Muslim Saints of South Asia: The eleventh to ... - blog blog blog

THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN
an inverted chilla. In the fraternity of Chishtis such an ascetic practice
was not popular; Nasiruddin Chiragh-i Dihli, on being asked whether
chillah-i ma‘kūs was lawful, had replied that he had not come across
it in the books of Sharī‘at – dar kutub-i ‘ilm-i z.āhir nadīdam (Nizami
1955: 25). This is exactly why certain Indian scholars saw in Shaikh
Farid’s asceticism the prevailing influence of Indian Yogi practice.
However, Sufi sources, including Fawā’id al-fu’ād, 10 asserted that
even the old man from Mayhana, Abu Sa‘id b. Abul Khair (into
whose tomb the miraculous pigeon used to fly) performed at the
end of the tenth century șalāt-i ma‘kūs, i.e. prayer, head foremost.
In the eighteenth century Shah Waliullah referred to this practice in
connection with Chishtiyya fraternity: ‘And there is a namāz among
the Chishtis, known as șalāt-i ma‘kūs. We could not find any authority
for it in the Traditions of the Prophet or in the sayings of the jurists.
We therefore did not discuss it at all. Its legality or otherwise is known
to God alone’ (Nizami 1953: 145).
Obligatory conditions for performance of chillah-i ma‘kūs were a
mosque, a well and a tree by its side. The ascetic tied a length of rope
to a branch of the tree and attached the other end to his leg. He then
dived head downwards into the well. Thus, suspended in total
darkness, he used to spend forty days and nights, without taking food
and water. From time to time he was pulled outside (for which
purpose some assistant’s services were required), so that he could
offer prayers in the mosque. It is not known whether Farid managed
to find favourable conditions for his ascetic feats in Delhi, but
rumours to the effect that he was preparing to subject himself to
inverted fast evoked morbid excitement amongst visitors to the
khānqāh in Mehrauli. This too apparently influenced Farid’s decision
to leave the capital and to look for a more secluded place.
Qutbuddin reluctantly and with tears let go his favourite murīd,
having appointed him his successor and bequeathing to him a
complete set of spiritual regalia, including sajjāda (prayer carpet),
khirqa, dastār (turban), na‘lain-i chobīn (wooden sandals) and ‘așā
(staff), on which, instead of a pillow, Farid always rested his head. 11
Having left Delhi the saint moved to his native land Punjab. At first
he stopped in a small town, Hansi, where he lived in the house of
one of his first disciples, Jamaluddin Hansawi. It was here that his
second fateful meeting in a mosque took place, this time with the
anti-hero of medieval Muslim historiography, Nur-i Turk, who had
in the year 1236 placed himself at the head of the insurrection of
the Carmatians in Delhi. Surrounded by a crowd of his henchmen,
Nur-i Turk, took notice of Farid, as always clothed in rags, and
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