He came to India from Iran and spread Sufism, know who was Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti

New Delhi. After the claim of a Hindu temple in a mosque in Sambhal of Uttar Pradesh, a survey was conducted on the order of the court. During this, many people died in the violence. After this, questions were also raised on the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer, Rajasthan. The lower court accepted a petition of the Hindu side in which it has been claimed that there used to be a Hindu temple in place of the dargah. Hindu Sena president Vishnu Gupta has filed this petition.

Who was Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti
Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti was a Sunni Muslim philosopher, scholar and saint who came to India from Persia i.e. present-day Iran. He also gained fame by the name of Sultan-e-Hind and Garib Nawaz. His khanqah is in Ajmer. It is a wonderful example of Indo-Islamic architecture.

Moinuddin was born in 1141 in Sistan, Persia, which is located near the Afghan border in present-day Iran. He is considered a descendant of Prophet Mohammad. He became an orphan at the age of 14. Suddenly one day he met Ibrahim Kandoji, who was a fakir. According to Mehru Zafar, a book written on Moinuddin, when Moinuddin asked Kandoji if there was anything else in life besides loneliness, death and destruction, he replied that every person should try to find the truth.

It is said that only after this he set out in search of truth. At the age of 20, he went to Bukhara and Samarkand to study philosophy, grammar and spirituality. After this, he met Khwaja Usman Haruni in Herat, Afghanistan. He gained spiritual knowledge by staying with him. He started the Chishti order from here. Qutubuddin Bakhtiar Kaki became his first follower in Afghanistan. He went to Multan with Qutbuddin and stayed there for five years. During this time he met Hindu scholars and also learnt Sanskrit. After this he reached the Dargah of Ali Hujwiri in Lahore.

From Lahore itself Moinuddin came to Delhi and then Ajmer. At that time Ajmer was the capital of Chauhan Empire. At that time he must have been around 50 years old. Prithviraj III was ruling and his kingdom was flourishing. Then Mohammad Ghori attacked. Prithviraj was defeated in the second war in Tarain in 1192. After this Mohammad Ghori’s army started the massacre.

Seeing the condition of Ajmer, Moinuddin Chishti decided to make his abode here to serve the people. Here he met Bibi Ummatullah. He built a mud house here and started serving the people. Gradually it became a shelter for the poor, the helpless and the orphans. People also started coming here in search of peace. According to Zafar, it was from here that he got the title of Garib Nawaz.

Langar was served here every day which was open to all. Everyone was welcomed here without any discrimination of religion. He also met Hindu saints here. However, Moinuddin Chishti preached monism. He talked about equality, divine love and humanity. The Chishti order started in the 10th century near Herat. Moinuddin and his disciples expanded it. Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki was the guru of Iltutmish. Qutub Minar was built in the name of Kaki. His dargah is in Mehrauli.

Kaki’s disciple Baba Farid went towards Punjab. Nizamuddin Auliya was also a Sufi saint of this tradition. His dargah is in Delhi. He also had influence on Akbar, the Mughal ruler. Akbar got his dargahs beautified. After this, a large number of people started coming here. Ajmer Dargah became very famous during the Mughal period itself. From Mohammad bin Tughlaq, Humayun, Shershah Suri, Akbar and Dara Shikoh to Aurangzeb, everyone used to come to his shrine for business.