CHISHTIYAH

Muslim Sufi order in India and Pakistan, named for Chisht, the village in which the founder of the order, Abu Ishaq of Syria, settled. Brought to India by Khwajah Mu'in-ad-Din Chishti in the 12th century, the Chishtiyah has become one of the most popular mystical orders in the country. Great emphasis was originally placed by the Chishtiyah on the Sufi doctrine of the unity of being (wahdat al-wujud), oneness with God; thus, all material goods were rejected as distracting from the contemplation of God; absolutely no connection with the secular state was permitted; and the recitation of the names of God, both aloud and silently (dhikr jahri, dhikr khafi), formed the cornerstone of Chishti practice. Members of the order were also pacifists. The ideals of the early adherents are still revered, but some modifications of practice-e.g., ownership of property-are tolerated. In the history of the Chishtiyah, the period of the Great Sheikhs (c. 1200-1356) was marked by the establishment of a centralized network of monasteries (khanqahs) in the northern provinces of Rajputana, the Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh. From the 14th century, these monasteries were provincial institutions where various branches of the order took root, notably the Sabiriyah branch in the 15th century at Rudawli and the Nizamiyah, revived in the 18th century in Delhi.