Ajmer

The first recorded visit to to the Dargah Sharif (SHRINE) of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishty Ajmeri (R.A.) was Muhammad Bin Tughluq in 1332. In the first year of the reign of Firuz Shah Tughluq (1351-2) the important Chishty, Zain al-din, the khalifa of Burhan al-din Chishty, who was himself the khalifa of Hazrat Nizam al-din Awliya, made a pilgrimage to Ajmer. A further reference to regular pilgrimage to Ajmer in the latter half of the fourteenth century occurs in the conversations of Syed Muhammad Gesudaraz recoreded in 1399-1400 AD. Gesudaraz was talking about his refusal to impart further instructions to one Hazrat Khwaja Hisamuddin, who had previously received Sufi teaching from other Shaikhs. An unnamed darvish approached Gesudaraz and gave him a resume of what he might have imparted to him. This included an injuction to perform the ziyarat of the Panj Pirs (five pirs) who, as explained in the anecdote, are the five great Chishty ShaIkhs who preceded Gesudaraz, viz. Hazrat Khwaja Nasiruddin, Hazrat Khwaja Nizamuddin, Hazrat Khwaja Fariduddin, Hazrat Khwaja Qutbuddin,and Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin.Between the death of Firuz Shah Tughluq (1388) and the invasion of Timur (1398), Zafar Khan, progenitor of the Sultans of Gujarat, made the pilgrimage to Ajmer from Nandalgarh. He dismounted at a distance of 3 koos from Ajmer and went on foot to the shrine where he performed the appropriate ceremonies.