The members of the Sabiriyya branch played a great role in the Islamic
revival of the 19
th
and 20
th
centuries.Among them were Muhammad Qasim
Nanawtawi (d. 1878), the founder of the
madrasa
of Deoband;MaulanaAshraf
Ali Thanwi; Rashid Ahmad Gangohi (d. 1905); Ahmad Hasan Muhaddith
Amrohawi (d. 1911; and the disciples of Rashid Ahmad Gangohi: Mahmud
Hasan,
Shaykh al Hind
(d. 1920) and Husayn Ahmad Madani (d. 1957), who
contributed to the evolution of the concept of‘composite culture’, a concept
that is paramount to understanding Muslim religious and social life in the
subcontinent.
The activities associated with the rise of the Sabriyyah branch form the
third phase of Chishti history.
The revival of the Nizamiyya branch in the 18
th
century falls into the
fourth phase. The most notable Chishti Sufi of the Nizami branch was Shah
Kalimullah Jahanabadi (d. 1729). His dynamic spiritual leadership enthused
the order with a new spirit. His successors, the most prominent of whom
was Shah Nizamuddin (d.1729), were active till the eighteenth century
and were successful in maintaining the spiritual life of Delhi. Finally, the
centre of activity bifurcated and new centres came to be established in the
Punjab, Bareilly and Rajasthan.
At present, there are a great number of Chishti centres in the Indian
subcontinent, which are actively engaged in disseminating the teachings of
the Chrishti order and managing the Chishti shrines.
The Jamaat Khana – a Centre of Peace and Spirituality
One of the salient features of the Chishti order was the fact that its
members mixed freely with the common man. They did not retire to
desolate spots in thewilderness or into high, unreachable mountains, thinking
Th e Ch i s h t i Or d e r 104
