Saints of Sufism
By- Mohammad Arif

Fariduddin Ganjshakar (Baba Farid)
• Fariduddin Ganjshakar also known as Baba Farid (4 April 1179 – 7 May 1266) was a 12th_
century Punjabi Muslim preacher and mystic who went on to become "one of the most
revered and distinguished ... Muslim mystics" of the medieval period.
• He was a Sunni Muslim and was one of the founding fathers of the Chishti Sufi order.
Baba Farid received his early education at Multan, which had become a centre for Muslim
education. There he met his teacher Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, who was passing through
Multan on his way from Baghdad to Delhi and later Baba Farid settled in Ajodhan (the
present Pakpattan, Pakistan) instead of Delhi after his teacher’s death.
• He laid stress on Love of fellow human beings as a means of attaining love of God.
Service to humanity was part of the mystic discipline for him. His teachings were of moral
nature.
• There are various explanations of why Baba Farid was given the title ‘Shakar Ganj’
(Treasure of Sugar). One legend has it that his mother used to encourage the young Farid
to pray by placing sugar under his prayer mat. Once, when she forgot, the young Farid
found the sugar anyway, an experience that gave him more spiritual fervour and led to be
given this name.
• Fariduddin Ganjshakar's shrine darbar is located in Pakpattan, Punjab, Pakistan.

Nizamuddin Auliya
• Muhammad Nizamuddin Auliya (1238 – 3 April 1325), also known as Hazrat Nizamuddin was a Sunni
Muslim scholar, Sufi saint of the Chishti Order, and one of the most famous Sufis on the Indian
Subcontinent. His predecessors were Fariduddin Ganjshakar, Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki, and Moinuddin
Chishti, who were the masters of the Chishti spiritual chain or silsila in the Indian subcontinent.
• Besides believing in the traditional Sufi ideas of embracing God within this life (as he was opposed to
the idea that such partial merger with God is possible only after death), by destroying the ego and
cleansing the soul, and that this is possible through considerable efforts involving Sufi practices,
Nizamuddin also expanded and practised the unique features introduced by past saints of the Chisti
Sufi order in India. These included:
• Emphasis on renunciation and having complete trust in God.
• The unity of mankind and shunning distinctions based on social, economic and religious status.
• Helping the needy, feeding the hungry and being sympathetic to the oppressed.
• Strong disapproval of mixing with the Sultans, the princes and the nobles.
• Exhortation in making close contact with the poor and the downtrodden
• Adopting an uncompromising attitude towards all forms of political and social oppression.
• Adopting the permissibility of Sema
• Holding the stance however that Sema is only permissible when musical instruments and dancing are not present.
• Holding the orthodox Sunni belief that musical instruments are prohibited.

• Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti (1143–1236 CE), was a Persian Muslim
preacher, ascetic, religious scholar, philosopher, and mystic from Sistan, who
eventually ended up settling in the Indian subcontinent in the early 13th-
century, where he promulgated the famous Chishtiyya order of Sunni mysticism.
• Popularised music recitations called Sama (Mehboob-i-ilahi).
• The tomb (dargah) became a deeply venerated site in the century following the
preacher's death in March 1236. Honoured by members of all social classes, the
tomb was treated with great respect by many of the era's most important Sunni
rulers, including Muhammad bin Tughluq, the Sultan of Delhi from 1324-1351,
who paid a famous visit to the tomb in 1332 to commemorate the memory of
the saint. Also, Mughal ruler Akbar visited the shrine fourteen times during his
reign.
• In his discourses Chishti preached about loving all our fellow creatures,
irrespective of religion and status. His key teachings include charity and
compassion for the poor and helpless, leading a pure life of devotion to the
Divine, and achieving oneness with God in the service of his creations.
Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti

Thank You!