Khairul Majalis: Highlighting the Virtues of Shaikh Nasiruddin Chiragh-i-Dehli

Abstract

In this article, an attempt has been made to make a nuanced study of the images portrayed of the shaikh by Hamid Qalandar and his protagonist, Shaikh Nasiruddin, in the malfuzat of the shaikh entitled Khairul Majalis. It highlights that the shaikh willingly chose the path of faqr (poverty), faqa (deprivation/hunger) and wanted to renounce duniya wa khalq (world and people), which resulted in an antipathy towards shughl (government service) and the state and all its institutions. Fawaid-al-Fuad, malfuzat of Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya, constructed the rudimentary tariqa—in effect, a powerful, rudimentary preliminary lineage of the Chishti silsila was constructed. Khairul Majalis effectively highlights the virtues of Shaikh Nasiruddin, and thus he successfully claims to tap into the paradigm of conduct of an ‘ideal murid’—an embodiment of an ‘ideal murid’—stringently following the different principles and practices of Chishti silsila so clearly laid out in Fawaid-al-Fuad—thus a ‘worthy successor’. The didactic and discursive nature of the Khairul Majalis and the malfuzat genre, in general, is evident. These hagiological work(s) need to be studied in the context in which it/they emerged, and the intentions of the hagiographer, the background and/or agenda in presenting the text must be taken into account before reaching any conclusions based on it. As evident, the malfuzat strives to draw out the best traits of the respective protagonist to hold them up as a model of piety and a recipient of divine grace. In the process, they accentuate the construct of the paradigm of conduct appropriate to a Shaikh.