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BIRTH &
EARLY LIFE
Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chishty was born (536 A-H.) at Chisht
in Sistan, which was also known as; Sajistan, East Persia, the peace
of Muslim world was horribly disturbed. Sistan and its surrounding
lands were experiencing unprecedented bloodshed and plunder at the
hands of barbarous Tartars and other rebels. These intruders had
taken advantage of the weak government of Sultan Sanjar, an account
of which has appeared in the preceding pages. The life and honour
of the people were in constant danger. The wild Tartars had completely
destroyed the flower of the Muslim nation. They outraged humanity
practically in all the centres of the 600-year old Muslim civilisation
and culture.
Migration
and life in Neshapur:
Due to these intermittent political disturbances in Sistan,Hazrat
Khwaja Ghiyasuddin Hasan(father of Khwaja sahab), one day decided
to pack up and leave Sistan for a safer place. He migrated with
his family to Neshapur, the Capital city, which was one of the most
flourishing cities in those days. It was a great centre of intellectual
and economic activities and possessed the famous "Nizamia"
university with a precious library that contained a rare collection
of Oriental literature. There lived learned Ulema and reputed Sufis
who imparted knowledge in moral and spiritual enlightenment to scholars
drawn from far and near. There lived physicians and artists of rare
qualifications.There were rich gardens and canals with flourishing
agricultural fields. One of the suburbs was called Rewand which
was famous for its grape orchards.It is recorded that Hazrat Khwaja
Ghyasuddin Hasan(R.A) bought an orchard with a windmill in this
vicinity to settle down for a peaceful life.
No peace
of mind:
"Man proposes but God disposes".
The peace in search of which Hazrat Khwaja Ghiyasuddin Hasan(R.A)
had migrated to Neshapur was not to be had even in this great city.
Here too the people were hanging in a terrible suspense between
life and death. The brave Sultan Sanjar had been fighting the Tartars
at the borders to check them for along time without Success. Due
to his prolonged absence from the capital his administrative machinery
was showing signs of disintegration. Internally, the Fidayees of
the 'Qarmti and 'Baatini' sects (one of whose members had already
murdered the able Wazeer Nizamul Mulk) had also come out of their
hide-outs and were roaming about the country unabated, spreading
wild fire of rebellion all round. These armed hordes were busy in
wholesale plunder and massacre of the innocent people.
These awe-inspiring events had a very deep impression on the mind
of the Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chishty(R.A) who was watching
the whole barbarous drama objectively at his impressionable young
age.
The 'Qarmti'
and 'Baatani' intriguers had carried centuries' old grudge against
the Hanafi Muslims who held both temporal and spiritual powers in
succession for more than 500 years after the Holy Prophet (S.A.W).
Although it was an age-old grudge but, as Islamic history shows,
they utterly failed in all their designs to destory their rivals.
Islam has survived many vicissitudes of history and Quran has promised
its survival up to the last Day-of-Judgment.
Demise of
parents:
Gharib Nawaz again saw all this ghastly drama at his early age.
But this was not all for him. Just at this time he lost his dear
father (551 A-H.) and the worst part of it was that he had already
lost his dear mother too. Khwaja Sahab,was now left all alone to
look after himself in a world full of hate, murder and greed. Although,
by virtue of legacy, he had enough material resources to sustain
himself in his traditional standard of life, but the sack of Neshapur
coupled with the death of his dear parents plunged him into deep
thinking. At times he was overwhelmed with grief and saw a very
vague picture of this terrible world though he bore it out with
courage and exemplary forbearance. He was a hardworking youth and
looked after his orchard personally, trimming and watering the plants
with his own hands.
Yet another sack:
Hardly a year had passed after the sad death of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin's
father, when the mischievous Tartars once more ransacked Khorasan
and repeated the same bloody drama of murder, arson and loot. This
time Sultan Mahmood, one of the brothers of Sultan Sanjar, came
forward to check the invaders but he too failed to rout them. Neshapur
was again the scene of the same ghastly tragedies which our pen
shivers to describe. And once more Khwaja sahab was overwhelmingly
dismayed to see these scenes of terrible devastation. He often plunged
himself into deeper thoughts about these ugly events in order to
try to come to some definite conclusion about his own future course
of life. The thought of helping the helpless humanity against all
such persistent pillage always tormented his tender heart. Yet he
could not come to any definite conclusion.
Destined
for a Sacred Mission:
As helpless human beings, we can never understand the will of the
Almighty God. Should we surmise that by exhibiting these tragedies
perhaps God Almighty meant to show Khwaja sahab the sins of this
wretched world in order to prepare him for a mighty divine mission
of reform and peace for the mankind? As it will be seen later on,
the Almighty did mean this for which He enlightened the mind of
the young Khwaja sahab quite unexpectedly. How he was equipped providentially
for this great and sacred mission, and what a wonderful role he
was destined to play in India, will be seen in the following pages.
Whenever injustice, oppression and greed reigned supreme in this
world. God has always been merciful to mankind by sending His saviours
to fight the Satanic forces and put the people on the path of righteousness
and mutual love.
Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chishty (R.A) used to ponder,
for hours together, over the ugly scenes of the ghastly massacre
in Khorasan which he had been witnessing with great pain for several
years ever since his younger days. With these tragic impressions,
his interest in worldly life and pleasures was diminishing fast.
Inwardly he was very much worried and longed to be away from such
a mad world if he could manage to see a way out.
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