Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki
The Chishti order
became firmly established in Ajmer and Nagaur,
thanks to the efforts respectively of Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti and his
disciple, Hamiduddin Nagauri. The disciples who succeeded them worked
hard to spread the teachings of the order further afield.. One of them was
Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, who established a strong Chishti centre
in Delhi.
By the time Khwaja Qutbuddin came to Delhi, the political scene had
undergone a change. Sultan Shamshuddin Iltutmish (1210-35) had made the
city his capital, for Delhi was the only remaining island of peace in the
entire region.The Mongols had invaded Central Asia and Iran, which meant
that the Muslims in those areas lost their political power. People therefore
flocked to Hindustan and its new capital.These included a large number of
princes, nobles, scholars and Sufis, all of them looking for a safe haven.
It was against this backdrop that Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki arrived in
Delhi. He was born in Ush, in the Central Asian province of Jaxartes. His
father died when he was 18 months old and it fell to his mother to see to
his religious education. Legendary accounts tell of his spiritual initiation at
the hands of Khizr. When he grew up, his mother arranged his marriage,
but he took no interest in family life, so he divorced his wife and left for
Baghdad.There, in a mosque, he met Khwaja Muinuddin. Greatly impressed,
he became his disciple. After Khwaja Muinuddin left Baghdad, Qutubuddin
went to Multan, where he met Shaykh Bahauddin Zakariya. He stayed in
Multan for several years and when the Mongols threatened the area, he
left for Delhi. Sultan Iltutmish gave him a warmwelcome, and many eminent
people came to him for spiritual guidance. He was keen on joining his
spiritual mentor, Khwaja Muinuddin, in Ajmer but the Khwaja did not
Th e Ch i s h t i Or d e r 74
