Sufi's Delhi: Nizamuddin Dargah

Nizamuddin dargah(1562 AD), Delhi, India: How can one explain spiritual progress? What is it? What is it like? Spiritual progress is the changing of the point of view. Hazrat Khawaja Nizamuddin Auliya (1238 - 3 April 1325) (حضرت خواجة نظام الدّین اولیا), also known as Hazrat Nizamuddin, was a famous Sufi saint of the Chishti Order in South Asia, an order that believed in respect for religious traditions and renunciation of worldly powers. He believed that pious action should be favored over religious worship.

Inside of the dargah:He died on the morning of 3 April 1325. His shrine, Nizamuddin Dargah is located in Delhi and the present structure was built in 1562. The shrine is visited by people of all faiths, through the year, thoughout it becomes a place for special congregation during the death anniversaries, or Urs, of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya and Amir Khusro, who is also buried at the Nizamuddin Dargah.

Tour of the Dargah: The entry point to Nizamuddin area is marked by a traffic island with a blue-domed tomb known as Sabz Burj (sabz, green; burj, dome). The blue tiles
are reportedly a recent restoration effort, but some of the original green, yellow and blue tiles can still be seen on the walls.

Walls of the dargah: It has high recessed arches on all sides and a double dome covered with coloured tiles which gives it its name. Architecturally, the building probably belongs to the early Mughal period. Reportedly, the British used this building as a police station for many years till the beginning of the last century.

Sabz Burz : Even though it is right in the heart of Delhi, you can easily miss the little alley in the Nizamuddin area, closer to Humayun’s Tomb, where the mausoleums of Hazrat Nizammudin Auliya and his dearest disciple Amir Khusrau are located. We reached Mathura Road and headed for the street leading to the dargah On a working day, the usual throng of visitors was missing.I had arranged with a friend, Shamshad, who lives in the area, to use his contacts so that we could gather the maximum possible information about the shrines. We entered the street leading to the dargah area from New Delhi’s Mathura Road and found a distinctly medieval ambience: labyrinthine alleys, street-vendors, bazaars with cheap eateries, people selling caps, rosaries and religious posters.

The complex houses six important monuments:

1. The dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya
2. The tomb of Ataga Khan
3. The tomb of Maham Anga, the wet Nurse of King Akbar
4. The tomb of Amir Khusrau
5. The tomb of Jahanara
6. The Jamaat Khana Mosque.

Hazrat Khawaja Nizamuddin Auliya was born in 1238, in Badayun, Uttar Pradesh (East of Delhi), though at age five, after the death of his father, Ahmad Badayuni, he came to Delhi with his mother Bibi Zulekha. His biography finds mention in Ain-i-Akbari, a 16th century document written by Mughal Emperor Akbar’s vizier, Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak..

At the age of 20, in the year 1269, Nizamuddin went to Ajodhan (the present Pakpattan in Pakistan) and became a disciple of the Sufi saint Fariduddin Ganj-i-Shakkar, commonly known as Baba Farid. Nizamuddin did not take up residence in Ajodhan but continued with his theological studies in Delhi while simultaneously starting the Sufi devotional practices and the prescribed litanies. He visited Ajodhan each year to spend the month of Ramadan in the presence of Baba Farid.

It was on his third visit to Ajodhan that Baba Farid made him his successor. Shortly after that, when Nizamuddin returned to Delhi, he received news that Baba Farid had expired.
Nizamuddin lived at various places in Delhi, before finally settling down in Ghyaspur, a neighborhood in Delhi undisturbed by the noise and hustle of city life. He built his Khanqah here, a place where people from all walks of life were fed, where he imparted spiritual education to others and he had his own quarters. Before long, the khanqah became a place thronged with all kinds of people, rich and poor alike.

Many of his disciples achieved spiritual height, including Shaikh Nasiruddin Muhammad Chirag-e-Delhi, and Amir Khusro, noted scholar/musician, and the royal poet of the Delhi Sultanate. He died on the morning of 3 April 1325. His shrine, Nizamuddin Dargah is located in Delhi , and the present structure was built in 1562. The shrine is visited by people of all faiths, through the year,

Besides believing in the traditional Sufi ideas of embracing God within this life (as opposed to the idea that such partial merger with God is possible only after death), by destroying the ego and cleansing the soul, and that this is possible through considerable efforts involving Sufi practices, Nizamuddin also expanded and practised the unique features introduced by past saints of the Chisti Sufi order in India.

These included:
Emphasis on renunciation and having complete trust in God.
The unity of mankind and shunning distinctions based on social, economic, religious status.
Helping the needy, feeding the hungry and being sympathetic to the oppressed.
Strong disapproval of mixing with the Sultans, the princes and the nobles.
Exhortation in making close contact with the poor and the downtrodden