migrated to Agra when he was five years old. He grew up in the midst of
the worldly luxuries that were part of courtly life and entered the imperial
service. However, his heart was not in it and it is said that he often lapsed
into an ecstatic state while performing his duties. Finally, he decided to
renounce the world in favour of a life of spirituality. He distributed his
possessions and went to Delhi to Khwaja Baqi Billah, became his disciple,
serving him and his family till his last breath.
After his mentor’s death, he devoted himself to running the
khanqah
in
Ferozabad and looking after the family of the Sheikh, without involving
himself in the controversy over the succession. He believed in the
wahadat
al wujud
concept as propounded by Khwaja Baqi Billah and his other Ahrari
pirs, and showed no interest in the
wahadat al shuhud
concept developed by
Ahmad Sirhindi. The Ferozabadi (Delhi) branch of the Naqshbandi
silsila
,
which followed the
wahdat al wajud
and also the practice of
sama’
remained
distinct from and independent of the Sirhindi branch as established byAhmad
Sirhindi, which was opposed to both the above practices. Among later
followers of the Ferozabadi branch were the famous ShahWaliullah as well
as his father.
Khwaja Kalan, Baqi Billah’s son, writes in his biography of Khwaja
Husamuddin, that he preferred a life of seclusion and did not like to meet
the nobles and rich men, unless there was some real need to do so. He is
credited with building a mausoleum over the grave of his
pir
. Having
cultivated a small garden adjacent to the tomb of Khwaja Baqi Billah, he
would spend most of his time there, engrossed in meditation or praying
and reciting the Qur’an.. He died in 1633 in Agra and was buried there but
later his earthly remains were transferred to Delhi and buried in a grave
by the side of his
pir
.
