Khwaja Sheikh Pak

Sheikh Muhammad Chishty, better known as Khwaja Sheikh Pak (The pure Sheikh) was an Islamic Kutb and a Waliullah. He is also known as Khwaja Garib Nawaz-E-Sani, a title given to him based upon his similarities with the earlier Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer.

"He greatly influenced Pakistani history, and conquered the people not by his sword but with his love." Shaikh Fareed Ali Abdur Rauf ibn Makhdum Usman Al-Jameel.

Early life

Khwaja Sheikh Pak was born into a simple family in Lahore, Pakistan. His fathers name was Imamuddin. At the age of five years old, his mother sent him for higher education in Medina. In Medina, he learned Islam and became very knowledgeable under the teachings of different Scholars of the time. Educated in Qur'an and Hadith, he busied himself in prayers and devotion to God. Over a period of 40 years he continued his ibaadah until one night he had a dream in which Muhammad ordered him to go back to Pakistan and take Ba'it (initiation into a Sufi Tariqah) into the Chishtiyya Silsilla from a Murshid known as Khwaja Hamid.

In Pakistan

After training in the sufi way, Khwaja Sheikh Pak reached enlightenment. He became a friend of the Almighty, and performed many miracles by God's permission. At the age of 56 he got married and had three children. After having reached such a spiritual state he attained the Noor-e-Chishty, a glow on the face that had previously belonged to many other saints of the Tariqah.

Miracles

The miracles of khwaja Sheikh Pak are many, here are just a few.Khwaja Sheikh Pak was once busy in prayers at his home in Lahore. Some theives decided to burgle his house and take his belongings. However, when they set foot in Sheikh Pak's house, they became blind. They fell to the feet of Khwaja Sheikh Pak and begged for mercy. By Allah's will their vison was returned to them.

Khwaja Sheikh Pak used to travel many miles every day, from the countryside to the city on horseback. The horse he travelled on was the best in agility and strength and very beautiful. His horse was blind.

He gave ba'it to 200 Jinns into the Chishty tariqah. They roam around his place of burial and can be sensed by his Nasheens.

Bahishti

Khwaja Sheikh Pak was immersed in the love of Allah. Once when he was in the famous Badshi Mughal mosque in Lahore, the Imam reading the prayer sensed something. He called his companions and said to them that he felt that there was someone present in that mosque today, that if they prayed behind him they would go to heaven. They searched everywhere and they found him. In appearance, Khwaja Sheikh Pak was said to be the most handsome man in the whole of Pakistan in that era. They knew it was him from the glow emanating from him. They asked him "Will you lead the prayer? We wish to enter the gardens of Jannah". He replied "To go to Paradise, all you need to do is look at me". At his shrine in Lahore there is a door known as the Bahishti darwaza, which opens once a year only for the Urs. This is to symbolize that he was the only person in the whole world twinned Baba Farid Shakar Ganj who had the Paradise of God at his feet.

Death

The noble soul of Khwaja Garib Nawaz Sani left his body in 1926 at the age of 118. When he died, his followers believed that he should be buried in Makkah/Medina, so they did so. Only after they had buried him, he rose from the grave in his coffin. Moved by this event, they took to Ajmer to lay next to Moinuddin Chishti. They buried him but once again he rose. Finally they took him to his home town where he grew up for the first five years of his life and there he settled. His shrine stands there today.

His shrine

His shrine is more commonly known as Khwaja wali Darbar. He is buried in the centre, and his descendants around him. His grave is raised in marble out of respect for the saint, and flower reaths and petals scattered over him. Many people from all over Pakistan come and make Ziyarat every year.

Urs

Every year hundreds of people gather at the Darbar and celebrate the life of the pious saint. The Urs is a ceremony that commerates the death of the saint, which is seen as a union with God. It is a ceremony mainly carried out by the Chishti Order of South East Asia. First of all his grave is showered with fresh flowers, often roses. Then the saint's devotees carry a sheet of material with Quranic inscriptions on it, known as a chaadar. There are normally 3-4 chaadars which are placed on the grave. They carry them through the Bahishti darwaza which only opens once a year for this ceremony. It is said that whoever goes through that door they will go to heaven. The procession continues with the playing of loud Qawalli, many people lose themselves in spiritual ectasy and seek blessings of the saints.