Maudood Chishti

Maudood Chishti (also known as Qutubuddin, Shams Sufiyaan and Chiraag Chishtiyaan) was an early day Sufi Saint, a successor to his father and master Abu Yusuf Bin Saamaan, twelfth link in the Sufi silsilah of Chishti Order, and the Master of Shareef Zandani. He was born around 430 Hijri in the city of Chisht. He initially received education from his father. He memorized the Qur'an by age 7 and completed his education when he was 16. His work includes two books, Minhaaj ul Arifeen and Khulaasat ul Shariah. He died in the month of Rajab at the age of 97 in 533 AH (March 1139 CE). He was buried at Chisht like many of the early Chishtiyya.

Hazrat Khwaja Al Mawdud Chisti became the mureed of Hazrat Khwaja Nasir Abu Yusuf Bin Saamaan Chisti. After he became a mureed, his murshid (Master) addressed him by saying, "O Qutubuddin Mowdud, adopt the path of the Faqr." The word "faqr" is literally translated as "poverty", but in the language of tasawwuf, it means to be rich with Allah. It is for one to have total trust in Allah and not to be dependent on any other than Allah. Faqar is the way of true dervishes. Khwaja Mawdud Al Chisti accepted his murshids (spiritual guidance) advice. Shortly thereafter he went into seclusion and remained absorbed in worship for twenty years. During this period, he rarely ate and was reported to complete two recitations of the Quran during the day and two during the night. He also used to constantly make the zikr of La Ilaha Illallah. Due to his consistent worship, everything in the universe became apparent to him, and nothing was kept hidden.

Khwaja Mawdud Chishti visited Balkh (the place of birth of Jalaluddin Rumi) and Bukhara, a place mentioned in the famous line of Hafez, "If that Turk of Shiraz would take my heart in his hand, I would give for his Hindu mole both Bukhara and Samarkand." Khwaja Haji Sharif Zindani, his successor, renounced everything. He led a life of strict seclusion for 40 years and hated society. He used to live on leaves of trees. Although several of the Chishtiyya stressed the value of asceticism, in general they said that seclusion and ascetic practice was for short periods only. Live in the midst of society rather than keep your spiritual ideals. It is said that the followers of Khwaja Qutubuddin were around 10,000, not including close friends and allies. It is impossible to enumerate Khwaja Mawdud's Khulafa. For the sake of barakat, a few are mentioned hereunder.

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