5
The Chishti Order
Muinuddin Chishti
T
HE
C
HISHTI ORDER
bears the name of Chisht, a town in Khurasan, which
lies about one hundred kilometres east of Herat. The spiritual founder of
the order was Khwaja Abu Ishaq Shami (d. 940) who came from Syria and
settled for a while in Chisht. He was a disciple and a
khalifah
of Mimshad
Dinwari, (the latter being a
khalifah
of Hubayra of Basra and a disciple of
Junayd of Baghdad). He traced his spiritual lineage through Hasan Basri
back to Ali ibn AbuTalib and the Prophet Muhammad, and is believed to be
ninth afterAli in the line of spiritual succession. Muinuddin Chishti belonged
to this
silsila
and is credited with bringing it to India, where it went on to
become one of the most influential orders.
Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti (1141-1235) was born in Sijistan (Sistan)
and brought up in Khorasan. He was only fifteen when his father died
leaving him in possession of a garden and a water mill.The economic situation
of his family deteriorated with his father’s death, so he had to work in the
garden himself. One day while he was working, a
majzub
(ecstatic) named
Ibrahim Qanduzi came into the garden. The young Khwaja was polite and
well-mannered. Not only did he offer the dervish a seat under a shady tree
but also brought him a bunch of grapes to eat. The dervish recognized the
spiritual potential of the boy standing in front of him. He took some sesame
seeds out of his bag, chewed them and put them in Muinuddin’s mouth.
Once Muinuddin ate the seeds, a spiritual connection was established, and
Muinuddin’s latent spirituality was awakened. This experience had such an
impact on him that he sold his possessions and distributed the money among
the poor.
