Amir Najmuddin Hasan Sijzi (1254-1336), born in Badayun, was also,
like Amir Khusro, a poet and a courtier. He wrote
qasidas,
or eulogistic
poems, and
ghazals.
He became Shaykh Nizamuddin’s disciple at the age of
52. His greatest contribution to posterity is the record he kept of the
conversations
(malfuzaat
) of Nizamuddin Awliya, titled
Fawaid ul Fuad
. This
work is the main and most reliable source of information on the Shaykh. At
one point, when he confided in his mentor that he could not put his mind to
the performance of any prayers besides the obligatory prayers, as he would
rather listen to
sama’,
the Shaykh advised him to devote more time to the
recitation of the Qur’an than to the writing of poetry
12
. Like his mentor,
Hasan too did not marry. He died at Daulatabad in 1336.
Ziauddin Barni (d. 1357), the author of
Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi,
was one of
the eminent
ulama
and scholars who accepted Shaykh Nizamuddin as their
spiritual guide and regularly visited him. Barni wrote a book on Sufism, but
it has not survived the ravages of time. Once Barni asked Shaykh Nizamuddin
why he was not more discriminating in his acceptance of disciples.The Shaykh
replied that it was true that previously the
pirs
had accepted only those disciples
who showed total detachment from all that was not godly. But later, in the
times of Shihabuddin Suhrawardi and Baba Farid, people came in multitudes
to the Sufis seeking their guidance. They belonged to all classes, both the
lower and the elite, and the Sufis enrolled them all as their disciples. These
disciples refrained from indulging in sin, and offered prayers, both obligatory
and non-obligatory. “If I were to impose difficult conditions on them, they
would be deprived of even that level of piety,” he remarked. He then added
that his mentor, Baba Farid, had commanded him to refuse none who turned
to him for guidance.
12
Fawaid ul Fu’ad, pg. 261
