Legacy of Hazrat Nizamuddin

Undoubtedly, Hazrat Nizamuddin was Allah’s favourite one, as has been mentioned in the following lines: “In Allah’s garden you gather roses/ being drunk with divine mysteries”.
Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia was the harbinger of true Islam and Sufism.

The essence of Sufism is the way of love. Love is considered to be a spiritual alchemy by means of which the basic qualities of a human being are transformed into higher ones. In this respect, it suffices to say that Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia is known as Mehboob-e-Elahi — the beloved of Allah. Of course, the spiritual status of a beloved is much higher than that of a lover.

The birth of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia took place on the last Wednesday of the month of Safar — the 27th of Safar 636 A H (1238 A D) and his birthday is celebrated till date. His shrine is bathed and the water thereof is distributed among the visitors.

With regard to the Sufi path, Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia taught the following: “For a dervish, three things are necessary. They all begin with an ain (an Arabic letter) which are Ishq (love), Aql (intelligence) and Ilm (knowledge). There is a beautiful communion with God in the following lines : “O, the fire of separation of Thee/ Has made the hearts like roasted meat/ The flood of the fondness of Thee/ Has made the lives morose.”

It was because of such humane and generous Sufi saints that Islam was spread and not by the sword of the kings. The Sufi saint had been a source of life for all the people in the old and decrepit basti (locality) of Nizamuddin. This area is a small township of monuments containing the tombs of great Sufi saints like Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia, Ameer Khusro, Khwaja Syed Daud, Maulana Nooruddin Gopmavi, Khwaja Muhibbe Ali, Mirza Akram, Khwaja Luqman and Khwaja Rafiuddin Haroon.

Besides, there are also the tombs of Emperor Shahjahan’s daughter Jahan Ara, King Mohammed Shah Rangila, Mirza Jahangir and Mirza Babar (sons of Emperor Bahadurshah Zafar), Akbar’s step brother Atgah Khan, amongst others. Even the Barahkhamba monument is located there. The area should have been the heritage spot of Delhi.

Nizamuddin Basti, according to Shahid Siddiqui, editor Nai Duniya Urdu weekly, has been the oldest living habitation of Delhi owing to its spiritual importance and the presence of saints here.

It is a universally accepted fact that Delhi is a city blessed by saints from all faiths and all walks of life. Not only that, Delhi has been a seat of learning and the centre of spiritualism and Sufism patronised by saints like Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, Sultan-ul-Mashaikh Hazrat Nizamuddin, Amir Khusrow, Sheikh Nasiruddin Chiragh Delhi, Sheikh Sirajuddin Usman, Syed Muhammad Gesudaraz and Khwaja Hasan Nizami.

The 12th century Sufi saint Khwaja Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia’s Dargah and also the shrine of Hazrat Amir Khusrow has been visited by people belonging to all faiths and the Dargah campus in the basti Nizamuddin area has been held in highest reverence by those following the Sufi tenets.

But of late, the Dargah has been in the clutches of the land mafia lobby of the area that has also formed a self-proclaimed Dargah Committee. They had been trying to desecrate and destroy the tombs of the shrines of Hazrat Nizamuddin and that of Amir Khusrow on the pretext of building wuzukhanas (ablution place).

The tomb of Akbar’s brother Atgah Khan, right at the back on the eastern side of the world renowned Sufi Shrine Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia, has been illegally occupied by a person, who ironically works as a peon for the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at Humayun’s tomb!

The imposing tomb stands within a walled enclosure roofed by a dome of about six metres in diameter. One is astonished to see the fine lattice stone screen work on all the four sides of the tomb that has four deeply recessed arched doors.

If someone wants to go inside the monument, the women folk of the peon’s house, resist. Atgah Khan was the husband of Maham Anga, popularly known as Jiji Anga, who was one of the most beautiful wet nurses of Akbar. In a way, she was Akbar’s surrogate mother.

Besides, she had considerable influence over Akbar. Many historians also believe that Maham Anga achieved an almost royal stature owing to her close proximity to Akbar. In 1561, she even got the famous mosque Khair-ul-Manazil built, that is just on the crossing opposite Delhi Zoo and adjacent to Sher Shah Mess.

The other important tombs that have been desecrated by the residents in the area happen to be those of Mohammed Ayaz Khan-e-Jahan Telangani with the title Rajkumar Hardev, the prime minister of Sultan Mohammed Tughlaq.

There are also the graves of Khan-e-Dauran Khan, Akbar’s general, and Khwaja Abu Bakar Mandah, the disciple of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia. Khan-e-Dauran Khan Bahadur Mansur Jung held the rank of 17,000 under Emperor Farrukhsiyar and died in 1739. His mosque having beautiful cusped arches and decorated walls is on the west side of the Dargah complex.

Khan-e-Jahan Telangani was the prime minister of Firoz Shah Tughlaq and father of Khan-e-Jahan Junan Shah. His tomb built at the south-west end of the Nizamuddin village happens to be the first one built in octagonal style.

The 16th century Barah Khambah, to the west of Nizamuddin tomb, was encroached and many families had to be removed, as it had literally turned into the worst slum cluster of New Delhi.

Unless the Government of Delhi takes stringent steps, these treasured monuments — mute witnesses to our glorious cultural heritage — will be extinct one day.