Khwaja Baha' al-Din Naqshband
Khwaja Baha' al-Din Naqshband (Hazrat Khwaja Baha-ud-Din Naqshband) (Hazrat Khwaja Baha-ud-Din bin Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Muhammad Naqshband) (b. 1318 CC [718 AH], Bukhara, Chagatai Khanate - d. 1389 CC [791 AH], Bukhara, Timurid Empire) was a 14th century Central Asian Sufi saint after whom the Naqshbandi order takes its name. The name Naqshband is sometimes understood in connection with the craft of embroidering, and Hazrat Baha' al-Din is said to have in fact assisted his father in weaving cloaks (kimkha) in Bukhara. More commonly, however, it is taken to refer to the fixing of the divine name of God to the heart by means of dhikr.
To the people of Bukhara, whose patron saint he became, Baha' al-Din was known posthumoulsy as khwadja-yi bala-gardan ("the averter of disaster"), referring to protective powers bestowed on him during his training period. Elsewhere, especially in Turkey, he is popularly called Shahi Naqshband.
In his youth, Baha' al-Din experienced visionary revelations and before the age of 20 was recognized as a brilliant Islamic scholar. He is said to have received training through the spirit (ruhaniyat) of earlier masters of the lineage including Hazrat Abdul Khaliq al-Ghujadawani, the well known khalifa of Hazrat Yusuf al-Hamadani and by Hazrat Khidr (alaihis salam).
Khwaja Baha' al-Din Naqshband was born in 718 AH (1318 CC) at Qasr-i-Arifan, a village in Bukhara, in the Chagatai Khanate. Later on he shifted to Revertun village of Bukhara and spent his life there.
Little is known about his details except some brief hints. Khwaja Baha' al-Din had great regard for the saints of the time. Just three days after his birth, Hazrat Baha' al-Din was taken by his father, Muhammad, to Khwaja Muhammad Babai Sammasi to receive his blessings. Khwaja Muhammad Babai Sammasi had come to Qasr-i-Arifan along with a group of his followers. Khwaja Muhammad Babai Sammasi adopted Baha' al-Din as his son and foretold his followers that ‘this son shall be the leader of the time.’
Baha' al-Din was married at the age of 18 and in those early days he was blessed with remaining in the service of Khwaja Babai Muhammad Sammasi. On the passing of Khwaja Babai Muhammad Sammasi in 755 AH, Baha' al-Din's father took him to Samarkand. In Samarkand, Baha' al-Din obtained blessings from the dervishes.
On reaching maturity, Baha' al-Din entered into the service of Hazrat Amir Kalal, the successor of Babai Sammasi, who trained him in ‘zikr’ -- a form of Islamic meditation in which phrases or prayers are repeatedly chanted in order to remember God.
Baha' al-Din became immersed in prayers and ‘mujahada’ -- the spiritual struggle against his own baser impulses. Hazrat Sayid Amir Kalal left no stone unturned in the education of Baha' al-Din utlizing training and instructions as dictated by his predecessor Murshid Khwaja Muhammad Sammasi.
On completion of his course, Baha' al-Din decided to leave. On account of Baha' al-Din's evident God-given capabilities, Hazrat Sayid Amir Kalal allowed him to leave to try to attain higher spiritual perfection.
Thereafter, Baha' al-Din served Moulana Arif Deg-garai for seven years and twelve years in the service of a Turkistani Murshid Khalil Aata. Baha' al-Din also spent time with scholars where he learned the knowledge of hadith and became acquainted with the biographies of the sahaba -- the Companions of the Prophet.
Baha' al-Din performed the Hajj twice. In one of these travels, the king of Herat, Muiz-ud-Din Husain bin Gayas-ud-Din gave Baha' al-Din a grand reception where he invited the scholars of Herat to inquire of Baha' al-Din concerning issues about tariqat -- the regimen of mystical teaching and spiritual practices with the aim of seeking haqiqa -- the ultimate truth. Baha' al-Din also imparted irfan -- knowledge, awareness and wisdom.
In the second Hajj, Baha' al-Din went to see the famous saint, Hazrat Zain-ud-Din Abu Bakr Taib-Abadi and remained in his company for three days. Hazrat Zain-ud-Din passed away in 791 AH.
Little is known about the family background of Hazrat Khwaja Naqshband, though much has been written on Naqshbandi order. It is known that Hazrat Khwaja Baha' al-Din Muhammad Naqshband left this temporal world on a Monday night of third Rabi-al-Awal, 791 AH (1389 CC). His age was 73 years. He lies buried in his home town Bukhara. This village is now known as Baha-ud-Din.
The character of Hazrat Khwaja Baha' al-Din Naqshband is revealed by the way he lived. Baha' al-Din gave up the world. He had no relationships and adopted a lonely life of abstinence. His pious breaths were devoted to the grace of the dervish and he would tell, with great love, that whatever he had found was found by him with it's original attributes.
In his simple abode, there would be dust in his house in the winter, which would be falling from the mosque. In the summer there would be an old mat. Baha' al-Din would always be careful in self-introspection and would be cautious about his diet. He would often relate Hadith about a pious (halal) diet.
Baha' al-Din was full of the desire for sacrifice and servitude. Whatever gift was brought to him, he would return a similar or better gift, in keeping with the practice of the Prophet. He would entertain his guest with befitting diet and would see that there was no laxity in making him at ease. He would provide his own clothes/coverings to cover the guest in his sleep to make him comfortable. Hazrat Khwaja would grow his paddy/wheat himself from his fields. He would be cautious in the selection of seeds and the selection of oxen with broad horns. Scholars coming in his service would eat from his kitchen, considering it to be a blessing from him. His personality is described to be so impressive that King and Amirs of Herat would remain dumbfounded on seeing him. He would be well dressed and duly scented; social with friends and guests; attending to domestic work himself.
Baha' al-Din would go to inquire about sick people, and would even provide advice regarding their treatment. He would treat the wounds of animals, and would pray for the welfare of faithful. He was a guide for the etiquette ettiquete, and would always preach for a just (hahal) diet and a clean and pious life.
Baha' al-Din attained the fame of a Perfect friend of Allah (Wali). Great scholars, amirs, wazirs,and even kings from far and wide would attend his gatherings to receive his blessings. He would pray for their welfare and also for the abstinence (taqwa) of their hearts. Besides the hard prayers, he would follow in the footsteps of the Prophet in all prayers. He would always perform ablution (Wazoo), be punctual in prayers (Salat) and recitation of Qur'an, seek repentance (Toba-Istigfar); urge remembrance of Allah (Zikir); and observe fasting.
Baha' al-Din classified knowledge in three categories. One is bookish knowledge, which perishes with the death of the writer and the eating of the book by moths. Many such types of knowledge have come and are lost.
The second form of knowledge is that of science. Again this too is not reliable as a theory put forward today is disproved tomorrow. Yesterday we were told that the sun is stationary, today we are told that it is moving. Hence knowledge based on science is not reliable.
The third form of knowledge neither needs books nor scientific verification. It is transferred from person to person and one must think that a person having this type of knowledge has reached it’s climax, when he says that he knows nothing, as this knowledge is so vast that it has no boundaries. Baha' al-Din says that being a student of this knowledge, time and distance is no bar to him, that means he could travel both through time and over distance without means and that is the lowest stage of this knowledge. The highest form of this knowledge (The Miraj) is the ascension performed by the Prophet. The purpose of knowledge should be to take you to the Source of knowledge, which is ALLAH.
In India, the Naqshbandi order was introduced by Hazrat Khwaja Razi-ud-Din Muhammad Baqi known as Khwaja Baqi Billah. It was with his efforts lasting three to four years that a strong foundation of the order was laid in India.
The urs of Hazrat Khwaja Baha-ud-Din Muhammad Naqshband is celebrated on the 3rd Rabi-ul-Awal every year.
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Naqshbandiyya (Naqshbandiyah)) (Naqshbandi). An important and still active Sufi order, named after Khwaja Baha’ al-Din Naqshband (1318-1389) from Bukhara. In the extent of its diffusion it has been second only to the Qadiriyya.
In Transoxiana, it rose to supremacy in the time of its founder, and spread southward to Herat. In northwestern Persia, however, it was relatively short-lived. With their strong loyalty to Sunnism, the Naqshbandis became a special target of persecution for the Shi‘a Safavids. In the nineteenth century, the Khalidi branch of the Naqshbandiyya, established by Mawlana Khalid Baghdadi (d. 1827), almost entirely supplanted all other branches and wrested supremacy from the Qadiriyya in Kurdistan. At present, the Naqshbandiyya remain strong among the Kurds of Persia, particularly in the region of Mahabad, and in Talish. By contrast, they are now moribund among the Turkmen.
In Turkey, the first implantation took place in the fifteenth century. It gained the loyalty of the Ottoman Turks with its emphatically Sunni identity and insistence on sober respect for Islamic law. The Mujaddidi branch of the order, established in India by Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi “the Renewer,” was transmitted to Turkey in the seventeenth century. Soon afterwards, a second transmission took place through Mecca, which remained until the late nineteenth century an important center for the diffusion of the Naqshbandiyya. In Turkey too, it was the Khalidi branch which made the Naqshbandiyya the paramount order, a position it has retained even after the official dissolution of the orders.
Naqshbandiyya was a Sufi order (tariqa) that began in Central Asia. Its legends identify Ahmad Ata Yaswi (d. 1116) as the order’s founder, but the name derives from Khwaja Baha’ al-Din Naqshband (Bahauddin an-Naqshband) (d. 1389). The order arrived in India at a fairly late date. Although the Mughal emperor Babar supposedly invited its adherents to India, Shaikh Baqi Bi’llah (Khwaja Baqi Bi’llah) (1564-1603), who arrived in Delhi during Akbar’s reign, was the first influential Naqshbandi to make his home there. During this period, the spiritual program of the Naqshbandis was not yet solidly established. Baqi Bi’llah’s own son was attracted to the pantheistic views of the Spanish mystic philosopher Ibn Arabi.
Baqi Bi’llah’s favorite disciple, Ahmad Sirhindi (d. 1624), however, took a much more scripturalist approach, attacking Arabi’s thought and bemoaning the influence of Shi‘ites and Hindus in the royal court, Sirhindi’s emphasis on the Qur’an, shari’a, and the personality of the Prophet as revealed in hadith literature helped to place Indian Naqshbandis at the center of the religious revival that took place in the Muslim world in the century after Sirhindi’s death. Indian Naqshbandis living in the holy cities intiated many Indonesians and Central Asians into the order. The hospice of Mirzah Mazhar Jan-i Janan (d. 1780) was another notable Naqshbandi center. In contrast to the Chishtis, Naqshbandis favored private meditation (particularly intense concentration on the images of one’s master) and rejected the use of music as a spiritual aid.
In India, the Naqshbandiyya remained for two centuries the principal order, especially through the Mujaddid branch. Its main characteristic has been its rejection of innovations and its involvement in political struggles.
Naqshbandiyah see Naqshbandiyya
Naqshbandi see Naqshbandiyya
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