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

THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI
of him, many saints of the subcontinent owe their fine tombs.
Nevertheless, in its modern appearance the mausoleum has no
resemblance to the specimens of architecture of the Delhi Sultanate.
The material (white marble) itself, the shape of the cupola (regular
spherical dome with the base cut off low), enamelled overhead
interior with golden inlay, as well as the composite capitals of the
pillars – everything points to the fact that the mausoleum was rebuilt
in the Mughal epoch.
However, adjacent to the mausoleum the mosque Jama‘at-khana
Masjid, which was completed by Firoz Shah, has retained its original
appearance. This grand structure, made of red sandstone and
consisting of the central prayer hall and two cupolated chambers, is
considered to be the earliest of the South Asian mosques of the Delhi
style, built in absolute conformity with the principles of Islamic ritual
architecture. The absence in it of a rectangular courtyard, enclosed
with lodgings, as is customary in congregational mosques (jāmi‘
masjid), indicates that Jama‘at-khana Masjid was used for local
purposes, exclusively for visitors of the khānqāh (Desai 1971: 33).
On entering the dargāh of Nizamuddin Awliya, a pilgrim tarries for
a while in the first courtyard in order to buy offerings for the saint:
rose petals, sweets and incense sticks. More well-to-do visitors offer
perfumes and aromatic oil (‘iţr), because the saint was fond of them
in his lifetime, and also chaddar, a coloured sheet of cloth, used for
covering the sepulchre. Then the pilgrim passes on to the second
courtyard, where sitting at the edge of a shallow reservoir he performs
ritual cleansing (wudű¯’), in consecutive order first washing the palms
and hands, then the face and neck and finally his feet.
At the reservoir men and women’s ways diverge. The former enter
the tomb from the central entrance, touch the threshold with a hand
or, falling on their knees, kiss it. Having entered the tomb, they walk
round the sepulchre several times, throwing handfuls of rose petals
on it. They give their offerings to the special attendant mujāwir, who
sits by the mazār with a green box for offerings of cash. In exchange
for ten to twenty rupees the mujāwir gives a pilgrim a packet with
consecrated articles, which include a handful of rose petals, a pinch
of fragrant ashes of burnt incense and some sweets.
Women also go up to the main entrance, but only in order to pray
or to kiss the threshold – they can go inside only through the lateral
door. Their offerings are taken from them in the vestibule, separated
from the burial-vault by means of a dense lattice. Since women were
always the most ardent devotees of Mah˝būb-i ilāhī (the Beloved
Divine, as Nizamuddin Awliya was tenderly called) and also the most
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