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WYSTICISM OF DARVISHES: DARVISH ORDERS IN INDIA
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thence to the neighbourhood of Nishāpür near Mashhad. There he became a disciple of Khwājah 'Uthman Chishti Hāruni. After twenty years' discipleship he performed a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina and thence he travelled through Iraq and Persia in course of which he made the acquaintance of many Sūfis such as Shaikh 'Abd-ul-Qadir Jilani and Khwājah Qutb-ud-Din Bakhtyar Kaki. The latter became one of his disciples. At Baghdad he became acquainted with Najm-udDin Qubra Shiahab-ud-Din Suhrawardi and other famous sūfis. He was known as Aftab-e-Mulk-e-Hind. He came back thence to Herat, Balkh and Ghazni. In 1192 A. D. he came to Delhi with the army of Shihabud-Din Ghuri. At the age of 52 in 1195 A. D. he went to Ajamer which became his permanent residence until his death in 1236 A. D.
Akbar's connection with his tomb at Ajamer is historical. He vowed that if he took the fort of Chitor he would walk on foot from Agra to the tomb of the holy man in Ajamer. The fort was taken in 1568 A. D. He made a similar vow before the birth of Jehangir in 1567 A. D. and for ten successive years he made an annual pilgrimage to it. His last pilgrimage seems to have been in 1579 A. D. The spiritual descendants of Khwājah Mu'in-ud-Din Chishti have been among the most famous Saints of India. Hazrat Nizām-ud-din Awliya* of Delhi was his great grand pupil whose spiritual descendants are called Nizamis. Similarly his another great grand pupil was Hazrat Makhdum, 'Ala-ud-Din 'Ali Ahmad Sabir of Pirankalir(near Ruraki) whose spiritual descendants are called Sabiris. : Qutb Minar at Delhi according to some is named after Kwajah Qutb-ud-Din friend and pupil of Mu'in-ud-Din. Both died in 1236.
*Both Khiljis and Tughlags were closely coppected with him. The proverb 'Dilhi dür. hai'i.e. 'Delhi is a long way off' arose out of his reply on being informed of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq's coming to get moneys alleged to have been deposited with him. Ghiyasuddin died on his way by the fall of a house and never reached Delhi. Nizamuddin died in 1325 A. D.