Sayyid Muhammad Gesudaraz (Bande Nawaz)

One of the great shaykhs of the Chishti order in India; the successor of Chiragh-i Dehli, a many-sided scholar and prolific author who established Chishti Sufism in the Deccan. His proper name was Sayyid Muhammad; the epithet Gisudaraz ("long-locked") was given to him by his shaykh.

He was born in Delhi on 4 Rajab 721 (30 July 1321). He belonged to a sayyid family that had migrated from Herat to India and settled in Delhi. His father, Sayyid Yusuf al-Husayni, known as Sayyid Raja al-Qattal, was a disciple of the Chishti shaykh Nizam al-Din Awliya. In the years when Sultan Muhammad b. Tughluq undertook his campaign in the Deccan and compelled the scholars and shaykhs of Delhi to migrate to Dawlatabad, Sayyid Raja too left Delhi and settled in Dawlatabad.

After his father's death (731/1330) he left Dawlatabad with his mother and brother and returned to Delhi (736/1335). There he studied the religious sciences under Sayyid Sharaf al-Din Kaythali, Mawlana Taj al-Din Bahadur and Qadi 'Abd al-Muqtadir. He acquired a rich store of learning in the fields of Qur'an, hadith, jurisprudence and Sufism; he also knew several languages, above all Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit and Hindi, and was thoroughly versed in Hindu folklore and mythology.

His search for a spiritual guide finally led him to become a disciple of the Chishti shaykh Chiragh-i Dehli (d. 757/1356); it was his shaykh who gave him the epithet Gisudaraz.

When Timur set out on his Indian campaign (800/1398) he left Delhi and went to Gwalior. After staying there for a time he moved on to Gujarat, where he was the guest of Khwaja Rukn al-Din Kan-i Shakar. He then migrated to Gulbarga and settled there. The Bahmani sultan Taj al-Din Firuz Shah received him with interest; but the sultan's good relations with the philosophers and his inclination towards philosophy led Gisudaraz to distance himself from him. Firuz Shah's successor, Sultan Shihab al-Din Ahmad Shah Bahmani, however, succeeded in establishing a close relationship with him.

He died in Gulbarga on 16 Dhu'l-Qa'da 825 (1 November 1422); Ahmad Shah Bahmani had a magnificent tomb built over his grave. The detailed information about his life rests on the Tarikh-i Habibi wa Tadhkira-i Murshidi, which 'Abd al-'Aziz b. Shir Malik Wa'izi completed in 849 (1445). His discourses were compiled by his son Sayyid Muhammad Akbar Husayni.

His Circle of Influence — He spread the principles of Chishti Sufism in the Deccan region; he was also the first Chishti Sufi to bring the classical Sufi works to the common people. He held discussions on religious questions with Hindu yogis and scholars, but did not permit his disciples to adopt yogic practices indiscriminately. He was also in contact with well-known saints such as Sayyid Muhammad Ashraf Jahangir Simnani and Mas'ud Bak. Although a great organiser, he is not considered to have succeeded in spreading the Chishtiyya, the order to which he belonged, throughout the whole of India.

His Poetry and Sufi Line — His poems are collected in his work Anis al-'ushshaq. 'Abd al-Haqq b. Sayf al-Din al-Dihlawi says that Gisudaraz, who had a disposition of his own, was not always in harmony with the traditional Sufi approach. Indeed, he had criticisms of Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-'Arabi and 'Ayn al-Qudat al-Hamadani, and he did not share the view of al-Kalabadhi, author of al-Ta'arruf, that a Sufi cannot attain the vision of God while in this world. He was especially attached to the Adab al-muridin and the 'Awarif al-ma'arif, since they were of great value to a Sufi who wished to establish the life of the lodge in lands with no Sufi tradition. In his works one sees the desire to build a bridge between the sharia and the Sufi path, which he regarded as complementary rather than contradictory.

His Works — It is said that a work fell to every year of his long life and that no Indo-Chishti saint possessed works of such value; although his works are generally commentaries on or summaries of the Sufi classics, they are not lacking in originality. ① al-Ma'arif: an Arabic commentary on the 'Awarif al-ma'arif of Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi; he also commented on the work in Persian. ② Sharh-i Ta'arruf: a Persian commentary on al-Kalabadhi's al-Ta'arruf. ③ Tarjuma-i Adab al-muridin: a Persian translation of the work of Abu'l-Najib al-Suhrawardi; the author states that this is his final translation, and he also wrote an Arabic commentary on the work entitled al-Khatima (translation and commentary together, Hyderabad 1358). ④ Sharh-i Tamhidat: a Persian commentary on the Tamhidat of 'Ayn al-Qudat al-Hamadani (Hyderabad 1324, 1364). ⑤ Sharh-i Risala-i Qushayriyya (Hyderabad 1361); there is also an Arabic commentary by him. ⑥ Haza'ir al-quds ('Ishqnama). ⑦ Asmar al-asrar (Hyderabad 1350). ⑧ Maktubat: sixty-six letters (Hyderabad 1362). ⑨ Jawahir al-'ushshaq: a commentary on a treatise of 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (Hyderabad 1362). ⑩ Anis al-'ushshaq: his poems (Hyderabad 1360). ⑪ Jawami' al-kalim: his discourses, compiled by his son Sayyid Muhammad Akbar Husayni (Kanpur 1356). ⑫ Sharh al-Fiqh al-akbar (Hyderabad 1367). ⑬ Majmu'a-i Yazdah Rasa'il (Hyderabad 1360): of the eleven treatises, six are his and the rest belong to Muzaffar Balkhi. He also has various works on Qur'anic exegesis, hadith, the life of the Prophet and jurisprudence; most of the editions were prepared by Hafiz Sayyid 'Ata Husayn.

His Tomb and Complex — Sultan Shihab al-Din Ahmad Shah Bahmani had a magnificent tomb built over his grave in Gulbarga. At the commemorations (urs) held on the anniversary of his death, hundreds of thousands of people gather at his tomb. The administration of the lodge beside the tomb today owns and runs a printing house, a monthly journal and a library, as well as various schools and madrasas, one of them for girls.