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

THE SPIRITUAL SOVEREIGN OF MULTAN
in the hands of a mortician. The Chishtis used to shave the neophyte’s
head after which he made a vow of submission (‘ahd al-yad), and the
shaikh held his hand (mușāfah˝a). Then a high felt cap (tāj or kulāh)
was placed on the disciple’s head, and he was robed in a special
patched-up garment (muraqqa‘a or khirqa). Among the Suhrawardis
the investing in khirqa was followed by the ceremony of winding a
turban around his head or girdling a sash around his waist, ensuring
a definite number of knots or folds in the process. The cap of the
Chishti had four corners and that of the Suhrawardi had five or
twelve. However, Baha’uddin Zakariya himself throughout his life
wore a turban (dastār), although disapproved of it for others.
Chishtis used to live in modest adobe jamā‘at khānas, access to
which was open to all and at any time. Suhrawardis resided in
well-built khānqāhs, 4 which were erected for them by the rulers.
Admittance into them was scrupulously restricted both in respect of
the time of visit and the social status of the visitors. Shaikh Baha’uddin
Zakariya, in particular, could not stand even the sight of qalandars
and juwāliqs 5 (this is how wandering dervishes are called in Fawā’id
al-fu’ād) and never let them set foot on his threshold. Once the
juwāliqs, before whom Baha’uddin Zakariya had the doors closed,
indulged almost in a riot, insisting on alms, and pelted the khānqāh
with stones. After some time the saint came out to meet the brawlers
and declared that he held his office not for the sake of profit, but by
the will of Abu Hafs ‘Umar Suhrawardi, who had sent him to Multan.
Having heard the name of the founder of the fraternity, juwāliqs
prostrated themselves before the Shaikh and went back from where
they had come. 6
In Chishti jamā‘at khānas there were langars, where food was
offered to all those who wished. In the case where a Chishti shaikh
could not out of poverty offer food to the visitors, he was obliged to
offer at least a glass of water, with due apologies. In Suhrawardi
khānqāhs, as in a modern European family, only those who had been
invited beforehand to partake of a meal were fed. In the majority of
cases such invited persons turned out to be the chosen ones (khawāșș):
well-known mystics musāfirān, friendly ‘ulamā, merchant-donators,
famous men of letters – in short, spruced-up members of the public.
Baha’uddin Zakariya was extraordinarily fastidious about food, did
not partake of meals anywhere outside the limits of his cloister, even
in palaces, and being no stranger to epicureanism, liked to share a
meal in the company of similar connoisseurs.
Since the rules of the Chishtiyya fraternity forbade its members to
possess money, all the futūh˝received by them were spent on charity.
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