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BIRTH
& EARLY LIFE
Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chishty was born (536 A-H.) at Chisht in
Sistan, which was also known as; Sajistan, East Persia, the peace of Muslim
world was horribly disturbed. Sistan and its surrounding lands were experiencing
unprecedented bloodshed and plunder at the hands of barbarous Tartars
and other rebels. These intruders had taken advantage of the weak government
of Sultan Sanjar, an account of which has appeared in the preceding pages.
The life and honour of the people were in constant danger. The wild Tartars
had completely destroyed the flower of the Muslim nation. They outraged
humanity practically in all the centres of the 600-year old Muslim civilisation
and culture.
Migration and life in Neshapur:
Due to these intermittent political disturbances in Sistan,Hazrat Khwaja
Ghiyasuddin Hasan(father of Khwaja sahab), one day decided to pack up
and leave Sistan for a safer place. He migrated with his family to Neshapur,
the Capital city, which was one of the most flourishing cities in those
days. It was a great centre of intellectual and economic activities and
possessed the famous "Nizamia" university with a precious library
that contained a rare collection of Oriental literature. There lived learned
Ulema and reputed Sufis who imparted knowledge in moral and spiritual
enlightenment to scholars drawn from far and near. There lived physicians
and artists of rare qualifications.There were rich gardens and canals
with flourishing agricultural fields. One of the suburbs was called Rewand
which was famous for its grape orchards.It is recorded that Hazrat Khwaja
Ghyasuddin Hasan(R.A) bought an orchard with a windmill in this vicinity
to settle down for a peaceful life.

No
peace of mind:
"Man proposes but God disposes".
The peace in search of which Hazrat Khwaja Ghiyasuddin Hasan(R.A) had
migrated to Neshapur was not to be had even in this great city. Here too
the people were hanging in a terrible suspense between life and death.
The brave Sultan Sanjar had been fighting the Tartars at the borders to
check them for along time without Success. Due to his prolonged absence
from the capital his administrative machinery was showing signs of disintegration.
Internally, the Fidayees of the 'Qarmti and 'Baatini' sects (one of whose
members had already murdered the able Wazeer Nizamul Mulk) had also come
out of their hide-outs and were roaming about the country unabated, spreading
wild fire of rebellion all round. These armed hordes were busy in wholesale
plunder and massacre of the innocent people.
These awe-inspiring events had a very deep impression on the mind of the
Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chishty(R.A) who was watching the whole
barbarous drama objectively at his impressionable young age.
The
'Qarmti' and 'Baatani' intriguers had carried centuries' old grudge against
the Hanafi Muslims who held both temporal and spiritual powers in succession
for more than 500 years after the Holy Prophet (S.A.W). Although it was
an age-old grudge but, as Islamic history shows, they utterly failed in
all their designs to destory their rivals. Islam has survived many vicissitudes
of history and Quran has promised its survival up to the last Day-of-Judgment.
Demise
of parents:
Gharib Nawaz again saw all this ghastly drama at his early age. But this
was not all for him. Just at this time he lost his dear father (551 A-H.)
and the worst part of it was that he had already lost his dear mother
too. Khwaja Sahab,was now left all alone to look after himself in a world
full of hate, murder and greed. Although, by virtue of legacy, he had
enough material resources to sustain himself in his traditional standard
of life, but the sack of Neshapur coupled with the death of his dear parents
plunged him into deep thinking. At times he was overwhelmed with grief
and saw a very vague picture of this terrible world though he bore it
out with courage and exemplary forbearance. He was a hardworking youth
and looked after his orchard personally, trimming and watering the plants
with his own hands.
Yet
another sack:
Hardly a year had passed after the sad death of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin's
father, when the mischievous Tartars once more ransacked Khorasan and
repeated the same bloody drama of murder, arson and loot. This time Sultan
Mahmood, one of the brothers of Sultan Sanjar, came forward to check the
invaders but he too failed to rout them. Neshapur was again the scene
of the same ghastly tragedies which our pen shivers to describe. And once
more Khwaja sahab was overwhelmingly dismayed to see these scenes of terrible
devastation. He often plunged himself into deeper thoughts about these
ugly events in order to try to come to some definite conclusion about
his own future course of life. The thought of helping the helpless humanity
against all such persistent pillage always tormented his tender heart.
Yet he could not come to any definite conclusion.
Destined
for a Sacred Mission:
As helpless human beings, we can never understand the will of the Almighty
God. Should we surmise that by exhibiting these tragedies perhaps God
Almighty meant to show Khwaja sahab the sins of this wretched world in
order to prepare him for a mighty divine mission of reform and peace for
the mankind? As it will be seen later on, the Almighty did mean this for
which He enlightened the mind of the young Khwaja sahab quite unexpectedly.
How he was equipped providentially for this great and sacred mission,
and what a wonderful role he was destined to play in India, will be seen
in the following pages. Whenever injustice, oppression and greed reigned
supreme in this world. God has always been merciful to mankind by sending
His saviours to fight the Satanic forces and put the people on the path
of righteousness and mutual love.
Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chishty(R.A) used to ponder, for hours together,
over the ugly scenes of the ghastly massacre in Khorasan which he had
been witnessing with great pain for several years ever since his younger
days. With these tragic impressions, his interest in worldly life and
pleasures was diminishing fast. Inwardly he was very much worried and
longed to be away from such a mad world if he could manage to see a way
out.
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