for the whole year. Shaykh Bahauddin Zakariya recited this verse of the
Qur’an to his followers: “Eat what is pure and act righteously.” The advice
Shaykh JalaluddinTabrizi, another Suhrawardi saint, gave to his followers is
very telling: “Eat three times a day and use the strength gained from the
food for prayers and abstention from sin.”
3
The Chishtis, however, believed in rigorous ascetic exercises. They laid
heavy emphasis on fasting in order to achieve the goal of spiritual
purification. They often fasted on alternate days. Even when they ate, they
ate sparingly. Self-mortification, meditation and contemplation formed
essential parts of Chishti life. The Chishtis also used a number of different
techniques, particularly of exhalation and inhalation, which they learnt from
the yogis. They combined these yoga techniques with
dhikr
to achieve
concentration,which was essential to the enhancement of mystical sensitivity.
Sama’
, which was geared towards achieving the same goal, that is union
with God,
formed an indispensable part of the Chishti rituals. The
Suhrawardis did not attach such importance to
sama’
but they too indulged
in it occasionally. They did not reject it altogether, allowing it only for the
salik
at an advanced stage.
The Suhrawardi order was closer to the true, orthodox spirit of Islam.
It did not preach a renunciation of the world in the way that the Chishtis
did, for the Chishtis not only renounced wealth and desire, but sometimes
even marital relations, often practicing celibacy like Nizamuddin Auliya
and Bakhtiar Kaki. The Suhrawardis allowed everything which was labeled
legitimate in Islam.They focused on the recitation of
dhikr
and the prescribed
fasting in the month of Ramadan, but did not encourage supererogatory
fasting. They went even further, sternly rejecting the practice of self-
prostration before the Shaykh, a practice widely adopted by the Chishtis.
3
Fawaid ul Fuad
, p. 226
