A Simple Guide to ISLAM
Tasawwuf – Sufism
~ 119 ~
attain the state of spiritual purity and devotion. The holy man
imparted to him spiritual knowledge, and Moinuddin was
completely transformed.
Having partaken the taste of spirituality now Moinuddin resolved
to renounce all worldly possession. He sold his garden that he
had inherited from his father and all other belongings. All the
money was distributed among the poor. Now he became a seeker
after truth in the full sense. Khwaja Moinuddin now left his
hometown for Samarqand. It was a centre of religious education.
Here, he received his religious education in
hadith,
tafsir
,
fiqh
and
other disciplines. He also learned the Qur’an by heart. He had
taken to the path of wandering. After his religious education he
now looked for a spiritual guide. For according to
sufi
thought
spiritual power can be gained only through personal contact with
the
sufi saints
.
During his wanderings to different places he arrived at Harwan
near Nishapur. Here he came across Shaikh Usman Harwani, a
great saint of his time. He called on the Shaikh and requested him
to accept him as his disciple. Khwaja Moinuddin passed through all
the vigorous stages of spiritual discipline under the guidance of his
spiritual mentor. He attained spiritual heights.
After spending several years with the saint he was appointed as his
Khalifa
and directed to go to India. Travelling through Tabrez,
Asfahan, Herat, Sabzwar, Balkh, Ghazni Moinuddin met many
saints of that period and visited many shrines in the course of his
long journey from Nishapur to Ajmer. In Lahore he spent some
