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

THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI
attitude of the ’ulamā towards the Prophet’s Sunna. And it was then
that in a state of mind far removed from gentle mildness, he predicted
terrible ordeals and devastation for Delhi. As is generally known,
this prophecy did not take long to come true during the reign of
Ghiyathuddin’s son, known to us as Muhammad bin Tughluq.
The most well-known prediction of the Shaikh made in connection
with the conflict between him and Ghiyathuddin Tughluq had an
equally dismal consequence. The latter, having failed to defeat the
Shaikh by manipulating the ‘ulamā, decided to exile him from
the capital. Setting off to Lakhnauti on a military expedition, he
issued a farmān, according to which eighty-years-old Nizamuddin
was directed to leave Delhi by the time the Sultan returned there.
It was then that the saint uttered the famous phrase which became
a popular saying: ‘It is still far away to Delhi’ (Hanūz Dillī dūr ast). 5
Really, the Sultan’s return journey to the capital ended in disaster –
in Afghanpur the pavilion, erected in a hurry for the court reception,
collapsed upon him. Ghiyathuddin was brought to Delhi in an
unconscious condition, where he soon after died. It has to be said
that modern scholars regard this episode of the saint’s life as merely
a legend, considering that nurturing such an evil intent, even if
so indirectly expressed, was absolutely not in keeping with his
nature.
Once the conversation has turned to the saint’s relations with the
state, then their contradictions and inconsistency also have to be
noted. He invariably rejected the donations of the legitimate Sultan,
Jalaluddin Tughluq, whereas for some reason accepted futūh˝from the
time-server and usurper Nasiruddin Khusrow. Sultan ‘Ala’uddin
Khalji (1296–1316), who had done a lot for the consolidation of
Islam, turned Ghiyathpur into a thriving suburb of the capital, since
he sincerely believed in Nizamuddin’s sainthood and tried his best to
win his favour. In doing so he ran across the saint’s stubborn
resistance. The Shaikh did not even open ‘Ala’uddin’s letter, handed
over to him by prince Khizr Khan, telling him that the Sultan should
be informed that:
We dervishes have nothing to do with matters of state. I have
taken up residence as far away as possible from the townsfolk
and spend all the time praying for the Sultan and the
faithful. If it is not to the Sultan’s liking, let him just tell me.
I will go away and take up residence somewhere else. There
is enough room in God’s world.
(Amir Khurd 1978: 167)
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