The Book Of Muinuddin Chishti

India has attracted all sorts of visitors from times unknown and for various reasons. While the likes of Mahmud Ghazni and Muhammad Ghori coveted the country’s material wealth and came as territorial conquerors, Muinuddin Chishti came to India, at the turn of the twelfth century, to fulfil a spiritual quest. The Book of Muinuddin Chishti introduces this ‘conqueror of conquerors’, revealing the life and teachings of a great saint who chose not to battle over God but to practise the love of God. Through the use of historical records and creative imagination, Mehru Jaffer brings to life the story of a human being who became a saint and the development of Chishti Sufism in India, examining the most important
dynamic in the understanding of a phenomenon like Sufism: tension between the outsider’s point of view and the insider’s vision. Muinuddin Chishti spent his life reminding us that hidden behind the paraphernalia of rituals of all the diverse religions of the world is love and curiosity for the creator. The Book of Muinuddin Chishti takes forward his message—of how to remain humane in hostile times, balance the material with the spiritual, and reach out and cement the
foundations of love and mysticism that ultimately unite all of humanity.