Sufism and the Chishti Silsila: Khanqahs, Shrines and the State (Class 12 History)
Updated 15 October 2026 · Fact-checked
Sufis were Muslim mystics who sought God through intense devotion and love rather than dogma. From the twelfth century they formed silsilas, chains of masters and disciples centred on the khanqah. The Chishtis, most influential in India, adapted to local traditions through langar, sama, Hindavi verse and shrines such as Ajmer.
Understand Sufism and the Chishti Silsila
Why this topic matters. Sufism is one of the most examined parts of Theme 6. Boards ask for the beliefs and practices of the sufis, life in the Chishti khanqah, the use of local languages, the sufis' relations with the state, and source passages from sufi texts. NCERT sections 6-7, the box on sources, Sources 7-9.
1. How Sufism grew. In the early centuries of Islam some religious-minded people, the sufis, turned to asceticism and mysticism as a protest against the growing materialism of the Caliphate. They rejected the theologians' dogmatic definitions and scholastic ways of reading the Qur'an and the sunna (traditions of the Prophet).
- They stressed salvation through intense devotion and love for God, following His commands and the example of the Prophet Muhammad, whom they saw as a perfect human being.
- They interpreted the Qur'an on the basis of personal experience.
- Tasawwuf is the word in Islamic texts; 'Sufism' is an English word coined in the nineteenth century. Possible roots: suf (wool, the coarse woollen clothes of sufis), safa (purity) or suffa (the platform outside the Prophet's mosque where close followers gathered).
2. Khanqahs and silsilas.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Khanqah (Persian) | Hospice where a sufi community lived around its master |
| Shaikh / pir / murshid | Teaching master who made rules of conduct |
| Murid | Disciple |
| Khalifa | Successor appointed by the master |
| Silsila | 'Chain': an unbroken spiritual genealogy from master to disciple, back to the Prophet |
| Dargah | Tomb-shrine of a shaikh; Persian for 'court' |
| Ziyarat | Pilgrimage to the grave |
| Urs | Death anniversary ('marriage'), the union of the soul with God |
| Wali (plural auliya) | Friend of God, with grace (barakat) to work miracles (karamat) |
- By the eleventh century Sufism had become a well-developed movement with its own literature; silsilas crystallised around the twelfth century.
- Initiation: an oath of allegiance, a patched garment and shaved hair.
- After a shaikh's death his dargah became a centre of devotion, because people believed saints in death were united with God and so closer to Him; this produced the cult of the shaikh revered as wali.
- Names: most silsilas were named after a founder (the Qadiri order after Shaikh Abd'ul Qadir Jilani); the Chishti order is named after Chisht in central Afghanistan.
3. Outside the khanqah. Some mystics took a radical path: they scorned the khanqah, lived as mendicants, observed celibacy, ignored rituals and practised extreme asceticism. These were the Qalandars, Madaris, Malangs and Haidaris, called be-shari'a for defying the shari'a, in contrast to the ba-shari'a sufis who complied with it.
4. The Chishtis in the subcontinent. Of the sufi groups that came in the late twelfth century, the Chishtis were the most influential because they adapted to the local environment and adopted features of Indian devotional traditions.
| Dargah | Chishti teacher | Died |
|---|---|---|
| Ajmer (Rajasthan) | Shaikh Muinuddin Sijzi | 1235 |
| Delhi | Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki | 1235 |
| Ajodhan (Pakistan) | Shaikh Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakar (Baba Farid) | 1265 |
| Delhi | Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya | 1325 |
| Delhi | Shaikh Nasiruddin Chiragh-i Dehli | 1356 |
5. Life in a Chishti khanqah. Shaikh Nizamuddin's hospice (fourteenth century) stood on the Yamuna at Ghiyaspur, outside Delhi.
- Small rooms and a big hall (jama'at khana); the Shaikh lived in a small room on the roof and met visitors morning and evening; once, fearing a Mongol invasion, local people took refuge there.
- An open kitchen (langar) ran on futuh (unasked-for charity).
- Visitors of every kind: soldiers, slaves, singers, merchants, poets, travellers, rich and poor, Hindu jogis and qalandars, seeking discipleship, amulets for healing or the Shaikh's intercession. Poets Amir Hasan Sijzi and Amir Khusrau and the historian Ziyauddin Barani wrote about him.
- Assimilation of local practice: bowing before the Shaikh, offering water to visitors, shaving initiates' heads and yogic exercises.
- He sent spiritual successors to set up hospices across the subcontinent, so Chishti fame spread.
6. Ziyarat and qawwali.
- The most revered shrine is Khwaja Muinuddin's at Ajmer, called 'Gharib Nawaz' (comforter of the poor). Earliest textual references: fourteenth century. Muhammad bin Tughlaq (ruled 1324-51) was the first Sultan to visit; the first building over the tomb was funded in the late fifteenth century by Ghiyasuddin Khalji of Malwa; it lay on the Delhi-Gujarat trade route.
- Akbar visited fourteen times, until 1580, for blessings on conquests, vows and the birth of sons; in 1568 he gave a huge cauldron (degh) for cooking for pilgrims and built a mosque in the compound.
- Princess Jahanara (1643) recorded her pilgrimage: she walked barefoot from the doorway, went round the tomb seven times, applied itar and placed her rose scarf on it (Source 7).
- Zikr (reciting the Divine Names) and sama' (audition, mystical music) evoke God's presence; sama' was integral to the Chishtis. Amir Khusrau (1253-1325) introduced the qaul, a hymn sung at the opening or closing of qawwali.
7. Languages. In Delhi the Chishtis spoke Hindavi. Baba Farid's verses entered the Guru Granth Sahib. Masnavis used human love as an allegory for divine love: Malik Muhammad Jayasi's Padmavat, on Padmini and Ratansen of Chittor. Around Bijapur in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, short Dakhani poems were probably sung by women while grinding grain and spinning (the charkhanama), with lurinama (lullabies) and shadinama (wedding songs), likely inspired by Lingayat vachanas and the Marathi abhangs of Pandharpur. Through these, Islam gained a place in Deccan villages.
8. Sufis and the state.
- Chishti ideals stressed austerity and distance from worldly power, but not total isolation: they accepted unsolicited grants; Sultans set up auqaf (charitable trusts) and gave tax-free land (inam).
- Donations were spent at once on food, clothes, living quarters and sama', which raised the shaikhs' moral authority.
- Kings needed legitimation: the Turks resisted the ulama's demand to impose shari'a as state law, fearing opposition from a mainly non-Muslim population, and turned to sufis, who drew authority directly from God. Kings also wanted tombs near sufi shrines, believing the auliya could intercede with God.
- Conflict arose when both sides expected rituals such as prostration and kissing of feet; Nizamuddin's disciples called him sultan-ul-mashaikh.
- In Source 9 (1313) Nizamuddin refused a local ruler's deed to gardens and land, recalling that Baba Farid accepted Ulugh Khan's money for the dervishes but returned the deeds to four villages.
9. How we know. Sufi treatises (Kashf-ul-Mahjub of Hujwiri, who settled in Lahore and is revered as Data Ganj Bakhsh; NCERT gives his death as 1073 in one box and c. 1071 in another), malfuzat (conversations, such as the Fawa'id-al-Fu'ad of Nizamuddin, compiled by Amir Hasan Sijzi), maktubat (letters, such as those of Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi, d. 1624) and tazkiras (biographies, the first in India being the Siyar-ul-Auliya of Mir Khwurd Kirmani).
Key quotations
Short lines worth knowing by heart: who says them, when, and why they matter.
a continuous link between master and disciple
NCERT, section 6.1: Explaining the word silsila.
Spiritual power passed down this unbroken chain to devotees.
the lamp of Delhi but of the entire country
Dargah Quli Khan, Muraqqa-i Dehli (NCERT box): On the shrine of Nasiruddin Chiragh-i Dehli in the eighteenth century.
Shows the wide, mixed following of sufi shrines; Muslims and Hindus visited in the same spirit.
What have I to do with gardens and fields and lands?
Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya (Source 9, NCERT): Refusing a local ruler's gift in 1313.
The Chishti ideal of distance from worldly power and property.
Give me the money. I will dispense it to the dervishes.
Shaikh Fariduddin, as recalled in Source 9: Accepting Ulugh Khan's cash but not his land deeds.
Donations were used at once for the community, not accumulated.
Sufism and the Chishti Silsila: key facts
- Sufi organisation
Khanqah hospice of a sufi community Shaikh (pir, murshid) the teaching master Murid disciple Khalifa appointed successor Silsila chain from master to disciple back to the Prophet - Silsilas crystallise c. twelfth century.
- After death
Dargah (court) the tomb-shrine Ziyarat (pilgrimage) visit to the grave Urs (marriage) death anniversary, the soul's union with God Wali (friend of God) grace (barakat) to work miracles (karamat) - Saints in death were believed closer to God.
- Two kinds of sufis
Ba-shari'a complied with the shari'a, lived in khanqahs Be-shari'a defied the shari'a; mendicancy, celibacy, extreme asceticism Be-shari'a groups Qalandars, Madaris, Malangs, Haidaris - Radical interpretation of sufi ideals.
- Five great Chishtis (year of death, dargah)
1235 Shaikh Muinuddin Sijzi, Ajmer 1235 Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki, Delhi 1265 Shaikh Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakar, Ajodhan 1325 Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya, Delhi 1356 Shaikh Nasiruddin Chiragh-i Dehli, Delhi - Ajmer is the most revered: Gharib Nawaz.
- Khanqah life
Place Nizamuddin's hospice at Ghiyaspur on the Yamuna Hall jama'at khana Kitchen langar run on futuh (unasked-for charity) Visitors all classes and creeds Local practices bowing, offering water, shaving heads, yogic exercises - Fourteenth century.
- Sufis and the state
Grants unsolicited grants, auqaf, inam accepted Use donations spent at once Rulers' aim legitimation and intercession Conflict prostration, kissing of feet, the title sultan-ul-mashaikh - Nizamuddin refused land (Source 9, 1313).
How to answer Sufism and the Chishti Silsila questions
Expect 1-mark items (Amir Khusrau's mentor, location of dargahs, meaning of silsila), 3-mark questions (Chishti use of local languages, khanqah life), 4-mark source questions (Source 9, Amir Khusrau and the qaul) and 8-mark answers on sufi beliefs and practices or relations with the state.
- 1Start with origins: protest against the Caliphate's materialism and against dogmatic interpretation; love and personal experience.
- 2Use the vocabulary precisely: khanqah, shaikh, murid, khalifa, silsila, dargah, ziyarat, urs, zikr, sama'.
- 3Make it Indian with the Chishtis: the five teachers and their dargahs, Nizamuddin's hospice, langar, Ajmer and Akbar.
- 4For adaptation, list local practices (bowing, water, shaving heads, yogic exercises) and languages (Hindavi, Baba Farid, Padmavat, Dakhani).
- 5For the state, show both sides: grants accepted but spent; kings needed legitimation; conflicts over rituals and titles.
- 6In source questions, link the passage to a principle (austerity, distance from power, use of local idiom).
Sufism and the Chishti Silsila in real life
The idea, met in an everyday situation. Answer the question in your own words, then compare with the model answer. The one-line hook is what to remember.
Spending donations at once
Suppose a community kitchen gets a large donation. One volunteer wants to invest it and keep a reserve; another wants to spend all of it on meals this month and trust that more will come.
Which choice matches the Chishti practice, and what did that practice earn the shaikhs?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Chishtis accepted donations in cash and kind but preferred not to accumulate them.
- They spent them fully on food, clothes, living quarters and sama'.
- This visible lack of greed raised their moral authority and drew people from all walks of life.
Answer: The second volunteer's choice; spending at once enhanced the shaikhs' moral authority.
Memory hook: Give away today, gain trust tomorrow.
Speaking the people's language
Imagine a health worker in a Deccan village who turns advice about hygiene into short songs that women sing while grinding grain.
Which sufi practice does this resemble, and why does it work?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- A message set to daily work reaches people repeatedly and in their own words.
- Chishti sufis around Bijapur composed short Dakhani poems sung at the grindstone and spinning wheel, with lullabies and wedding songs.
- Through this medium Islam gradually gained a place in Deccan villages.
Answer: The charkhanama and other Dakhani songs; local idiom and everyday rhythm carried ideas into homes.
Memory hook: Grind, spin, remember.
Tricks to remember Sufism and the Chishti Silsila
Short memory aids. Say each one aloud once, then use it on a question the same day.
MAD-NaN for the five Chishtis
Muinuddin (Ajmer), Bakhtiyar Kaki (Delhi), Farid (Ajodhan), Nizamuddin (Delhi), Nasiruddin (Delhi): only one in Ajmer, only one in Ajodhan, three in Delhi.
Use it when: Dargah-location MCQs.
Wool, purity, platform
Suf, safa, suffa: three guesses for where 'tasawwuf' comes from.
Use it when: The origin of the word.
Court, visit, wedding
Dargah = court; ziyarat = visit; urs = wedding of the soul with God.
Use it when: Shrine vocabulary in 1-mark questions.
Sufism and the Chishti Silsila: solved examples
Ordered from board level to HOTS. Try each one before you open the solution.
Example 1: Where is the dargah? · 1 mark · MCQBoard level
Shaikh Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakar, who died in 1265, is buried at:
(a) Ajmer
(b) Ajodhan
(c) Delhi
(d) Fatehpur Sikri
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- NCERT's chart places Baba Farid's dargah at Ajodhan, in present-day Pakistan (1 mark).
Answer: (b) Ajodhan
Example 2: Inside Nizamuddin's hospice · 3 marks · Short answerBoard level
Describe three features of life in Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya's khanqah. (3 marks)
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Setting and layout: Ghiyaspur on the Yamuna; small rooms and the jama'at khana; the Shaikh's room on the roof (1 mark).
- Langar on futuh, open to all (1 mark).
- Visitors from every walk of life seeking discipleship, amulets and intercession; local practices adopted (1 mark).
Answer: The khanqah stood at Ghiyaspur on the banks of the Yamuna, outside Delhi. It had several small rooms and a big hall, the jama'at khana, where inmates (the Shaikh's family, attendants and disciples) and visitors lived and prayed; the Shaikh met visitors in the morning and evening from his small room on the roof. An open kitchen, the langar, ran on futuh or unasked-for charity. From morning till late night soldiers, slaves, singers, merchants, poets, travellers, rich and poor, jogis and qalandars came for discipleship, amulets for healing and the Shaikh's intercession, and practices such as bowing before the Shaikh and offering water to visitors showed the assimilation of local traditions.
Example 3: Assertion and reason: legitimacy · 1 mark · Assertion-reasonHarder board level
Assertion (A): The Sultans of Delhi sought out sufis for legitimation.
Reason (R): The Sultans wanted the ulama to impose the shari'a as state law over all their subjects.
(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
(b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
(c) A is true but R is false.
(d) A is false but R is true.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- The Sultans resisted the ulama's insistence on shari'a as state law, fearing opposition from a mostly non-Muslim population; so R is false, while A is true (1 mark).
Answer: (c) A is true but R is false.
Example 4: Chishti adaptation · 3 marks · Short answerHarder board level
Why were the Chishtis the most influential sufi group in the subcontinent? Support your answer with three examples of adaptation. (3 marks)
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- They adapted to the local environment and adopted features of Indian devotional traditions (1 mark).
- Khanqah practices: bowing, offering water, shaving initiates' heads, yogic exercises; langar open to all (1 mark).
- Language and music: Hindavi, Baba Farid's verses, Padmavat, Dakhani songs; sama' (1 mark).
Answer: The Chishtis succeeded because they adapted to the local environment instead of standing apart from it. In the khanqah, visitors bowed before the Shaikh and were offered water, initiates had their heads shaved and yogic exercises were practised, while the langar fed everyone, Hindu jogis included. They spoke Hindavi in Delhi, Baba Farid composed in the local language, Jayasi's Padmavat expressed divine love through a local romance, and Dakhani songs reached women in Deccan villages. Sama', their mystical music, itself showed interaction with indigenous devotional traditions.
Example 5: Source-based: the lamp of the land · 4 marks · Source-basedHarder board level
Read the source (summarised for this page from an eighteenth-century account in NCERT) and answer.
A visitor from the Deccan wrote that the saint buried at this Delhi shrine lights up not just the city but the whole country. Crowds come on Sundays; during Diwali the people of Delhi camp in tents beside the spring tank for days, bathing in the hope of cures for long illnesses. Muslims and Hindus visit with the same feeling, and spend the day enjoying themselves under the trees.
(i) Whose shrine is described, and in which text? (1)
(ii) Give one religious and one social activity at the shrine. (1)
(iii) What does the account suggest about the following of sufi shrines and why they attracted such crowds? (2)
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- (i) Shaikh Nasiruddin Chiragh-i Dehli; the Muraqqa-i Dehli of Dargah Quli Khan (1 mark).
- (ii) Religious: bathing for cures, visiting the saint; social: camping, merrymaking under the trees (1 mark).
- (iii) A mixed following of Muslims and Hindus; belief in the saint's barakat and intercession for material and spiritual benefits (2 marks).
Answer: (i) The dargah of Shaikh Nasiruddin Chiragh-i Dehli, described by Dargah Quli Khan in his Muraqqa-i Dehli (Album of Delhi). (ii) Religious: bathing in the tank to obtain cures from chronic diseases; social: staying in tents for days and merrymaking in the shade of the trees. (iii) Sufi shrines drew people of different creeds and classes, Hindus as well as Muslims, and even fitted into a festival like Diwali. People believed that saints in death were united with God and could intercede for them, so they came seeking blessings for health and well-being, and the shrine also became a place of community life.
Example 6: Long answer: the Chishtis and the state · 8 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency
"Close to the throne, yet never under it." Examine this view of the relationship between the Chishti sufis and the rulers of the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal empire. (8 marks)
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Chishti ideal: austerity and distance from worldly power, but not absolute isolation (1 mark).
- Accepted unsolicited grants; auqaf and inam; donations spent at once (1 mark).
- Moral authority and popularity from piety, scholarship and belief in miracles (1 mark).
- Rulers' motives: legitimation without depending on the ulama; mainly non-Muslim subjects (1 mark).
- Belief in intercession; royal tombs near shrines; royal visits to Ajmer: Muhammad bin Tughlaq, Ghiyasuddin Khalji, Akbar (1 mark).
- Mughal bond: Akbar's visits, degh, mosque; Shaikh Salim Chishti's dargah at Fatehpur Sikri (1 mark).
- Independence and conflict: Source 9 (Nizamuddin refuses land; Farid returns deeds); disputes over prostration, foot-kissing, sultan-ul-mashaikh (1 mark).
- Conclusion: mutual need with preserved autonomy; contrast Suhrawardis and Naqshbandis (1 mark).
Answer: A central Chishti ideal was austerity, including keeping a distance from worldly power. Yet this was never absolute isolation. The sufis accepted unsolicited grants and donations from political elites, and the Sultans set up charitable trusts (auqaf) for hospices and granted tax-free land (inam). The Chishtis took donations in cash and kind but spent them at once on food, clothes, living quarters and sama', which enhanced their moral authority.
Rulers had strong reasons to come close. The shaikhs' piety, scholarship and reputed miraculous powers made them popular with the masses, whose support kings wanted. When the Turks founded the Delhi Sultanate they resisted the ulama's insistence on shari'a as state law, fearing opposition from their largely non-Muslim subjects, and turned to the sufis, who drew authority directly from God. Since the auliya were believed to intercede with God, kings wanted their tombs near sufi shrines. Royal devotion was public: Muhammad bin Tughlaq was the first Sultan to visit Khwaja Muinuddin's shrine at Ajmer, Ghiyasuddin Khalji of Malwa funded the first building over the tomb, and Akbar visited fourteen times, gave a huge degh in 1568 and built a mosque there. The dargah of Shaikh Salim Chishti at Fatehpur Sikri symbolised the bond between the Chishtis and the Mughal state.
But the sufis did not become courtiers. In 1313 Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya refused a local ruler's deed to gardens and land, saying none of his spiritual masters had engaged in such activity, and recalled that Baba Farid had accepted Ulugh Khan's money for the dervishes but handed back the deeds to four villages. There was friction too: both sultans and shaikhs expected rituals such as prostration and kissing of feet, and Nizamuddin's disciples called him sultan-ul-mashaikh, a title that rivalled royal claims. By contrast, the Suhrawardis under the Sultans and the Naqshbandis under the Mughals were associated with the state in other ways, some sufis even accepting courtly offices.
The statement is therefore largely valid: the Chishtis and rulers needed each other, but the Chishtis guarded their moral independence by refusing property and office.
Where students lose marks in Sufism and the Chishti Silsila
The slips examiners see most often, and what to write instead.
Mistake: Placing Nizamuddin Auliya's dargah in Ajmer or Agra
Ajmer is the most famous Chishti shrine.
Wrong working
Nizamuddin Auliya's dargah is at Ajmer.
Right working
Ajmer is Khwaja Muinuddin's; Nizamuddin's dargah is in Delhi.
Do this: MAD-NaN: only Muinuddin is in Ajmer.
Usually costs: 1 mark.
Mistake: Saying sufis rejected all royal gifts
Remembering only Source 9.
Wrong working
The Chishtis never accepted anything from rulers.
Right working
They accepted unsolicited grants and donations, but spent them at once and refused land and office.
Do this: Accept, spend, refuse property.
Usually costs: 1-2 marks in relations-with-state answers.
Mistake: Defining silsila vaguely as a 'group'
Loose vocabulary.
Wrong working
A silsila is a group of sufis.
Right working
A silsila is a chain: a continuous link between master and disciple stretching back to the Prophet, through which spiritual power passes.
Do this: Say 'chain' and 'back to the Prophet'.
Usually costs: 1 mark.
Mistake: Listing beliefs without the Indian adaptation
Answering only from section 6.
Wrong working
Sufis loved God and lived in khanqahs. (end of answer)
Right working
Add the Chishti adaptation: langar, local practices, Hindavi and Dakhani, sama', ziyarat at Ajmer.
Do this: Every sufi answer needs one Chishti paragraph.
Usually costs: 2-3 marks in 8-mark answers.
Exam tips
- Asked in: 2023 board paper 61/4/1 Q29(b) and 2025 board paper 61/1/1 Q29(b) (8 marks, beliefs and practices of the sufis or Chishtis); 2024 board paper 61/3/1 Q29(b) (8 marks, growth of Sufism and relations with the state); 2023 board paper 61/1/1 Q25(a) (3 marks, Chishtis and local languages); 2025 board paper 61/6/1 Q32 and 2026 board paper 61/1/1 Q32 (4-mark source, 'Declining a royal gift'); 2025 board paper 61/2/1 Q32 (source on Amir Khusrau); 1-mark items such as 2024 61/1/1 Q9 and 2025 61/6/1 Q13 (Amir Khusrau's mentor) and 2024 61/4/1 Q14 (dargah locations). Answers here are our own.
- Learn the five-teacher chart with years and places: it supplies several 1-mark questions.
- In 8-mark answers, use the terms with meanings in brackets: khanqah (hospice), silsila (chain), urs (death anniversary).
- For relations with the state, always give both sides: grants and royal visits, and refusals and conflicts.
Practice questions on Sufism and the Chishti Silsila
Write each answer on paper first. Open the hint only if you are stuck, and the answer only when you have finished.
Q1 · 1 mark · MCQBoard level
The word dargah literally means:
(a) chain
(b) court
(c) hospice
(d) auditionHint
A Persian word for the tomb-shrine.
Answer
(b) court.
Q2 · 2 marks · Very short answerBoard level
What were the be-shari'a sufis? Name two of their groups. (2 marks)
Hint
They defied the shari'a.
Answer
Mystics who interpreted sufi ideals radically: they scorned the khanqah, lived as mendicants, observed celibacy, ignored rituals and practised extreme asceticism, deliberately defying the shari'a. Examples: Qalandars, Madaris, Malangs, Haidaris (any two).
Q3 · 3 marks · Short answerHarder board level
Explain how a sufi silsila worked, from initiation to the cult of the saint after his death. (3 marks)
Hint
Chain, oath, khalifa, dargah, urs.
Answer
A silsila was a chain linking master and disciple in an unbroken spiritual genealogy back to the Prophet, through which spiritual power and blessings passed to devotees. At initiation a disciple swore allegiance, put on a patched garment and had his hair shaved; the shaikh enrolled murids and appointed a khalifa. When the shaikh died, his dargah became the centre of devotion; people made ziyarat, especially on his urs, believing that in death he was united with God, and so the cult of the shaikh as wali developed.
Q4 · 3 marks · Short answerHarder board level
Why did Khwaja Muinuddin's dargah at Ajmer become so popular by the sixteenth century? Give three reasons. (3 marks)
Hint
Piety, successors, royal visitors, trade route.
Answer
It was popular because of the austerity and piety of its Shaikh and the greatness of his spiritual successors; because of royal patronage, from Muhammad bin Tughlaq's visit to Ghiyasuddin Khalji's building and Akbar's fourteen visits and gifts; and because it lay on the trade route linking Delhi and Gujarat, which brought many travellers. The spirited singing of pilgrims bound for Ajmer even inspired Akbar's first visit.
Q5 · 1 mark · Assertion-reasonHarder board level
Assertion (A): Many kings wanted their own tombs to be built close to sufi shrines and hospices.
Reason (R): The auliya were believed to be able to intercede with God to improve the material and spiritual condition of ordinary people.
(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
(b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
(c) A is true but R is false.
(d) A is false but R is true.Hint
Why be buried near a saint?
Answer
(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A: belief in the saints' intercession explains why rulers sought burial near them.
Q6 · 3 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency
Suppose a historian wants to know what Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya actually said to his disciples. Which type of sufi text should she read first, and what caution should she keep in mind with tazkiras? (3 marks)
Hint
Malfuzat versus biographies.
Answer
She should read the malfuzat, records of a saint's conversations, such as the Fawa'id-al-Fu'ad compiled by Amir Hasan Sijzi Dehlavi. These were compiled with the shaikh's permission and had didactic purposes, so she should note that aim. Tazkiras, biographical accounts like the Siyar-ul-Auliya, often sought to establish the precedence of their own order and glorify its genealogy, and include implausible, fantastic details, so she must read them critically, though they still reveal the nature of the tradition.
Q7 · 4 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency
"The Chishtis spread their message less by argument than by song and story." Evaluate this statement with evidence. (4 marks)
Hint
Sama', qaul, masnavis, Dakhani songs; but also teaching in the khanqah.
Answer
Much evidence supports it. Sama' was integral to the Chishtis; Amir Khusrau gave it a unique form with the qaul at the opening or closing of qawwali; masnavis such as Jayasi's Padmavat used a love story as an allegory of the soul's journey to God; Dakhani songs were sung at the grindstone and spinning wheel, with lullabies and wedding songs, carrying Islam into Deccan villages; Baba Farid's verses entered the Guru Granth Sahib. But teaching mattered too: the shaikh set rules of conduct, initiated murids and his conversations were recorded as malfuzat. So song and story were the chief means of reaching ordinary people, alongside instruction within the khanqah.
Test your recall
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1.Which town gave the Chishti order its name?Show answer
Chisht, in central Afghanistan.
2.What is futuh?Show answer
Unasked-for charity, on which the khanqah's langar ran.
3.Who introduced the qaul into Chishti sama'?Show answer
Amir Khusrau (1253-1325), disciple of Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya.
4.How many times did Akbar visit Ajmer?Show answer
Fourteen times, until 1580.
5.Who wrote the Padmavat?Show answer
Malik Muhammad Jayasi.
6.What title did Nizamuddin's disciples give him?Show answer
Sultan-ul-mashaikh, 'Sultan amongst shaikhs'.
Sufism and the Chishti Silsila: frequently asked questions
What is Sufism?
A mystical tradition in Islam (tasawwuf) that sought God through intense devotion and love, following the Prophet's example and interpreting the Qur'an through personal experience, in protest against materialism and dogmatic theology.
What is the difference between a khanqah and a dargah?
A khanqah is the hospice where a living shaikh taught his disciples; a dargah is the tomb-shrine built over a shaikh after his death, visited on pilgrimage (ziyarat).
Why were the Chishtis popular in India?
They adapted to local traditions: an open langar, local customs in the khanqah, music (sama'), local languages such as Hindavi and Dakhani, and austerity that won them moral authority.
Did sufis accept gifts from kings?
The Chishtis accepted unsolicited grants and donations but spent them at once; they refused land and office, as Nizamuddin Auliya and Baba Farid did with land deeds.