An Emperor and a Sufi

I remember reading it from both Dalrymple's and Ibn-Batuta's writings. It is about Hz Nizamuddin, but actually about Sufies, Saints.

Hz Nizamuddin lived in the era of Tughlaq, in what was then Delhi, present day's Tughlaqabad suburb south of (present day's) south delhi and just north of Mehrauli. So ... there happened some confrontation between emperor of India and the Sufi Saint, and the Sufi shifted his place to an area outside the (then) city, to what today is Hz Nizamuddin. Some other sufi (or may be he himself), told the emperor, ki, your aalishaan qila and mahel etc may not remain aabaad after sometime, but wherever the Sufi has settled, will remain so.

Dalrymple writes with astonishment (and I share it), ki surprisingly, even when Tughlaqabad is the largest and one of the most magnificient fort / fortification complex of all the cities of Delhi, it lacks prominence even on tourist's itenraries. Qutub complex, which is older than it, is a world heritage site, and rivals even the Taj in terms of no of visitors. As do Red fort and Jama masjid, which are of a much later period. Delhi is identified with these, but Tughlaqabad, not many people know about as a historically and touristically important place. On the other hand, centuries later, Hz Nizamuddin is a thriving, alive place .. almost every evening there is a mela type of atmosphere, with the narrow lanes brimming with people, visitors, beggers, shopkeepers, worshippers, pilgrims, ... people travelling thousands of miles to just to visit it, people coming to it to with shraddha, faith, with hope ...

Khair, this much, though astonishing, isn't goose-bumps-causing ..

What Dalrymple did next was, he went to Daulatabad as well, a city which Tughlaq (not sure if the same Tughlaq or some other) had shifted his capital to. And he was surprised that the fort complex there, in spite of being considered perhaps the most impenetrable of all the forts in India, a fort which attracts a lot of critical acclaim, also does not have any human population living within, or nearby it. Did the curse extended to Daultabad too - he thought ... khair, His visit to the fort about to end, and sunset approaching, he decided to take a look from the top, looking for signs of any human population, any aabaadi in the vicinity ... and he was successful, he could spot light somewhere nearby, he decided to have a look ... he had to discover the way to that place on his own .. and it took sometime, but finally he managed to reach the place. As he neared it, he realized .... guess what,

.

.

.

"voh bhi kisi sufi saint ka mazaar thhaa" ..

Alhamdulillaah ...

In an otherwise ruined surroundings of the magnificient fort, what managed to exist, was again, a Sufi shrine ...

The first time i read it, or whenever I have narrated it to people, mere rongte khare ho jaate hain ...

Ramzan mubarak ...

PS: there was one frail person in there, who, D thought, was responsible for the light / the diya, which D saw and came to know about the mazar's existence .. he asked the fellow, ki janaab, after you, perhaps this mazar would also become veeraan, with no one to do diya n all every evening. That person replied, with a belief which can only come from faith, ki

"why so?

someone else would come, just like Allah sent me after my predecessor left" ..