The oldest birthday party of Delhi is that of the city’s protective angel Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia. A long night of music, where various qawwals, forgetting their personal rivalries, gathered in the courtyard of the Aulia. Hazrat Nizamuddin’s “salana ghusal” (yearly bath) is celebrated with an all-night ceremony, unlike other Sufi saints, whose is usually performed during their urs (death anniversary). The ceremony attracts believers — Qawwali lovers, to celebrate their Pir’s (Sufi master) birthday, to get their problems solved, to enjoy the rare full throttle all-night mehfil of qawwali music and those who enjoy the “sama” by just being there, meditating, some getting their trance. And some will come to donate, to distribute food to one and all, ranging from pastry to biryani. Glowing with decorations of flowers, lights and balloons the dargah looks most beautiful on this night.
This year — the birthday being in the pleasant weather of late October — had a bigger crowd as compared to the previous years when (calculated according to the Islamic calendar) this day would fall on the shivering cold nights of January, February or of December 31.
Syed Gulam Sibtain Nizami belongs to the 21st generation of Aulia, through the lineage of the Aulia’s sister, who was married to his uncle’s son. Sibtain prefers to be called a “khadim” (servant of the Aulia). A humble and friendly Sibtain, unlike other nizamis, would not like to be called a “sajjada nashin” (descendant). Talking about the 815th birthday, he says that it is a ceremony spreading the message that the Aulia came here for: humanity, brotherhood and love. As you step in here, “humanity” becomes your religion — you are not rich or poor, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian because the Aulia developed the love for him in you. Whatever wish you come here with, the Almighty will fulfil it because of the Aulia’s prayers. About the ceremony, Sibtain said, “The mehfil starts early and the bath starts at 2 am and goes on for about 70-80 minutes, the shrine is washed with rose water, itr (oil based perfume) and sandal paste are applied on the head-side of the shrine.”
The start of the bath will make one of the nizamis (as noticed by this author over the years) to walk to the singers, who are sitting some 15 feet away right opposite the shrine, asking them to start singing “Meri maili gudariya dho de Ganj-e-Shakar ke laal — Please wash my dirty sheet (sins), O beloved son of Ganj-e-Shakar, Baba Farid”. Sibtain explains, “We are offering you perfumes, roses and requesting you to clean our hearts.”
After an hour or so, one of the khadims will again walk to the qawwals, asking them to start singing “Kholo Kiwadiyan zara kholo — open the doors please”, which is a sign that the bathing ceremony is over. Sibtain explains that this song is to request the Aulia to open his heart to us, as he has now cleaned our sins.
Nizamuddin, who is to become the most celebrated disciple of Baba Farid (Ganj-e-Shakar) left Delhi for Ajodhan, the place where Baba lived to see him for the first time in 1257. The Aulia, when at the age of 12, heard about Baba from a qawaal, and started repeating his name after each prayer. Sheikh Nizamuddin’s grandfather came from Bukhara and was settled in Badayun, where he was born as Muhammad on 27 Safar 636 Hijri (October 19, 1238) to Ahmad and Bibi Zulaikha. He was raised by his mother after losing his father at the age of five. She took him to Delhi when he was 16 for further studies. On June 29, 1265, he received his Khilafat-nama from Baba Farid who blessed him saying, “You’ll be a tree under whose shadow people will find rest.”
The people of Delhi are lucky to have Nizamuddin Aulia protecting the city forever and his dargah giving them a welcoming place to rest, keep their conscience awake and love unconditionally.
The writer is an interior designer with a passion for photography and Hindustani literature and culture
