The Chishtis : A Living Light/Muneera Haeri. New Delhi, Oxford
University Press, 2000, xx, 211 p., plates,
ISBN 0 19 579327 7.
The Chishtis : A Living Light/Muneera Haeri. New Delhi, Oxford
University Press, 2000, xx, 211 p., plates,
ISBN 0 19 579327 7.
Contents: Foreword. Preface. Introduction. 1. Sufis-the mystics of Islam. 2. Shaykh Mu'in ad-Din Chishti. 3. Shaykh Qutb ad-Din Bakhtiyar Kaki and Shaykh Hamid ad-Din Sufi Nagauri. 4. Shaykh Farid ad-Din Mas'ud Ganj-i-Shakar. 5. Shaykh Nizam ad-Din Awliya. 6. Shaykh Nasir ad-Din Mahmud Chiragh-i-Delhi. 7. A Chishti Shaykh in South Africa. Epilogue: Sufism today. Appendices. Glossary. Bibliography. Index of names.
"Sufism evolved as a repudiation of the rising dogma and creeping materialism in the early period of Islam which followed the golden age of the Prophet (PBUH) and the first four Caliphs. It was the guardian angel of humaneness and spiritual values. The widespread and enthusiastic acceptance of the teachings of Islam in the subcontinent was the work of the Sufis rather than the sword of the many conquerors. The Chishtis whose order was founded in the subcontinent by Hazart Muin'ad-din Chishti, are the most celebrated of all the Sufi brotherhoods which operated in this area.
Muneera Haeri recounts the lives of six early Sufis of the Chishti order. This book can prove to be a feast for the trusting reader who is not blocked by cynicism in his quest for spirituality."