Article
Khoja Ahmed Yasavi : Turkmenistans Sufi Link with India
Khalid RIAZ
Vice President, Silk Route Foundation, India
There was once a dervish who became a king. The story tells us that this dervish had seen Truth. He decided that in order to make people listen to him carefully he would have to become powerful in the ordinary world. Since the dervish was adept at concentrating his powers he applied all his concentration to the task of attaining visible authority. In the course of time he became a king. After spending some time as a ruler, the dervish realized that people did not want his way of teaching. They appeared to hear him, but acted only from hope of reward or fear of punishment. This dervish-king lacked an instrument with which to teach. None came to him until he was almost at the end of his days. And the instrument he got wasSufism.
Sufis have provided that great instrument of teaching which has always proven to be effective. In their own ways called orders (turuq) Sufis have taught the ways to proceed on the path of self-realization. It required a sufi to tell an uninitiated one that what he saw moving was not a flag. It was indeed the air that moved. And with deeper insight one would realize it is the mind that moves!
Sufi orders (turuq) crystallized as institutions beginning around the 6th century AH/ 12th century AD. One of the first orders was the Yasavi order, named after Khoja Ahmad Yasavi (d. 562 AH/ 1166 AD), from the city of Yasi, where his tomb is located.
Yasavi Sufism in India In his lifetime and even after his death, the Sufi order founded by Khoja Ahmad Yasavi, also known as Hazrat-e-Turkistan, spread to many parts of the world. One of his direct descendent Jenab Khwaja Ahmad Yasavi arrived in Kashmir, India and spread the Yasavi order to this part of the world. J.S. Truinigham in his book Sufi Orders in Islam (Oxford University Press 1971) has mentioned at page No. 58-60 that Yasavi Sufis and Sheikhs (sufi masters) were found in Kashmir in the sixteenth century AD. As quoted in the books Waqiat Kashmir (happenings in Kashmir) by Khwaja Azam Dedwari and in Taarikh Hassain (history of Hassain) at page 267, Khwaja Ahmad Yasavi - the first Yasavi saint - came to Kashmir during 1100-1200 AH. On his arrival he stayed in the area called Bagh Mirza Beg Mullak Shah in the foot of the holy hillock called Koh-e-Maran (Hari Parbat). On the request of then Naqshbandi sufi master Hazrat Syed Nizam-u-din Ahmad Naqashbandi he shifted to Khwaja Bazar in Srinagar, Kashmir. He died in 1113 AH. Hazrat Khwaja Ahmad Yasavis mausoleum is in Khwaja Bazar.
Khwaja Ahmad Yasavis Role in Hazratbal Hazratbal is a well known shrine in Kashmir which purportedly has a holy relic Prophet Mohammeds (pbuh) hair (moo-e mubarak). It was during the life time of Hazrat Khwaja Ahmad Yasavi in Kashmir that the historical event of bringing of the holy relic took place. As given in a number of books on history of Kashmir including Waqaat Kashmir this holy relic was purchased by a Kashmiri merchant namely Khwaja Noor-u-din Isfhani from an Arab, during reign of king Zainul-Abedin during 1100 A.H/ sixteenth century AD. When the relic was brought to Kashmir the king requested Jenab Khwaja Ahmad Yasavi to testify the holy relic for its authenticity. Initially reluctant, he agreed to do this task after great persuasion. He declared the holy relic to be authentic, he declared that the holy relic belonged to Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) and that it was from the right side of his holy beard and was after the Meraaj (the holy night when he visited heavens). Then the holy relic was kept at the Khanqah of Hazarat Naqashband at Khwaja Bazar, Srinagar. It was later shifted to a place in royal garden at Hazrat Bal. The shrine called Hazarat Bal is famous all over the world.
Spread of Yasavi Sufism in Kashmir, India Another great Sufi who spread Khoja Amad Yasavis teachings in India was Syed Qazi Daulat Shah Bukhari who arrived in India via Chechenia. He organized various Yasavi descendents and other followers into an order and institutionalized the Yasavi sufi order. In the year 1129AH he left for Haj pilgrimage and moved to Delhi where he passed away.
While leaving Kashmir, Syed Qazi Daulat Shah Bukhari appointed Jenab Hazrat Sheikh Mohammad Qaim Yasavi the head of Yasavi order. (pp 30-31 Silsilay-e-Yasavi by Peerzada Syed Mohammad Shafi Yasavi). He has written many books on Yasavi Sufism. These include Hizatul Muslimeen in poetry, Zikar-e-Jahar with Quaranic Ayat, Ahadith Nabi and Aquaid Sufia. He was highly devoted to saint Jenab Hazrat Shiekh Nooruddin Noorani whose shrine is at Charar-e-Sharif in the Budgam district of Kashmir. On his initiative some of his Yasavi disciples came forward and helped building a five kilometer long water channel from Kavidayan upto Charar Sharif. This water channel was known as Ju-e-Qaim (Qaims water channel). He died in 1153 AH at the age of 57 and his mausoleum is in the graveyard at Mughal Mohalla in the old Srinagar city. Two other Yasavi saints Hazrat Abdullah Yasavi and his grandson Sheikh Ahsan Yasavi are also buried at the same graveyard in Mughal Mohalla, Srinagar. The graveyard is still intact.
From 1241 AH onwards another graveyard at Tara Bal, Nawa Kadal was used where Shiekh Abudul Rasool Yasavi one of great grandson of Jenab Sheikh Mohammad Qaim Yasavi was buried in 1241 AH. Subsequently all the descendents of Yasavi order in Srinagar were buried in this graveyard. Now known as Maqaber Yasavi it is situated in Mohalla Tara Bal, Nawa Kadal Srinagar. This graveyard is opposite the Shrine of Jenab Hazrat Sheikh Ahmad Tara Bal (1201 -1278 AH) who, incidentally, was very closed to Yasavi sufi dynasty.
Conclusion Yasavi Sufis spread their teachings and built a strong cultural bond with India. Through their efforts India became a salad bowl which imbibed a little of everything to develop its own unity in diversity culture. It is not surprising that one of the most popular snack in India continues to be samosa , which is called simsa in Turkmenistan. An Indian in a restaurant in Ashgabat after trying the words sugar and then caxap learnt the Turkmen word seker from a waiter. That is what this Indian had been calling sugar in his mother tongue Urdu! There are many words which are common in Urdu and Turkmen which is obviously a result of Turkmen Sufis intermingling with Indian masses.
The spread of Yasavi order to India and its survival over centuries establishes the supremacy of Khoja Ahmad Yasavis teachings and his path. He emphasized on the purity of Islam.
