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

THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI
relations were quite strained. On the other hand Khwaja Mu‘inuddin
Sijzi is, on the whole, mentioned in the book only in passing.
Among the quotations from books of eminent theologians the first
place belongs to al-Ghazzali – the Shaikh quotes his The Revival of
the Sciences of Religion (Ih˝yā’ ‘ulūm ad-dīn) thrice. At the same time
in his discourses there are neither any quotations of, nor references
to, Ibn al-‘Arabi, who was, in a doctrinal sense, far closer to him. He
quotes discourses of Abu Sa‘id Abul Khair Maihani whenever there
is an opportunity, but keeps absolute silence about Jalaluddin Rumi,
whose Mathnawī was the handbook of Indian mystics. Either such
were the predilections of Nizamuddin Awliya himself, or this is how
Amir Hasan Sijzi selected the material of the conversations.
Being a connoisseur of poetry, the Shaikh also paid close attention
to music: he not only regularly conducted samā‘ in his cloister, for
which he even suffered in the memorable maz.har, but he was also the
first to introduce the practice of public qawwālī, which attracted a
large audience (whereas samā‘ was meant only for the initiated). Even
today Nizamuddin Awliya’s dargāh is a centre of the art of qawwālī,
in which the outstanding Indian performer of this genre Muhammad
Hayat Khan participated. The Shaikh’s attitude towards samā‘ was
characterized by the same prudence and duality as that of al-Hujwiri.
In particular, on the authority of a corresponding h˝adīth, he was
against the use of the flute and other wind instruments during musical
auditions, considering only percussion instruments to be permissible.
According to the Shaikh, samā‘ should be considered neither
absolutely prohibited nor undoubtedly permissible, and its lawfulness
depends on who is the performer and who are the audience.
The Chishti tradition of compiling treatises on samā‘, as already
mentioned, began with Hamiduddin Suwali Nagori. The Shaikh
continued it by asking his disciple Fakhruddin Zarradi to write a
treatise on the principles of ‘audition’ (Us¸ūl as-samā‘), where the
saint’s views regarding the benefit and purpose of musical auditions
are quoted, particularly the bait (couplet):
Har wajd ke az samā‘ hāsil āyad.
Zawqe ast ke az wahmī āsāyad.
Every ecstasy (wajd) that is derived from samā‘
Is a taste which relieves the soul of anxiety.
(Lawrence 1983: 77)
Nizamuddin’s intellect was not dependent on age: even in his old age
he retained in his memory a great number of verses and musical
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