31 Facts About Nizamuddin Auliya

Nizamuddin Auliya's 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.

Nizamuddin Auliya was born in a Sayyid family in Badayun, Uttar Pradesh.

Nizamuddin Auliya's biography finds mention in Ain-i-Akbari, a 16th-century document written by Mughal Emperor Akbar's vizier, Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak.

At the age of twenty, Nizamuddin Auliya went to Ajodhan and became a disciple of the Sufi saint Fariduddin Ganjshakar, commonly known as Baba Farid.

Nizamuddin Auliya did not take up residence in Ajodhan but continued with his theological studies in Delhi while simultaneously starting the Sufi devotional practices and the prescribed litanies.

Nizamuddin Auliya visited Ajodhan each year to spend the month of Ramadan in the presence of Baba Farid.

Shortly after that, when Nizamuddin Auliya returned to Delhi, he received news that Baba Farid had died.

Nizamuddin Auliya lived at various places in Delhi, before finally settling down in Ghiyaspur, a neighbourhood in Delhi undisturbed by the noise and hustle of city life.

Nizamuddin Auliya built his Khanqah here, a place where people from all walks of life were fed, where he imparted spiritual education to others and he had his own quarters.

Besides believing in the traditional Sufi ideas of embracing God within this life by destroying the ego and cleansing the soul, and that this is possible through considerable efforts involving Sufi practices, Nizamuddin Auliya expanded and practised the unique features introduced by past saints of the Chisti Sufi order in India.

Nizamuddin Auliya did not much bother about the theoretical aspects of Sufism, believing rather that it were the practical aspects that counted, as it was anyway not possible to describe the diversified mystical experiences called spiritual states or stations which a practicing Sufi encountered.

Nizamuddin Auliya discouraged the demonstration of Karamat and emphasised that it was obligatory for the Auliya to hide the ability of Keramat from the commoners.

Nizamuddin Auliya was merely sixteen or seventeen years old when he first heard the name of Fariduddin Ganjshakar, and feelings of love and respect arose in his heart right then.

Nizamuddin Auliya narrates to his disciples that he never felt the same after hearing or even meeting any other Sufi.

Nizamuddin Auliya didn't feel the same for anyone else in his entire lifetime.

Nizamuddin Auliya became his disciple after completing his studies at the age of 20.

Nizamuddin Auliya had more than 600 khalifas who continued his lineage all over the world.

Nizamuddin Auliya told him, "your descendants will be my descendants".

Nizamuddin Auliya was nurtured by Nizamuddin Auliya after Jamaluddin's death.

Nizamuddin Auliya sent his nephew to Bengal in Eastern India along with one of his disciples Akhi Siraj Aainae Hind, known as Aaina-e-Hind.

Nizamuddin Auliya was married to the daughter of Alaul Haq Pandavi.

Nizamuddin Auliya became the khalifa of Noor Qutb-e-Aalam Padwi.

Nizamuddin Auliya spread Chisti Nizami order all over Northern India.

Nizamuddin Auliya Aulia had one sister named Bibi Ruqayya who is buried next to Bibi Zulekha, the mother of Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya Aulia in Adhchini village in Delhi.

Nizamuddin Auliya was the founder of the Chisti Nizami order.

Nizamuddin Auliya had hundreds of disciples who had Ijaza from him to spread the order.

Nizamuddin Auliya spiritually made many great Sufis amongst his students, descendants and the Sufis of the Nizami order.

Nizamuddin Auliya was the most famous and loved disciple of Nasiruddin Muhammad Chirag-e-Dehli.

Nizamuddin Auliya established a khanqah, still in existence at Kichaucha sharif, Uttar Pradesh, India.

The Urs-e-Nizamuddin Auliya Aulia is celebrated at the Nizamuddin Auliya Dargah on the 17th-18th of Rabi II, and that of Amir Khusro on the 18th of Shawwal.

Aulea-E-Islam, a 1979 Indian Muslim social film by A Shamsheer pays tribute to various Islamic saints including Nizamuddin Auliya, featuring a song "Nizamuddin Aulia" sung by Jani Babu Qawwal and written by Viqar Nagri.