Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya was born in a Sayyid family in 1238 AD in Badayun, Uttar Pradesh. While studing in Delhi he heard about the great religious and spiritual scholar Sufi Saint Baba Farid Shakarganj and decided to be his disciple and at the age of 20 he became.
Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya was a Sunni Muslim and follower of Hanafi Theology. He was practicing Sufism as well as attaining the Islamic knowledge of Quran, Hadith and Fiqah. He was spending his Ramadan with his spiritual teacher Baba Farid and at his 3rd visit he was appointed his spiritual successor.
Hazrat Muhammad Nizamuddin Auliya, a famous Sufi saint of the Chishtia order, learned from his guru Baba Farid, who was a disciple of Khwaja Bakhtiar Kaki and Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, that God can only be found through love. For him, love of God meant love for humanity. His worldview had a highly developed sense of religious pluralism and compassion. These teachings of his led to ideological differences with the Sultan of Delhi and the founder of the Tughlaq dynasty, which never ended.
Ghiyaspur, which was a settlement named after Ghiyasuddin Balban, is now known as Basti Nizamuddin. He established his Khanqah there, where food was provided to the poor and the weaker sections of the society, irrespective of their religion, and he stressed on spiritual education. People from all walks of life came to him to listen to his sermons in the Khanqah. During his lifetime he commenced Stepwell which was completed in 1322 and it’s never dried. Followers have a faith that this water contains medicinal properties. His famous disciples were Sheikh Nasiruddin Chirag Dehlavi and Amir Khusro. He died on 3rd April 1325 AD in Delhi and was buried in the Khanqah, which is known as Dargah Hazrat Nizamuddin.
Initially Dargah was built by Mohammed Bin Tughlaq and renovated by Firoz Shah Tughlaq and he suspended four golden cups in the dome celing. The present Dargah was built in 1562 AD by Faridu Khan and the red stone mosque in the Dargah complex was built by Khizar Khan, son of Alauddin Khilji a first structure which served as Jamat Khana. Hydrabad’s popular Paiga family erected the marble belustrade. The Dargah of Hazrat Amir Khusro is also in the same complex.
Jahanara, the world’s richest princess and daughter of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, who was influenced by the teachings of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, had willed that she should be buried near him. 13th Mughal Emperor Mirza Nasir Uddin Mohammad Shah whose name was Roshan Akhtar is also buried in this complex.
Annual Urs is held in Rabiul Aakhir on 17th and 18th, whereas Hazrat Amir Khusro’s Urs held in Shawwal on 18th.