Ajmer is situated 500 kms south-west of Delhi in the state of Rajasthan. The site of the grave of Sheikh Moinuddin Chishti, it has for centuries been a famous place of ziyarat for Muslims.

Sheikh Moinuddin Chishti was born in the village of Sangar, in the area of Iraq known as Chisht. At the close of the 11th century he, along with Sheikh Fakhruddin Gurdezi, was ordered by his Sheikh, Uthman Haruni, to proceed to India to spread the message of Islam. They left home and family and started off on the long, weary trail to the subcontinent. By the time they reached India, they had gathered forty followers. They settled in the town of Ajmer, where the graves of both Sheikhs are now situated. Hundreds of thousands of people accepted Islam at the hand of Sheikh Moinuddin Chishti during his forty year stay in Ajmer. There is no doubt that his name ranks high among the architects of Islam in India.

It is estimated that over 1 million pilgrims visit the Sheikh’s grave every year. During the annual festival (Urs), marking the death anniversary of the Sheikh, at least 200,000 people come from all over the world to show their veneration for the saint.

Sheikh Moinuddin Chishti’s whole life was one of devotion and dedication to the Islamic cause. Yet those who claim to be his followers do not follow the path set by him. In his death, the saint has come to be known as ‘Gharib Nawaz,’ the Carer of the Poor.

In his life Sheikh Moinuddin Chishti showed what one man, moved by a divine spirit, can achieve for the faith. The failure of his millions of followers to emulate that achievement shows that when the true spirit of religion becomes ritualised, it loses all dynamism and drive; it becomes a means of obtaining the world rather than the Hereafter. Rather than being a discovery of the most profound and compelling nature, which one will sacrifice one’s life and property to serve, it becomes a stagnant hereditary doctrine which is a source of self-aggrandisement and complacence rather than self-denial and inspiration in the world. □

Greatest punishment: a heart of stone

Malik Ibn Dinar said that hardness of heart is the worst punishment a human being can suffer.