ZAHIDIA
ORDER
A
brief history of the order
The
pioneers- Imam of Kaba, Sheikh Shahbuddin Zahid Buzurg and Fakhruddin
Khudad Zahidi(d. 704Hijri/1304A.D)
One
of the ancient and very unique sufi order existing in India is the
Zahidia order which was pioneered by Sheikh Shahbuddin Buzurg and his
son-cum-successor Hazrat Fakhruddin Khudad. Sheikh Shahbuddin Buzurg
was the Imam in Khane kaba of Hanafi Fiqh. He was of very pious
nature and used to spend most of his time in worshipping which earned
him the fame as “Zahid”(one who worships a lot). People so
oftenly called him as Zahid that this word became part of his name
and hence his successor were known as Zahidi. He devoted his entire
life in worshipping the alimighty Allah. Lastly he was bestowed
spiritually by Allah(s.w.t) with the news of acceptance of his
worships and was ordered to send his son Fakhruddin Zahidi to India
in the service of Islam so that non-muslims may get Hidaya(guidance)
through him and come in the folds of Islam. He continuously got these
directions twice or thrice. He finally called his son and told him
regarding the will of the almighty Allah. He happily started to
prepare for the journey after listening this prophecy from his
father.
At
the time of departure he asked his father-cum-spiritual mentor about
his resting place in India. To this, his father replied, “Your she
camel has been foretold about your place. If she does not get up
after sitting at a palce then that place will be yours”. He started
the journey with a few people accompanying him. He is said to have
visited all important cities of Delhi sultanate during his journey
which includes Thatta(near present day Karachi, Sindh ,Pakistan),
Bhakkar, Multan, Lahore(all three in present day Punjab province of
Pakistan). He finally visited Delhi, the capital city of the Delhi
sultante but his she camel did stop at any of these places. Covering
the entire western and central part of the Delhi Sultanate he marched
towards the eastern part of the Sultante with his caravan. After
covering a distance of around 40 miles from Delhi the camel stopped
in a jungle and did not get up even after many attempts. So he sat
down near an acacia tree where people started to come. Initially a
hut was made for him but the prophecy regarding his propagation of
Islam started to come to reality and his following went on to
increase by leaps and bounds to an extent that an entire city came to
existence in that area. His fame reached beyond the city and
Ghiyassuddin Tughlaq, the founder of Tughlaq dynasty became his
disciple(murid). This locality is presently part of Meerut city in
Uttar Pradesh province of India.
At
last his father Sheikh Shahabuddin Zahid Buzurg also came to India to
live with his son. Exact date of the arrival of this family is not
known in history but it is said that Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya, the
famous sufi of Chsihti order had seen him during the latters youth.
Sheikh Shahabuddin Zahid Buzurg is burried in Meerut and his shrine
is still famous by the name of “ Shrine of Makhdoom Shah Wilayat”.
His son married in a pious family of Delhi and had four sons who
carried his lineage forward Sheikh Shahbuddin Haqgo Shaheed, Maulana
Shamshuddin Zahidi, Maulana Sheikh Muhammad Zahidi and Sheikh Budhan.
Last three are also burrried in Meerut.
Sheikh
Shahabuddin Haqgo(d. 730 Hijri/1329 A.D)
Sheikh
Shabuddin Haqgo was the Sajjadansheen(official spiritual successor)
of his father. He gained the title of Haqgo beacuse of the incident
that brought martyrdom to him. Injustice during the early years of
Muhammad bin Tughlaq's rule arose among the masses to a great extent.
So the king, in order to control this brought together the entire
elite including the Ulemas, Scholars and Sufis of his time and took
there signature regarding him being a just ruler. When Sheikh
Shahbuddin was asked to sign he did not do it and said that he will
not go against the “Haq”(truth). Even after repeated requests and
later warnings he did not change his decision. The king disliked this
and ordered in anger to throw him from the walls of the fort which
resulted in his death. This earned him the title of Haqgo(Speaker of
the truth) in history. His is burried outside the walls of the fort.
The king even destroyed his home as if nothing ever lived in that
area. His family had to face a lot of trouble after this incident.
Sheikh
Fakhruddin Sani Zahidi
He
was the son and successor of Sheikh Shahabuddin Haqgo. He reorganised
his Khanqah in Meerut and started the missionary work again. Maqdoom
Jalaluddin Jahaniya Jahangasht, the famous sufi of fourteenth
century is said to have met him in Meerut. He was married in an
eminent family of Delhi and had five sons. All his sons were famous
scholars and sufi of there time.
Sheikh
Sadruddin
Sheikh
Sadruddin was the eldest son of Sheih Fakhruddin Sani.
He was a highly learned
scholar in all sciences of Islamic studies. Makhdum
Jahanya Jahangasht(d.
785Hijri/ 1384 A.D) used to
love him a lot. He also
awarded his Khirkha to Sheikh Sadruddin.
His father ordered him to migrate to Jaunpur(the capital of Jaunpur
Sultanate at that time), Uttar Pradesh. Sultan
Ibrahim Shah(ruled
1402-1440) of Sharqi dynasty
was the king of Jaunpur Sultanate at that time. Zahidia order
flourished a lot through him in Jaunpur.
When
Makhdum Jahanya Jahangasht heard the fame of Sheikh Fakhruddin Sani
he came to see him in the latters Khanqah in Meerut but could not
meet him even after asking for it twice. When enquired regarding
this, Sheikh Fakhruddin sent in reply to Makhdum Jahnaya that
“Dervish have no will over there own. There
will lies in the hands of Allah(s.w.t). They
do not do anything unless there is direction from that side, there
is nothing to worry in this”. Makhdum
Jahanya could meet only after insisting the third time. He asked for
the sons of Sheikh Fakhruddin and gave them his blessings. Since that
time only Sheikh Sadruddin became very loved to him. He
also blessed other sons of Sheikh Fakhruddin namely Sheikh Junaid,
Sheikh Alauddin and Sheikh Bahauddin. Sheikh
Badruddin, the youngest son of Sheikh Fakhruddin was in his childhood
at that time. When his
father brought him to meet Makhdum Jahanya, the latter stepped
forward and took him in his lap and prophecised in the following
words, “SubhanAllah every part of this boy will speak of Allah.”
Hazrat
Maqdum Badruddin Pir Badr-e-alam Zahidi(d. 844 hijri/1440 A.D)
He
was the youngest son, murid and Khalifa of Sheikh Fakhruddin Zahidi.
After completing worldly studies he moved towards Bihar after getting
the permission and order from his father. After reaching Maner he
enquired regarding Maqdum Jahan Sheikh Sharfuddin Yahya Maneri(one of
the pioneers of Sufism and Islam in Bihar, 661-782hijri) and came to
know that he is in Biharsharif. He sent someone to Biharsharif and
seeked permission to meet. Maqdum Jahan sent in reply “Ghum phir
kar yahan aana-Come here after travelling around”. He then set for
Bengal and temporarily settled down in Chittagong which was under the
rule of Hindu king Raja Ganesh Rai. When he came to know about the
arrival of Sufi mystics in his kingdom, he went berserk and issued an
order for their immediate arrest. When the soldiers came to arrest
them Maqdum Zahidi was busy in prayers. His son Sheikh Shahab Qattal
resisted and defeated the soldiers. When the king came to know of the
defeat he order to go with war elephants and crush them with no mercy
at all. Ironically, the king's sister didn't have a child and wished
to have one. She asked for their pardon and for some time. The king
did give her some time. After that she, herself visited Maqdum Zahidi
and requested to him to pray for her so that she may be blessed with
a child. Maqdum Zahidi gave her two fresh oranges and said, “Do not
be impateint regarding Allah's mercy”. Go, eat it, Allah will bless
you. Therefore ten months from then she gave birth to twin sons and
Maqdum Zahidi got official permission from the government to stay
there.
When
these two nephews of King Ganesh grew up they were never on good
terms with their uncle. There differences grew to the extent that a
civil war broke in the royal family which got King Ganesh killed and
the power came in the hands of the twin brothers. These two brothers
openly became Muslims and Chittagong due to the blessings of Maqdum
Zahidi became abode of Islam. The author of “Khanwada-e-Zahidia”
has stated in his book that the prayer room of Maqdum Zahidi in
Chittagong was well preserved till his time i.e 20th
century A.D.
Prophet
Khwaja Khizr A.S and Maqdum-e-Jahan Sheikh Sharfuddin Yahya Maneri
discussed the need of a great WaliAllah regarding a spiritual purpose
that was to be taken care of as soon as possible. Khwaja Khizr A.S
suggested the name of Maqdum Zahidi to be fit enough to serve this
purpose. Maqdum-e-Jahan sent his son and brother to ask Maqdum Zahidi
to migrate and settle down permanently at Biharsharif. Maqdum Zahidi
arrived at Biharsharif in the year 783 A.H. Before his arrival Sheikh
Sharfuddin Yahya Maneri has already left for the heavenly abode in
the year 782 A.H. Maqdum Zahidi settled down at the place as directed
by Khwaja Khizr A.S and Sheikh Sharfuddin Yahya Maneri and was also
burried over there after his death in 844 A.H. He is remembered as
the pioneer of Zahidia order in Bihar state of India. Many other
centres of Zahidia order flourished in what is present day Bangladesh
and Uttar Pradesh & West Bengal state of India.
Zahidia order
The prophet of Islam Hazrat Muhammad(S.A.W)
Hazrat
Ali ibn Abu Talib Rz
Hazrat Khwaja Hassan Basri Rz
Hazrat Khwaja Habib Ajami
Hazrat Khwaja Daud Taee
Hazrat Khwaja Maruf Kirkhi
Hazrat Khwaja Siri Saqti
Hazrat Khwaja Abul Qasim Junaid Baghdadi
Hazrat Khwaja Abu Muhammad Roomi
Hazrat Khwaja Abdullah Jafar
Hazrat Khwaja Abu Is'haaq Garzuni
Hazrat Sheikh Hassan Tatari
Hazrat Sheikh Qutubuddin
Hazrat Sheikh Abdus Salam
Hazrat Sheikh Sadruddin Samarqandi
Hazrat Sheikh Shahabuddin Zahid Buzurg Meeruti
Hazrat Sheikh Fakhruddin Zahidi Meeruti
Hazrat Sheikh Shahabuddin Haqgo Meeruti
Hazrat Sheikh Fakhruddin Sani Zahidi Meeruti
Hazrat Sheikh Badruddin Badr-e-Alam Zahidi
Hazrat Khwaja Abu Ishaaq urf Sheikh Sultan Zahidi
Hazrat Syed us Sadat urf Syed Mehmood
Hazrat Syed us Sadat Miran Syed Jahangir
Hazrat Syed us Sadat wal Mashaeikh Miran Syed Shah Wali Nurullah
Hazrat Syed us Sadat wal Mashaeikh Miran Syed Shah Azam
Hazrat Sheikh ul Islam wal Muslemeen Miran Syed Masud
Hazrat Sheikh ul Islam wal Muslemeen Sheikh Abdul Majeed Nawabadi
Hazrat Maqdum Syed Shah Jahangir Rizvi Danapuri
Hazrat Maqdum Syed Shah Mahamid Rizvi Danapuri
Hazrat Syed Shah Muhammad Azam urf Syed Shah Nawabadi
Hazrat Syed Shah Muhammad Mubarak Nawabadi
Hazrat Syed Shah Muhammad Muqeem
Hazrat Syed-al-waseleen Syed Shah Ghulam-e-Hussain Danapuri
Hazrat Syed Shah Ata Hussain Fani
