Messege of Hazrat Khawja Ghreeb Nawaz And Its Relevence In Modern Era

Messege of Hazrat Khawja Ghreeb Nawaz And Its Relevence In Modern Era

Maulana Ziyaur Rahman Alimi

India is the country of Sufi Saints. That is why spirituality has been in vogue here for years. Though these Sufis had to fight hard against material powers and their devotees also were subjected to the cruelty of the tyrants. But these ambassadors of peace and love always promoted brotherhood, peace, tolerance, cohesion and integrity.

Hazrat khawaja Moinuddin Hasan Chishti Ajmeri Quddisa sirrohu(May Allah sanctify his soul) fondly and truly known as Ghareeb Nawaz was a prominent name in the community of Sufis, and he like his exalted prophet Hazrat Mohammad, (peace be upon him) his benevolent family and companian, also taught every person to live together with mercy and to observe human values in every walks of lif . He made love of Allah the merciful, love of His creation and  service to the people the motto of his whole life. He took care of every member of his society without discrimination of religion and nationality and worked to connect their broken hearts and ties with the creator and the creation. Consequently people in exchange also showered him with love and called him by many beautiful names like Sultan of India, Atay Rasool(a gift of the holy messenger to the Indians) and Mugheethul Foquara(Helper and protector of the poors).

The mission, the prophetic legacy he carried forward and the message he delivered throughout his life has been inspirational accross the ages for everyone striving for the betterment of humanity and his inclusive messege is still relevant in our age going through dire straits of hatred, intolerance, social injustice and discrimination on the basis of cast, colour and creed. In this article we will find out his mission, message and teachings and will try to analyse their relevance in modern era.

Mission of Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz:

At the time Hazrat khawaja Ghareeb Nawaz put his blessed foots in India all caders of people were in their lowest level of religious, social and moral values. Kings and Maharajas were in fight with each other and to describe that situation we may quote here the the speech given by Hazrat Jafar Tayyar in the court of Najashi. He said addressing the court and the king:

”O king, we were a people of ignorance, worshiping idols, eating dead meat, committing adultery, severing ties of kinship, abusing neighbours, and the strong among us devoured the weak. In this stressful situations the prophet Muhammad peace be upon him came to us”(Seerat Ibne Hisham,V:1, P:290,)

Same was  the situation here in India when Allah the Almighty sent Hazrat Khawja sb a diputy of his prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and he called all the people in general and inhabitants of India in particular, towards mission and message spread by beloved of Allah prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) highlighted by  Hazrat Jafar Tayyar in his above-mentioned speech. Hazrat Jafer said:

“Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him commanded us to speak the truth, to fulfill the trust and uphold the ties of kinship, to be good neighbors and to refrain from incest and bloodshed, and he forbade us from abominations, speaking falsely, consuming the money of orphans and slandering chaste women, and he commanded us to worship Allah alone, not to associate anything with Him, and he commanded us to perform mandatory prayers and  supplication, pay zakat(charity) and keep fast so “(Seerat Ibne Hisham,V:1, P:290,)

This was the mission promoted and preached by Hazrat Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz too. In the light of narratives of Hazrat Jafer we may summarise the mission of Khawja sb in following words:

۞ speaking the truth

۞ Fulfilling the trust

۞ Upholding the ties of kinship

۞ Being good Neighbors

۞ Refraining from sexual crimes and bloodshed

۞ Avoiding abomination

۞ Abandoning speaking falsely

۞ Being away from consuming the money of orphans

۞ Distancing form slandering chaste women.

۞ Worshipping only Allah the almighty.

۞ Strengthening ties with Allah the creator by performing prayers, seeking refuge in Him, doing charity and enhancing inner purification and spirituality by observing fast.

These are 11 points around which Chishti mission revolves.

Messege of Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz:

To embed these points with substance we here cite an statement given by Hazrat Khwaja Naseeruddin  aka Chiraagh e Dehli. Hazrat Makhdum Shaikh Sa’ad Khairabaadi wrietes in his voluminous book Majmaussulook(V:1) that he said:

خاندان ما بدو چیز منسوب است: یکم محبت دویم انفاق

)our spiritual chain is famous for two things: the love and the charity(

In this statement Hazrat Chiraagh e Dehli has precised the messege of Chishti Sufi order. Here the love denotes two kinds of love, love of the creator and the the love of  creation for Allah. The love in terms of Sufis primarily exists only for the creator but this love of creator leads to the love of creation that exhibits in form of kindness, mercy towards people and peaceful co-existence, these beautiful sentiments calls them to the second point: Infaaq (spending) and this draws their hearts to spend  their wealth and health for prosperity, happiness and welfare of the creation.

As far love of Allah is concerned,  devotional love of chishti sufi masters for Allah has been ideal for every seeker of the truth, and to ignite fire of love in the hearts of seekers they among other things used Mahfile Sama(Quawwali) as an important tool.

Hazrat Khizar Roomi a spiritual Caliph of Hazrat khawaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki said:

Chishtis reach to Allah very easily (چشتیان خدا را مفت یابند,).

If this signifies anything it signifies their love of Allah expressed through Sama and their ecstatic conditions like Raqs(whirlings) and wajd(like crying or joyful expressions), even some of them like Hazrat khawaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki were martyred by sword of divine love in Sama.

For further authentication of the first point here i give reference of Hazrat Shah Waliullah of Dehli, he recorded in his book Hamaat (P:84) that Chisti Sufi masters have four characterists:

1.Overwhelming love of Allah

2. Purified heart
3. Obedience
4. Assimilation in Tauheed

If studied thoroughly it is crystal clear that last three of  these four characterists are natural outcome of their Overwhelming love of Allah.

So now it obvious that Chishtis has two-point program for making this world beautiful and peaceful: first one is love of the creator and the second one is love towards creation.

And if we talk about the second point this is also derived form the prophetic words like ‘‘Muslim is the one from who’s hands and toung people are safe’’(Sunan Nasaai,Hadith No:4995), ‘‘the best among you is the one who is most beneficial for others’’(Almojam al Awsat,Hdith No:5787) and ‘‘the whole creation is family of Allah’’(Almojam al Awsat,Hdith No:5541). All these prophetic sayings pin-point the message of Khawja sb and the importance of  social services and winning the hearts of the human being.

Teachings of Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz:

Hazrat khawaja Ghareeb Nawaz’s oral tradition also highlights all the points discussed previously.

Ameer Khurd Kirmani in Siyarul Auliya(Chapter:8, P:479) the most authentic book on Chishti Sufi order and its oral traditions records that Khawaja sb said:

(a). Whoever wants to save himself from troubles of the final day he must perform best deed near Allah almighty. Devotees asked Khawja sb: what that deed is. He said: those three qualities are:

1.reaching to the call of help seekers

2. Meeting the needs of people in urgenency
3. Feeding hungry

Here we see how has Khawja sb emphasized on social service the second point raised by Hazrat Chiraagh e Dehli and heralded that people working for betterment of human society will get salvation from the hellfire.

He also said:

(b). Whoever has three following qualities is friend of Allah: generousity like sea, compassion like sun, and humbleness like earth.

This indicates that people should work for welfare of humankind without making any difference on the basiss of cast, creed and country, they must embrace, benefit everyone open-heartedly, they should allow everyone to come uder the shadow of their umbrella of affection and mercy and they should treat overyone beautifully with no arrogance and hatred in their chest.

He said:  

(c) Whoever won any spiritual reward he won it due to his generosity and whoever became forerunner in the path of Allah he became becouse of Safa, purification and illuminated heart.

This highlights that generosity and illumunation of heart is instrumental in spiritual upliftment, and it is well known that the heart will be illuminated only after it is cleansed from hatred, jelousy and other bad attributes.

He said: 

(d). The one who trusts in Allah is the one who doesn’t blame people for his sufferings and hardships.

This accentuates that we as perfect human soul, should not complain of people, of their ugliest behaviour and their maltreatment and we should not show hatred towards them, intstead we should have patience over their misbehaviours and must believe that all theses things were destined by Allah the almighty.

Preaching truth with non violence:

While studying mission and message of  Khawaja sb one more point is extremely important that his method of preaching truth was a manifestation of Prophet’s Makken life, so like our prophet (peace be upon him) he never ever collided with local authorities, instead, he focussed on feeding before preaching, he silently called the people to the truth using wisdom and good words combined with practice, his sermons revolved around basics of Deen and advancement spiritual and moral qualities, he concentrated on preparation of ideal spiritual people in forms of devotees and caliphs who served the humanity with aplomb and lived their lives as an embodiment of mercy and love.

Contemporary relevance:

In an era when this world is going through waves of hatred, jelousy, supression and bloodshed, when incidents of social and religious discrimination,sexual and phisical assault on women, children and down-trodden are rampant, when kinship and modesty of people is being violated, trusts are being breached and people are leading a life of hypocrisy and their ties with the creator are badly disrupted, when powerful is trying to swallow the weaker section of society, and consequently they have been robbed of spiritual peace, intellectual relief and soulful healing. In this dire situation the world is in urgent need of messages preached by Hazrat Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz Quddisa sirrohu. His messages are still vivid and their relevance in modern age is like no other age. This world requires people like him who can with their messages win the hearts and fill the world with pure  emotions of love and universal brotherhood. But i am feeling very pity to say that millions of people in this world who are projecting themselves as Chishtis and devotees of Khawaja Ghareeb Nawaz lack practical discourse of his message and phisical expression of his mission, very few people are presenting true face Tasawwuf and Sufis and very little number of them are decorated with beautiful values of Hazrat khawaja Ghreeb Nawaz.

Conclusion:

Mission and message of Khawaja sb is searching in this age people who can be personification of his struggle for humanity. So It is duty of everyone who loves Islam, beloved prophet and prophetic message in general, it is responsibility of everyone who call themselves to be tied to Sufi chains and chishti order in particular. It is duty of everyone who identify themselves as lovers of Hazrat khaja Ghareeb Nawaz that they come out of their Khanqahs and shrines exemplified by Sufi values and Chishti mission and  messages of Hazrat Khawja Greeb Nawaz.

Let’s make a pledge to uphold his mission , let’s swear of promoting his message, lets make a promise to be living example of his teachings.  This world has been waiting desperately for pragmatic Chishtis to come on world stage, to win hearts, to rule over, to save the world from all types of negatives.May Allah bless us with His love and  love of His friends. Ameen