this, one could not be a good believer. But renouncing the world did not
mean going so far as to give up even the most basic of necessities.
Renunciation, for him, meant that one’s heart should be free from love of
the world, for material greed was anathema to any kind of spiritual
attainment. If one’s mind was mired in material things, it lost the ability to
focus properly on spiritual matters. He held that love of the world rendered
prayers and fasting worthless. Once he defined renunciation, or a state of
asceticism, as continuing to wear clothing and eating and drinking, but
willingly distributing the surplus to the poor and needy, instead of saving it
up for the following day.
He did not discriminate between people of different religions. To him
all were God’s creatures, equally worthy of respect and deserving of help.
Consequently, Shaykh Nizamuddin’s
langar
(free food) was served to both
Hindus and Muslims.
There was not the slightest trace of the communal in the thinking of
Shaykh Nizamuddin. He was the epitome of tolerance and broadmindedness
and showed a total lack of any bias. Once, seeing a group of Hindus at
worship, he observed: “Every community has its own path and faith, and its
own way of worship.” He taught his disciples to keep the peace at all times
and to develop good relations with everyone, irrespective of caste, colour or
creed, for Islam did not teach violence against or discrimination between
human beings. Only
taqwa
(the virtue of being God-fearing) —and certainly
not material grandeur — could raise one’s status in the eyes of God. He thus
devoted his entire life to bringing people closer to the true spirit of religion
Islam to him was not a set of hollow rites and rituals. It was rather a
superior ethical code.At times he felt how unfortunate it was that Muslims,
preoccupied as they were with the rituals of religion, failed to delve deeper
Th e Ch i s h t i Or d e r 88
