Respected Hamza Miya conveynor of the seminar and lovers of Khawaja Gharib Nawaz.
Hazrat Moinuddin Chishti, fondly known as Khawaja Gharib Nawaz is the most prominent sufi saint of the Indian subcontinent. He is the spiritual successor of Hazrat Khawaja Uthman Haruni, a pious saint belonging to the chishti order whom he served with dedicated devotion for more than twenty two years.
His tours and travels took him to different cities and towns in different countries. As guided by the holy Prophet Muhammad he came to India and settled in Ajmer, where he spent the rest of his life in the service of mankind.
Khawaja Moinuddin Hasan Chishti is a spiritual world force. He is a towering figure in the realm of mysticism especially in the Indian subcontinent. Mysticism is essentially practical in nature. It cannot be learnt from books alone. It is only in the company of the spiritual guide, that one can learn, imbibe, and appreciate the implications of mysticism.
Defining mysticism, Khwaja Gharib Nawaz says that, “Mysticism is a name, and not a custom”. By merely knowing and learning mysticism, one does not become a Sufi.
Sufism is a practical path that transcends religious boundaries and addresses the universal quest for spiritual enlightenment and divine union. Sufism came as a stranger, lived as a friend and worked as a physician, healing the spiritually wounded and curing the spiritually sick.
The Sufis breathe nothing but love. They insist on right belief, right conduct and right actions in order to explore the inner dimensions of the soul.
According to the Sufis, so long as the heart is engrossed in the world it is not free. An individual should not place in his heart anything except the love of the divine. The love of the divine and the love of the world cannot exist together.
Khawaja Gharib Nawaz’s renowned work “Ganj ul asrar” is a treasure trove full of inner secrets. It is an elaboration of the sayings, aphorisms and the teachings of esteemed sufi saints.
He mentions that the universe is enlightened with two lights. Noor e ilahi (Light of God) and noor e mohammadi (Light of Prophet). These lights are like the brilliance of the sun and the
moon. Nevertheless their eseence is essentially the same.
The spirit of living creatures was created from Noor e ilahi and the spirit of human beings was created from Noor e Mohammadi.
The first spirit of mankind created from Noore mohammadi is hzt adam. He was bestowed with the perfection of all the good attributes and qualities.
A perfect man is the one who has been bestowed with the insights of inner knowledge- Marfat. It is not easy to stay on the path of inner knowledge-Marfat with persevearance- istiqamat and acquire nearness to the friend. It then becomes absolutely necessary to have the perfect spiritual master-murshid e kamil as a guide on the path. He is a rarity amongst thousands of esoterics and exoterics combined-saliks as well as ascetics-zahids.
In conclusion the famous quote amongst Sufis “istiqamat fok ul karamat-persevearance, over miracles” holds good always.
