to become a much
studied Sufi text and a number of commentaries were written on it, one of
them being by Jami. His other works include a Diwan and a masnavi entitled
‘Ushshaq-nama (‘Book of Lovers’).
The Suhrawardi order was fortunate in having yet another gifted literary
follower. His name was Amir Husaini (d. circa 1320) and he is variously
described as the disciple of either Bahauddin Zakariya or his son, Sadruddin.
Amir Husaini was born in Ghizv, a village in Ghur, where he had his initial
education. He came to Multan at some point during the reign of Sultan
Iltutmish,
The Suhrawardi Orde r 144
where he joined the Suhrawardi khanqah. He wrote numerous works and in
one of them, a masnavi called Kanzu’r Rumuz (‘The Treasure of Mysteries’), he
lavishes praise on the Suhrawardi shaykhs: Shihabuddin, Bahauddin Zakariya
and
Sadruddin. It is in this work that he states his interest in sama’ and considers
it to
be a practice reserved exclusively for holy men. Besides the masnavi, he wrote
other numerous works like Nuzhatu’ul arwah (‘Delight of the Souls’), which
describes the spiritual path of the Sufis; Tabatu’l Majalis (‘Emotion of Mystic
Assemblies’), a prose work dealing with ethics; Zadu’l Musafirin (‘Provisions
for Travelers on the Sufi Path’), which evokes Sanai’s Hadiqatu’l Haqiqa and
Sadi’s Gulistan; a Diwan and some other pieces of writing which are known by
name but copies of which have not yet come to light. There is also a record of
his exchanging letters with a celebrated mystic of Tabriz, Saduddin Mahmud
Shabistari (d. 1320), on the topic of Sufism, the whole epistles set in the form
of
questions and answers. When Shaykh Sadruddin died, he left Multan and
settled
in Herat.
Among the descendants of Makhdum-i Jahaniyan of Uch was Shaykh
Samauddin (d. 1496). He left Uch after his initiation into the Sufi way and
traveled in Gujarat and Rajasthan, settling finally in Delhi during the reign
of Sultan Bahlul Lodi (1451-1489). He was highly respected by the Sultan
as well as his successor, Sultan Sikandar (1489-1517) who sought the
Shaykh’s
blessings before his coronation. He authored a number of works of which
the most famous is a commentary on Iraqi’s Lamaa’t. His most famous disciple
was Shaykh Hamid bin Fazlullah (d. 1536) better known as Jamali Kanbo
Dihlawi. He was a great traveler and a great poet, whose Siyarul ‘Arifin
(‘Biographies of the Gnostics’) contains a number of autobiographical
references. He was a prolific writer who left a voluminous Diwan and a
masnavi, Mihr wa Mah, a love story with a mystic theme.
The Suhrawardis were successful in spreading their order not only in
Gujarat and Delhi, but also in Kashmir. A disciple of a khalifah of Shihabuddin
Suhrawardi, named Sayyid Sharafuddin, came to Kashmir from Turkestan
in the 14th century and converted Richana, the Buddhist ruler of Laddakh to
Islam. Sayyid Sharfuddin is remembered in Kashmir as Bulbul Shah and
reputedly his khanqah became a great centre of Sufi activities. As he had no
outstanding successors, it fell into abeyance after his death. However, the
Suhrawardi teachings were revived by Sayyid Muhammad Isfahani, a disciple
of Makhdum-i Jahaniyan, who was a contemporary of Sultan Zainu’l ‘Abidin
(1420-70) of Kashmir.
Suhrawardi Thought and Practice
The Suhrawardis entered India in the 13th century and went on to
consolidate their hold over the Indian mind as a result of the activities of
the khalifas of Shaykh Shihabuddin Suhrawardi. Initially, they were centred
in Multan in Sind, but later their teachings were carried on to other parts
of north India with centres developing in Delhi, Badayun and in Bengal .
The Sufis of the Chishti order were already there in Ajmer, Delhi, Nagaur
and Ajodhan. There was much interaction between these two orders and
the great masters of both corresponded with each other and also met
personally. There are records of Hamiduddin Suvali of Nagaur, a Chishti
shaykh, writing to Bahauddin Zakariya on the issue of the wealth that Sufis
were permitted to hold, along with that of a meeting of both in Delhi .
Qadi Hamiduddin Nagauri, a Suhrawardi shaykh and a close friend of
Qutubuddin Bakhtiar Kaki and his khalifah Nizamuddin Auliya, in fact,
performed the formal handing over of the relics of Nizamuddin Auliya to
Baba Farid, his spiritual successor.
A Sufi text, ‘Awarifu’l Ma’arif, written by Shihabuddin Suhrawardi, was
the standard manual for most of the Sufis of the subcontinent, with both the
The Suhrawardi Orde r 146
Suhrawardis and the Chishtis using it as a handbook to train disciples. Baba
Farid taught it to his pupils together with another text, Lawa’ih, a lost text
of Qadi Hamiduddin Nagori, which was then considered to be the most
advanced text on mysticism. In principle, the traditions of both the orders
were not opposed to each other, though they favoured and laid stress on
different sets of practices.
The life of the disciples was organized around the khanqah, which included
the living quarters of the presiding shaykh, dormitories for the followers
and pilgrims, cells for meditation, a communal kitchen and a dining hall.
The Chishtis preferred to use the term jamaat khana rather than khanqah,
but both were essentially interchangeable. Most of the Chishti hospices
were originally built in places far removed from urban centres, and any
urban activity around them was a later development mostly due to the
popularity of the shrine.
The Suharwardi khanqahs were as a rule established with the help of
grants, for the Suhrawardis accepted gifts from rulers and wealthy
merchants. They therefore had no dearth of money, for riches were treasured
as future assets, a principle diametrically opposite to that followed in Chishti
hospices, where nothing was to be kept for the next day. It is said that
Shaykh Bahauddin Zakariya was probably the richest saint of medieval India
and his lifestyle differed considerably from the austere, God-trusting
atmosphere of his Chishti neighbours. His khanqah was well run. He had
fixed hours for reception. Instead of devoting himself to continuous
austerities, he preferred to keep a well-filled granary in order to be able to
live lavishly. He believed there was nothing wrong with possessing wealth,
for it could not corrupt a Suhrawardi Sufi if he was totally devoted to the
spiritual ideal.2
[2] see the earlier section on controversy between Bahauddin Zakariya and a
Chishti saint, Sheikh
Hamiduddin Suvali of Nagaur, on the issue of property
Neither did Shaykh Bahauddin Zakariyya consider it necessary to open
his doors to all and sundry. He did not tolerate qalandars, (mystic wanderer)
for he believed that everyone should work and earn a living instead of opting
for a life of dependency. But his successors, like Shaykh Ruknuddin, were
more tolerant. They felt that it was the demands of the qalandars and
dervishes
that justified the Shaykhs’ monetary possessions.
The culture of the Chishti jamaat khanas was somewhat different and
everyone was welcomed there. Even if there was nothing in the jamaat
khana to offer to the visitor, a glass of water would be presented with
apologies. The Chishtis believed in and practiced the principle of the equality
and brotherhood of all men, for all were God’s creatures in equal measure.
In this ideology, there was no room for discrimination between one and the
other. They were all God’s servants, seekers of truth and deserving of respect.
The concept of wahdat al wujud was not really present in the Sufi thought
of the subcontinent till almost the 14th century. Iraqi, a khalifah of Bahauddin
Zakariya and a great poet who was familiar with the ideas of of Ibn ‘Arabi,
introduced them in his writings. Before that, the most studied text ‘Awariful
Ma’arif, and other contemporary texts spoke of the oneness of a mystic with
God only in the terms of love, using the metaphor: “Lover, love and beloved
are all one”. Each aspirant to the Sufi path was required to begin his spiritual
course with tawba (repentance). This was done under the guidance of the
pir, and the salik was asked to submit to the divine will. The two orders
differed to some extent as regards the details of these rituals.
The Suharwardis attached great importance to salat (prayer) and dhikr
(remembrance of God) as far as the purification of the soul was concerned.
They believed that fasting in the month of Ramadan was sufficient for this
purpose. This annual training course, if performed properly, would suffice
The Suhrawardi Orde r 148
for the whole year. Shaykh Bahauddin Zakariya recited this verse of the
Qur’an to his followers: “Eat what is pure and act righteously.” The advice
Shaykh Jalaluddin Tabrizi, another Suhrawardi saint, gave to his followers is
very telling: “Eat three times a day and use the strength gained from the
food for prayers and abstention from sin.”3
The Chishtis, however, believed in rigorous ascetic exercises. They laid
heavy emphasis on fasting in order to achieve the goal of spiritual
purification. They often fasted on alternate days. Even when they ate, they
ate sparingly. Self-mortification, meditation and contemplation formed
essential parts of Chishti life. The Chishtis also used a number of different
techniques, particularly of exhalation and inhalation, which they learnt from
the yogis. They combined these yoga techniques with dhikr to achieve
concentration, which was essential to the enhancement of mystical sensitivity.
Sama’, which was geared towards achieving the same goal, that is union
with God, formed an indispensable part of the Chishti rituals. The
Suhrawardis did not attach such importance to sama’ but they too indulged
in it occasionally. They did not reject it altogether, allowing it only for the
salik at an advanced stage.
The Suhrawardi order was closer to the true, orthodox spirit of Islam.
It did not preach a renunciation of the world in the way that the Chishtis
did, for the Chishtis not only renounced wealth and desire, but sometimes
even marital relations, often practicing celibacy like Nizamuddin Auliya
and Bakhtiar Kaki. The Suhrawardis allowed everything which was labeled
legitimate in Islam. They focused on the recitation of dhikr and the prescribed
fasting in the month of Ramadan, but did not encourage supererogatory
fasting. They went even further, sternly rejecting the practice of
selfprostration
before the Shaykh, a practice widely adopted by the Chishtis.