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At the height
of the communal troubles in 1992-3, Ajmer's main bazaar, which runs in a
straight line from Delhi Gate to the front entrance of the Dargah, was
widened by the army to ensure easier access for its troops. All over the
country, Hindus and Muslims were on the rampage, and this devout Islamic
enclave was considered a prime flashpoint.
The expected blood bath, however, never happened. While most of northern
India suffered the worst communal unrest since Partition, Ajmer's curfew
held firm. No one had any doubt that peace prevailed because of the
enduring influence of the Sufi saint enshrined at the heart of the city,
Khwaja Muin-ud-din Chishti.
Born in 1156, in Afghanistan, Muslim India's most revered saint, also
known as Khwaja Sahib or Garib Nawaz, began his religious career at the
age of 13, when he distributed his inheritance among the poor and
adopted the simple, pious life of an itinerant Shia fakir (the
equivalent of the Hindu sadhu ).
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Wandering between the
madrasas of Persia and Samarkand, he soaked up the teachings of the great
Central Asian Sufis, whose emphasis on mysticism, ecstatic states and pure
devotion as a path to God were revolutionizing Islam during this period.
By the time he came to India with the invading Afghan armies at the end of the
twelfth century, Khwaja Sahib had already established a following of his own.
But his reputation as a divinely inspired prophet really snowballed after he and
his disciples settled in Ajmer, while the holy man was in his fifties.
more...
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