Khwaja Husain followed in the footsteps of Shaykh Hamiduddin and
lived a very simple life. He cultivated the land himself and whatever money
he received from Sultan Ghiyasuddin Khilji of Malwa (1469-1501) was
spent on constructing the tomb of Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti in Ajmer and
the gateway of Hamiduddin’s tomb in Nagaur. He was also a great religious
scholar. He wrote a commentary on the Qur’an entitled
Nur un Nabi
, and
compiled a number of treatises on Sufism. He also wrote a biography of Al
Ghazali. He attached great importance to education, and devoted himself to
the religious and spiritual uplift of the people.
Khwaja Ziyauddin Nakhshabi (d. 1351) was the best-known disciple of
Shaykh Farid, the grandson of Hamiduddin. He was a scholar and a Sufi
poet. His book, titled
Silk us Suluk
(‘String of Sufism’) deals with the basic
principles of the Sufi mission in 151 short chapters. He regarded a good
knowledge of the
shariah
as necessary to an understanding of Sufism.
It is interesting to note that in one of the treatises he advises the
ulama
to follow the Sufis in the path of renunciation and the Sufis to follow the
ulama
on religious matters. He goes on to say: “Without some of the qualities
of a dervish, an
alim
is like an animal and a dervish without
ilm
(knowledge)
is not worthy of undertaking his spiritual journey.”
A well-known work of Nakhshabi’s,
Tuti Nama
(‘Stories of a Parrot’), is
based on the Persian version of the Sanskrit work titled
Suka Saptati
.Nakhshabi
rearranged the latter and made several changes in it. His style is lucid and
very readable. On the whole his writings show that, according to him, Islam
was a religion that advocated a middle path. He maintained that the Prophet
of Islam wanted people to follow the path of moderation, which was good
for them both in this world as well as in the next.
