Hadrat Shaykh Nizamuddin bin Muhammad bin Ahmed bin Ali Badayuni Bukhari (May Allah shower His mercy on him) is regarded among the greatest of saints.

He was blessed with absolute love, abundance of yearning, true conscience and great courage.  He illuminated the whole world with the radiance of his sainthood and guided a multitude of people towards the right path.

Till date, his words and deeds are considered the final word among the Shaykhs.  The populace remembers him as “Sultan al Mashaaikh” (The King of Shaykhs), “Mahboob-e-Ilaahi” (The Beloved of Allah) and so on.

His antecedents were residents of the great center Islamic learning, Bukhara.  The grandfather of his father, Hadrat Khwaja Ali (May Allah shower His mercy on him) and the grandfather of his mother, Hadrat Khwaja Arab (May Allah shower His mercy on him) both came to Lahore from Bukhara and went to Badayun from there and took up residence there.

In light of the truthfulness, veracity and honesty of Hadrat Khwaja Ahmed (May Allah shower His mercy on him), the king had made him the Judge (Qazi) of Badayun.  Through him, Almighty Allah brought into this world Hadrat Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya (May Allah shower His mercy on him) who is the epitome of divine grace and love.

Once in the childhood of the Khwaja, his father fell ill.  The Khwaja’s mother saw a dream that in which she was being asked to choose any one between Khwaja Ahmed and her son.  She chose her son.  After this, Hadrat Khwaja Ahmed passed away.

The Khwaja was enrolled in a Madarsa.  He finished the recitation of the Holy Quran with a few days and started studying other books and developed mastery over many sciences.

The Khwaja himself says that I studied grammar at the age of 12 years.  Abu Bakr came from Multan to meet my teacher.  He first described the accomplishments of Hadrat Khwaja Bahauddin Zakariyya Multani (May Allah shower His mercy on him).  After this he started mentioning the greatness of Hadrat Baba Fareeduddin Ganj Shakar (May Allah shower His mercy on him).  I became restless on listening to his very name and his love overwhelmed my heart.  When I reached the age of 16, along with my mother and sister, I took residence in Delhi.  By chance, we were living near the house of Hadrat Shaykh Najeebuddin Mutawakkil (May Allah shower His mercy on him).  With his company, the desire to meet Hadrat Baba Fareed (May Allah shower His mercy on him) increased day by day.  I remained in the city for 3, 4 years and worked hard to gain knowledge.  I took the authorization of Hadith from my teacher.

It is mentioned in Siyar ul A’arifeen that when Hadrat Nizamuddin Auliya (May Allah shower His mercy on him) mastered all the disciplines and became prominent among all the scholars of the city, he paid his respects to Hadrat Khwaja Najeeb (May Allah shower His mercy on him) and said:  I have the desire to become the Judge and benefit the creation.  Shaykh Najeeb (May Allah shower His mercy on him) said:  May Allah forbid that you become a Judge.  You will become what we hope for you to become.

After this, he went to Hadrat Khwaja Fareeduddin Ganj Shakar (May Allah shower His mercy on him) and was honored with Ba’yah and the authorization to accept disciples.  He is the greatest among all the disciples and caliphs of Hadrat Ganj Shakar (May Allah shower His mercy on him).

Hadrat Nizamuddin Auliya (May Allah shower His mercy on him) says:  Once I was with Hadrat Ganj Shakar (May Allah shower His mercy on him) that I got a thought that whatever I hear from my Shaykh, I will write it down.  Immediately Hadrat Ganj Shakar (May Allah shower His mercy on him) said:  Lucky is that disciple who writes down whatever his Shaykh utters.  There are many blessings for him.

The magnanimity of the Khwaja

Once in the house of Hadrat Nizamuddin Auliya (May Allah shower His mercy on him), a person was caught with a knife.  Allah Most High knows what his intention was.  When this became known to Hadrat Nizamuddin Auliya (May Allah shower His mercy on him), he forbade others from hurting him.  Then, he summoned that person and told him:  You promise that you will not hurt others. 

When that person did so, Hadrat Nizamuddin Auliya (May Allah shower His mercy on him) ordered that money for expenses should be given to that person.

Then, Hadrat Nizamuddin Auliya (May Allah shower His mercy on him) said the following about enmity:

Translation: Bear hurt and leave the reprisal to the Lord!

May Allah Most High grant comfort to the person who pains us!  May Allah Most High be the helper of the person who leaves us helpless!  For the person who lays down thorns in our path, may all the flowers in his life be without thorns.

He also said:

Someone lays thorns in somebody’s path and that person in turn also lays thorns in the other person’s path, this is like one to the other.  This is the practice of laymen, but this does not happen among the dervishes.  The dervishes are good with those who are good, but they are not evil with those who are evil.  (Siyar ul Auliya, Pg. No. 578)

With his teachings and his character, Hadrat Nizamuddin Auliya (May Allah shower His mercy on him) gave the message of peace.  With his wisdom and sagacity, he turned the person who was bent on destroying the peace of the society into a standard bearer of peace and turned him from a terrorist into a pacifist.  Each word of what he said is an invitation to peace. 

Three, four months before his passing away, Hadrat Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya (May Allah shower His mercy on him) gave 10 disciples the authorization to accept and train disciples on their own.  Among all his disciples, the Khwaja chose Hadrat Naseeruddin Chiraag Dehlvi (May Allah shower His mercy on him) to be his successor.