Articles
The sacred
Basti of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia dates back to some 800 years when the Holy
Saint chose this place to reverve himself in mysticism and finally chose this
as his final resting place. No sooner the Holy Saint chose this place in
Though the
Saint lived his life as that of a Faqir but his vanity knew no bounds. Even in
his life time his Langar (free feast) was such huge that even the emperors of
the day use to envy it. As the saint never preyed on worldly riches so are his
disciples and this place. The Basti Hzt Nizamuddin till today is an amalgam of
ancient culture and modernity. It has Monuments, Tombs, Bawoli, Tabligi-Markaz,
Masjids and Mazars. It has a small market for its small population with old but
well maintained homes all existing in tandem. The greatness of the place is
that the tombs and the houses exits in tandem as after the Saint all who’s who
whether Royals or Faqirs vouched for
their resting place in his vicinity.
This ancient
Basti is surrounded by the glitters of the city from all four sides. The Central Government Offices in the West, a
five star hotel and a
This sacred
Basti has not changed much in its 800 year old history. With just two more
khasras 54 & 56 added to its village area that two when the population of
the country has increased many folds in this intervening period. Moreover this
added khasras has parks and very small residential dwellings. Importantly these
khasras are not added to the Basti village and the proposal is still doing the
rounds. Many NGO’s and various Governmental Organizations’ are working in
harmony with the local population and are performing various developmental
tasks. The result is that many parks have sprung up in the last few years
besides clean and well maintained roads. The streets are all well lit up and
cleaned periodically.
With the Dargah
a major tourist attraction besides various Mazars and tombs the numbers of
devotees who throng this place daily run into thousands. This takes a toll on
the infrastructure of the area. The place in and around the Dargah is filthy
with a lot of roadside encroachments having sprung up. The roads leading to the
Dargah is presently cramped for space and the devotees have to virtually jostle
for space to pay obeisance there. The increased number of people requires an
urgent need for vehicle parking as the main
As highlighted
above many NGO’s are working with various government agencies to maintain the
sanctity of this Basti. Since commercialization has taken its toll on the area
with street encroachment and haphazard construction posing a major challenge to
the existing layout and dynamics of the area. Some major NGO’s such as Aga Khan
Trust for Culture is engaged in the development works of the area. They are also
working in maintaining the old heritage of the Basti. Presently major projects
like Ghalib Tomb, Humayun Tomb, Khankhana Tomb, Chauchat Khamba, Barah Khamba,
Tughlaq Masjid inside Dargah besides the Sunheri Nallah up gradation project
are some of the developmental works being under taken by the trust under the
guidance of its CEO Mr. Ratish Nanda. Presently a single private MBBS Doctor
besides an Ayurvedic, Homeopathic and Dental clinics has sprung up.
Articles
Sanctity of Life in Holy Scripture
(Lecture by Farid Ahmed Nizami at HWPL Harmaony Conference on 10th February 2018 at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi)
Ladies and Gentlemen,
today I feel proud to stand in this august gathering of renowned religious
heads and advocates of world peace. May I introduce myself as the 21st
successor of the great Sufi-saint of India His Holiness Hazrat Nizamuddin
Aulia. The Dargah (Shrine) of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia is a 700 years old Sufi
centre where people from all over the world come to seek blessings and pay
tributes. The saint himself has all through his life laid emphasis on ‘Sanctity
of Life’ through high level of self discipline and religious tolerance.
The holy Quran mentions
that, before creating Adam, the Lord said to the angles, “I am appointing
someone as my deputy on Earth” they replied (in a worried tone) “Are you going
to appoint one who will commit corruption and bloodshed, while we declare Your
praise and glorify You? The Lord said “I know that which you do not know”
(2:30). HUMANS occupy a unique position in the divine scheme of things and thus
safeguarding and maintaining the sanctity of life is paramount. It is for this
reason that the Holy Quran considers murder as one of the greatest sins. It
says “Whosoever kills an innocent, it shall be as he has killed all mankind, and
whosoever saves the life of one, it shall be as he has saved the life of all
mankind” The Holy Prophet (pbuh) warned
his followers that “the first case to be settled between people on the Day of
Judgment will be that of bloodshed”. He even asked them to show kindness to
every living being, animals and humans alike.
To understand the term
sanctity of life in Islam, studying of Muslim Kings and Rulers only, does not
portray a true picture of Islam. The real Islam lies in the lives and teachings
of the Great Sufi saints. LOVE LIES at the core of the Sufi tradition. LOVE is
the reason we are all here. Sufism ignites the fervor of passion in the HEARTS
that connects one to another. Sufism or Tasawwuf, as it is known in the Muslim
world, is the inward dimension of Islam. Sufi practitioners seek to find the
divine love and knowledge through the strict practice of Islam.
Sufis practice SAMA
(Qawwali) under strict religious obligations thus invoking the Divine appeal
through sufi songs and music. Sufis like
Hzt Nizamuddin promoted his famous Langar (public kitchen) where people of all
faiths, caste and religion come and sit together shoulder to shoulder in rows
and take their meals. This all laid emphasis on the sanctity and equality of
life and paved the way to a path of better future and understanding which these
sufi shrines today promote.
Nevertheless
some classical Muslim jurists fail to recognize the universal sanctity of human
life. They incorrectly portray that the life of a non-believer is not sacred, or
is sacred only when a peace treaty is made with the Muslims. Such erroneous
thinking betrays the farewell address of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) where he
appealed to the believers in forceful terms that life is sacred and unjust
violence in itself is an act of the unfaithful. Murder is explicitly denied by
the Holy Quran which mentions, “Take not life which Allah has made sacred”
(6:151).
Conforming to this rich
legacy, the vast majority of Muslims around the world today condemns all forms
of violence. Proof of this can be found in the existence of old churches and
synagogues through out the Muslim world like places in turkey, Egypt,
Palestine, Syria. Besides there is a significant population of non Muslims in
Muslim countries as well where all exists in harmony. It is worthy to mention
that terrorism is a global epidemic which manifests in various forms and
affects practically every community that is mired in social and political
problems. Unfortunately popular media tends to ignore the positive points and
focus more on the sensational and violent actions of the fringe groups and
individuals. This reinforces an inaccurate image of Islam.
Islam never preached
violence nor does it preach vicious holy wars. It certainly condemns terror,
suicide bombing or anything of that sort. Like in all other religions of the
world it preaches love, compassion and justice. Unfortunately there are few who
associate even the success of Islam with violence, mistakenly believing that
Islam was spread by the sword. I quote from the Quran, Lakum de nu kum wali ya deen
i.e. “You follow your religion let them follow theirs”. In Islam the matter of
one’s faith is a personal choice between an individual and God. God explicitly
says in the Holy Quran. “There is no compulsion in religion” (2:256). Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) himself said, “O people
beware of extremism in religion for those who came before you were destroyed
because of extremism in religion”.
I would like to
emphasize that Islam permits engagement in war only for the purpose of
self-defense and combating oppression that too after all efforts to achieve peace
has failed. The word Jihad literally means ‘to strive’ and refers to any
struggle a person engages in for a righteous cause. Prophet Mohammad (pbuh)
himself explained that a fundamental form of jihad is the internal struggle,
the individual tackles in order to reform one’s self. Thus Muslims are duty bound
to maintain high ethical and moral standards even during war and strive to
cease the conflict as soon as possible. The goal should always be to achieve
peace and justice.