Khwaja Mu’in-ud-din Chisti

Khwaja Mu’in-ud-din Chisti was born in 1140 (536 A.H.) in Seistan in Central Asia. He is one of the most prominent Sufis of the Sub-Continent who introduced Chistia order of Sufism to India. The order flourished in India with its branches such as Nizamia and Sabria. He was brought up in Khurasan. His father Khwaja Ghiyas-ud-din Hasan was a very pious and God fearing man. Khwaja was fifteen years old when his father died. He lived on the earnings from a garden and a water mill, inherited from his father. One day he met an ecstatic named Ibrahim Qunduzi who generated great spiritual illumination within him. After a few days Mu’in-ud-din sold his possessions and distributed the whole money amongst the local dervishes. For many years he stayed at Samarqand and Bukhara, then the great centers of learning and became a great scholar of repute. From there he traveled to Harwan, a suburb of Nishapur where under Shaikh Usman Harwani he practiced rigorous doings of austerity for about two and a half years. He visited Baghdad, Tabrez, Balakh and Lahore where he spent forty days of meditation and retreat near the shrine of Sheikh Hujveri (popularly known as Hadrat Data Gunj Bukhsh). During his travel he came into contact with great spiritual personalities of his time such as Ghaus-i-Azam, Sheikh Abu Saeed Tabrezi, Shaikh Zia-ud-din, Sheikh Shahab-ud-din Shurawardi and Sheikh Zia-ud-din Abunajeeb Shurawardi. Qutub ud Din Aibak esteemed Khwaja very high. Later he left Delhi for Ajmer where he preached and spread Islam to the non-Muslims.

It was his human, kind and courteous disposition and piety, which won over the hearts of hundreds of thousands of people. He contacted the masses directly and selflessly loved the poor people. That is why he is well known as Gharib Nawaz (one who is extremely kind to the poor). When Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti arrived on his divine mission in Ajmer around 1190, the news of his arrival spread like wild fire. People mostly non- Muslims began to flock to him in increasing numbers. Whoever came to him received the kindest treatment and blessings. Most of the people were so much inspired by his divine teachings and simplicity that they embraced Islam. Even Ajai pal, the famous magician of Prithvi Raj submitted himself to the divine powers of Khwaja Sahib, abandoned all his magic and became his disciple. Shahabuddin Ghori who had defeated Prithvi Raj in the famous battle of Tarain humbly came to him to be blessed with his grace. Akbar would get down on foot some distance before reaching Ajmer. In 1568 and 1570, he traveled all the distance from Agra to Ajmer on foot for furtherance of some vows.

His noble soul left the mortal body on the 6th of Rajab 633 A.H. (March 16, 1236) at the age of about 97. He was buried in the same cell, which was the center for his divine activities throughout his stay at Ajmer. Today his shrine is visited by the people irrespective of their creed and color from all over the world, and stand side by side to pay homage and offer hymns of praise to this divine soul.

Qutb ud din Aibak

Born to a Central Asia Turk family, Qutb-ud-din Aibak was captured and sold as a slave when he was a child. He was lucky to be purchased by the chief Qazi of Nishapur, who treated him like one of his own sons. Aibak received good education and was trained in the field of archery and horsemanship. However, when the master died, his sons, who were jealous of Aibak, sold him to a slave merchant. Fortune once again favored him and Muhammad Ghuri bought him.

Out of Ghuri’s thousands of slaves, Aibak, because of his character and qualities, became one of his master’s favorite. Aibak steadily rose through the ranks and eventually became a General. Like his owner Ghuri, Aibak performed his greatest deeds while still a subordinate. He was responsible for most of the conquests of Northern India and was appointed as Ghuri’s Viceroy to Delhi. When Ghuri died in 1206, the Turkish Amirs and Generals elected Aibak as the new Sultan. It was he who shifted the capital first from Ghazni to Lahore, and then from Lahore to Delhi, and thus is considered as the first Muslim ruler of South Asia.

Aibak could not rule for long and died in 1210 after falling from a horse while playing polo. He is buried near the Anarkali Bazaar in Lahore, where a new tomb was constructed over his grave around 1970. Though his tenure as a ruler was only four years, and most of them were spend in dealing with the revolts of nobles like Taj-ud-din Ildiz, Nasir-ud-din Qubachah and a few Hindu chiefs, yet he established a firm administrative system. He restored peace and prosperity in the area under him and roads were free from thieves and robbers. He started the construction of Quwaat-al-Islam Mosque at Delhi. He also laid the foundation of the Qutb Minar, which was completed by his successor Iltutmush. Aibak was known as Lakh Baksh because of his generosity. He was also a pious Muslim. Historians have praised his evenhanded justice. He patronized Nizami and Fakh-i-Mudabbir, both of whom dedicated their works to Aibak.

His successors, who ruled India till 1290, were also slaves like him and the dynasty is known as the Slave Dynasty.

Lal Shahbaz Qalandar  

The mosque that is built in the hearts of the saints Is the place of worship for all, for God dwells there (Jalaluddin Rumi)
The real name of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar was Syed Muhammad Usman who was born in 1177 AD in Marwand, Iran. His father, Syed Ibrahim Kabiruddin, was a virtuous and pious dervish, and his mother was a high-ranking princess. His ancestors migrated from Iraq and settled down in Meshed, from where they again migrated to Marwand. During the Medieval period, Meshed and other cities of that region were renowned centers of learning and civilization.
Even as a young boy, Shahbaz Qalandar showed strong religious leanings. He learnt the Holy Quran by heart just at age of seven, and at twenty embraced the Qalandar order of Sufism. Qalandar is a type of dervish who is generally dressed in beggars clothes, likes poverty and austerity and has no permanent dwelling. Lal Shahbaz Qalandar wandered throughout Middle East and came to Sind from Baghdad via Dasht-i-Makran. In 1263, he arrived in Multan, which at that time was at the height of glory and splendor. The people of Multan besought him to stay but he continued his journey southward and eventually settled down in Sehwan, then a famous center of learning and popular place of worship for Hindus, in the southern part of Sindh, where he lived in the trunk of a tree on the outskirts of the town. He stayed at Sehwan for six years and during this period he disseminated the light of Islam, providing guidance to thousands of people.
Sehwan is probably the town with the oldest continuous existence in Sind.It rises on the top of a conical hill, and nearby lie the ruins of a huge fort believed to have been founded by Alexander the Great. Some coins of Alexanders time are reported to have been found here. Sehwan was the capital of a Buddhist ruler who was brother of Chandragupta II, the third of the Guptan dynasty in the 4th century AD. From the time of Arab invasion in 712, Sehwan was very important in the history of Sind since it commanded the route from the Upper to the Lower Indus, through which all invaders from either north or south had to pass. And possession of the fort was essential to the success of every campaign.
Lal Shahbaz Qalandar is an overwhelmingly popular patron saint cherished and adored alike by Hindus and Muslims of Sind. He was a great missionary, mystic, scholar, philologist and poet. Several books in Persian and Arabic on philology and poetry are attributed to him. He was Lal (red) because of his red attire, Shahbaz due to his noble and divine spirit that soared like a falcon higher and higher in the boundless heavens and Qalandar since he belonged to Qalandria order of Sufism and was saintly, exalted and intoxicated with love for eternal being of God. The legend goes that the incumbent fakirs in Sewhan sent him a bowl of milk filled to the brim indicating that there was no room for anything more. But surprisingly, he returned the bowl with a beautiful flower floating on the top. This legend spread far and wide by the time of his death in 1274, after living a good span for 97 years.
The shrine around his tomb, built in 1356, gives a dazzling look with its Sindhi kashi tiles, mirror work and two gold-plated doors – one donated by the late Shah of Iran, the other by the late Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The inner sanctum is about 100 yards square with the silver canopied grave in the middle. On one side of the marble floor is a row of about 12 inch high folding wooden stands on which are set copies of Quran for devotees to read. On the other side, beside a bundle of burning agarbattis (joss sticks), are rows of diyas (small oil lamps) lighted by Hindu devotees. The Hindus regarded him as the incarnation of Bhartihari, the saintly brother of King Vikramaditya, who is believed to have worshipped Shiva at the venue where Lal Shahbaz’s shrine is situated with all its grandeur and glory.
Thousands of devotees flock to the tomb while every Thursday their number stands multiplied. Especially at the time of his Urs (death anniversary) being a carnival as well a religious festival and celebrated every year on the 18th day of Shaban, Sehwan springs to life and becomes the focal point of more than half a million pilgrims from all over Pakistan. On each morning of the three day feast, the narrow lanes of Sewhan are packed to capacity as thousands and thousands of pilgrims, fakirs and devotees make their way to the shrine to commune with the saint, offer their tributes and make a wish. Most of the people present garlands and a green chadar (a cloth used to cover a tomb) with Quranic inscriptions in silver or gold threads. Humming of verses, singing and dancing in praise of the saint continues till late at night. A devotional dance known as dhamal, being a frenzied and ecstatic swirl of the head and body, is a special ritual that is performed at the rhythmic beat of the dhole (a big barrel-shaped drum), some of them being of giant size and placed in the courtyard of the shrine. Bells, gongs, cymbals and horns make a thunderous din, and the dervishes, clad in long robes, beads, bracelets and colored head-bands whirl faster and faster in a hypnotic trance, until with a final deafening scream they run wildly through the doors of the shrine to the courtyard beyond.
Not only the people congregating from all over Pakistan but also the tourists and the foreigners are enthralled at this fascinating scene and aspire to enjoy it time and again. Such were the persons who really attained the lofty mystical experience. Through their transcendence, their relation to God is such that in them the Divine personality seems to reflect itself and through them is revealed to his followers, and the grace of God is dispensed to those who invoke God in his name. In Iqbals inspirational poetry we find so many verses about who is Qalandar and what are the attributes of a Qalandar. A few instances are as below:

(Neither the power of crowns and kings nor the might of armies equals the force of a Qalandar)

(I was utterly abashed by this word of the Qalandar: If you bow down before an alien, you will not only be physical whackled but also be deprived of your mind and soul)

It is interesting to note that even the great philosopher-poet Iqbal assumes that he himself is not less than a Qalandar. Therefore he proclaims:

(The world is pleased with my traits of a Qalandar otherwise I know that my verses and my poetry are not so appealing)

In short, Ali Shahbaz Qalandar whose heart was the abode of God dwells in the hearts of the multitudinous people looks supreme and superior to any emperor with all his sovereignty, splendor and stateliness.