Chishti Order

• The most famous of the Sufi saints of India was Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti, who settled in Ajmer which became the centre of his activities. He was the founder of the Chishti Order in India. He worked among the low caste people and spent his life in the service of the helpless and the downtrodden. His view was that the greatest form of devotion to God consisted in service of humanity. His attitude towards God and people won him great popularity and even today his tomb at Ajmer attracts every year lacs of pilgrims.
• The Khwaja had many disciples and followers. Two of the most important among them were
• Shaikh Hamid-ud-din
• Shaikh Qutb-ud-din Bakhtiyar Kaki(came to Delhi during the Reign of Iltutmish)
• In the beginning, the main centres of the Sufis were Multan and Punjab. By the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Sufis had spread to Kashmir, Bihar, Bengal and the Deccan.
• Shaikh Farid-ud-din Masud Ganj-i-Shaker (1175–1265) was a disciple of Kaki. He worked in Hansi and Ajodhan. His religious activities were responsible for raising the Chishti Order to the status of an All-India Organisation. He trained a large number of disciples and established many Khanqahs(houses of rest for travelers especially kept by a religious order). Sultan Balban was devoted to Baba Farid.
• Shaikh Nizam-ud-din Auliya (1238–1335) came to Delhi in 1258 A.D. and became a disciple of Baba Farid. He continued his spiritual activities at Delhi for nearly 60 years.He was responsible for making Delhi an important centre of the Chishti silsilah. He saw the reign of seven sultans. He preferred to shun the company of rulers and nobles and kept aloof from the state. For him renunciation meant distribution of food and clothes to the poor. Amongst his followers was the noted writer Amir Khusrau.
• Another famous Chishti saint was Sheikh Nasiruddin Mahmud, popularly known as Nasiruddin Chirag-i-Dilli (The Lamp of Delhi). Following his death in 13 56 and the lack of a spiritual successor, the disciples of the Chishti silsilah moved out towards eastern and southern India.

Suhrawardi Order

• The Suhrawardi Order was founded by Shaikh Shihab-ud-din Suhrawardi (1145-1234). He sent disciples to India who settled down in North-Western India. One of them was Shaikh Bahaud- din Zakariya Suhrawardi (1182-1263) who was the founder of the Suhrawardi Order in India.
• He set up a Khanqah at Multan where he worked for almost half a century. He did not believe in poverty and torturing the body. He led a balanced and comfortable life. He faithfully followed the rules of Islam. He wanted the external forms of Islam to be faithfully followed and rejected the Hindu practice of bowing before the Shaikh which was followed by the Chishtis. He took active interest in political affairs and freely mixed with rulers and administrators. He openly took the side of Iltutmish in his struggle against Qubacha and got the title of Shaikh-ul-Islam (Leader of Islam).

Differences Between Chishti and Suhrawardi Orders

There was a fundamental difference between the Chishti and Suhrawardi Orders on many points.