Living in his splendour

A miracle is like a screen which obscures the reality from view, said Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya (1238-1325), the beloved saint and one of the most famous Sufis of the Indian sub-continent.

There are innumerable miracles associated with Sufi saints and have become part of the folklore. The spiritual ascendance of the Sufi saints was so high that divine providence worked through them. What seemed as miracles for the common man were manifestations of God’s love flowing to them and through them. The Sufi saints had such a deep connection with the Almighty that they became vessels of God’s providence.

The Sufi masters lived in tawakkul. In all aspects of life, they placed their complete trust and reliance on the Almighty. Through the example of their simple lives, the Sufi saints delivered the timeless message that one must always have faith in God’s plan.

One must always believe with complete trust and sincerity that the Almighty is the ultimate provider and planner, and He shall always provide. Complete surrender to God’s will infuses tawakkulwith strength and fortitude. It is an ignorant mind that will regard tawakkul as an attitude of passive resignation. The truth brought to us by the great Sufi masters is that tawakkul is a highly powerful and dynamic state of relying on the Almighty where one relies on the Almighty and also strives to always excel in one’s endeavours.

Hazrat Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki (1173-1235), who lived in Delhi, was called Kaki due to a karamat(miracle) attributed to him. It is said that even though he and his wife lived in extreme poverty, he told his wife not to take credit from the local baker. His wife was worried that how they would eat, but the saint had a simple solution for her. He told her to take Kak (a kind of bread) from a corner of their house whenever it was required.

Subsequently, the saint’s wife found that whenever she needed bread, she would find it in that corner. The baker, meanwhile, felt concerned that the saint was perhaps angry with him and hence had stopped credit from him. When the baker asked the saint’s wife about the matter, she told him about the karamat, and people started calling the saint Kaki.

This was an expression of the saint’s tawakkul.

Sufis saints were blessed with glory because they were anchored in the Almighty. The radiance of divinity that shone through them came from their devotion, constantly striving for self-purification, and their deep care for the spiritual upliftment of those around them. Divine grace swirled around them and through them.

For centuries, the dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin has been visited by those seeking solace, blessings, spiritual guidance, and a deeper connection to the divine. When Hazrat Nizamuddin started living there, the village was called

Gyaspur. It was on the banks of Sitari river, a tributary of Yamuna. He would stay engaged in meditation and dhikr, a form of worship in which phrases or prayers are repeatedly recited for the purpose of remembering God.

The multi-volume literary work titled Tareekh-e-Farishta, also known as Gulshan-i-Ibrahimi, which was completed in 1620, mentions that during those years, there were times when Hazrat Nizamuddin and his followers had nothing to eat for days together. One day, a poor woman in their neighbourhood sent them some flour. Hazrat

Nizamuddin asked one of his disciples to use the flour and make a meal. While the meal was still cooking, a dervish came to their dwelling and asked for food. Hazrat Nizamuddin gently asked him to wait, but the dervish got impatient. Seeing this, Hazrat brought the boiling pot in which the meal was being made and placed it before the dervish.

It is said that the dervish broke the pot with his stick and declared, “Baba Farid has bestowed you with spiritual blessings and I am breaking the pot of your material poverty.” According to Tareekh-e-Farishta, from that day, Hazrat Nizamuddin’s khanqah flowed with gifts. Thousands converged at his dargah seeking closeness with the divine or any other solace they sought, and no one ever returned empty-handed. There was never any shortage of food or of blessings.

People may wonder about the saint who can point to a corner and bread is always found there. People may also wonder about the dervish who smashed a pot and broke the pot of material poverty. As Hazrat Nizamuddin observed, those who watch such episodes only on the surface shall be deluded by the screen. The seekers shall know the blessings and grace of the Almighty spring from tawakkul.

“A saint (Wali) is a person who continuously enjoys the divine favour in all his activities and becomes one of those protected by God,” said Hazrat Sharfuddin Ahmed Yahya Maneri, popularly known as Makhdoom-ul-Mulk Bihari and Makhdoom-e-Jahan (1263–1381), a 13th-century Sufi mystic and saint in medieval Bihar.

It is said that once the city where Baba Farid lived was threatened by an invading force. People came running to him, asking for help. Baba Farid remained steady in his prayer, closed his eyes and told the people not to panic. “The One who protects is with us,” he said.

Legend has it that when the enemy forces approached, they saw that the city had been surrounded by a huge army of men standing in shining armour. This protective army was huge and the enemy forces ran away without a fight. It is said that there was no physical army and no soldiers who were protecting the city where Baba Farid lived. This was a miraculous vision of protection which had been created by the force of Baba Farid’s prayer.

Hazrat Rabia had immersed herself in dhikr, and her love for the Almighty defined her being. She used to say, “If I worship You for Yourself alone, then grace me forever with the splendour of Your Face.” This is illustrative of how Sufi saints lived – worshipping the Almighty and living in his splendour.